give a few updates. So I wonder where I should start. First off, I should say that it is once again raining here. It has been raining pretty much every day since we arrived, with a few exceptions. I have been texting ( I'm new to "texting") 
Cheryl's family with a few things as they progress. But mostly I wanted to offload these pics to my blog before I lost them. I'll Have 
to go back in time to put them where they are suppose to be as well. So be sure to check back with previous posts.
Yeah!
The guy on Ebay told us that we could cut them in half and ship them in a smaller box. ( I know...why didn't I think of that???) Actually I did, but Cheryl was afraid that guy would say that the product was not as described and file a claim. She is still gun shy about Ebay, and I can't blame her. ( read previous posts when we were shipping carved toilet seats!) And yesterday I sold the loveseat and our kitchen table.
My whole goal was to sell them yesterday and we sold them just before the sun set. 
Talk about cutting it close! So now there is all the little detail stuff that is left. Mailing address chance, closing bank acounts, etc. We have been taking the cats out on short drives to get them used to the moving experience. So far the brothers are behaving the best with Rashi settling down after about 10 minutes. She still whines, but then again, she is the only cat that was never in a small cage before ( Red and Hiro were both bought at the pet store...Rashi just showed up and invited herself inside one day and has never left.)
There is much more to tell, but without pics, it will get boring. I can't wait to be able to show off the antler cutting process..It was fun. Perhaps next time I blog...I will be blogging from Iowa! Update! New PICS added!
When we took them to the UPS store, Cheryl has a ball park figure for size and weight that they would ship in the lower 48 states for $75. Then we took them to the store and that ball park figure got hit OUT OF THE BALL PARK AND OUT OF THE COUNTY! That is right...try $450.00!
Well now we are faced with a really bad situation. We simply can't pay that much to ship them. Not only is it more than half of the total gain, but if there is even the slightest problem...we could lose all that shipping money at a time when we can least afford it ( and really, when is a GOOD time to lose $450.00?) and refund all the winners money.
Now you might be saying that the chance of anything happening is very slim. Well we made our living on Ebay for 6 years and this is EXACTLY the time when things go wrong. So in the end, the headache is just too big and Cheryl is refunding the money as I'm writing this. ( we are once again at the library...) So now we are back at square one with the antlers back in our possession, instead of a nice chunk of traveling change. I was planning on this post being a "can you believe we shipped this?" post instead of a "Psyche!" one. Hopefully things will look rosy after this weekend.
Well now is your once in a life time opportunity to purchase a matching set of moose antlers measuring 64 inches across at the widest part. 48 inch shovels, 39 inches straight measurement from bottom of the brow tine to the tip of the top. They weight 41 lbs! How would you like to have those things attached to your head? Now they might not be a record, but they are trophy sized even by Alaska standards! 
How did I come by these things you ask? Well here is the story, I might have mentioned it once before in a previous post but I love telling it because in this case, fact is stranger than fiction. I was assigned special duty in the Army at Bolio Lake, Alaska, just down the road from Ft Greely. The day before we arrived, two bull moose had a sparing match inside the 
fenced area! During the fight, they damaged one of the shuttle vans, a section of chain link fence, and broke off several brow tines. After we arrived, we could sometimes see the victor standing close to a couple of cows. I snapped a picture of him one Friday before we were sent back to 
Fairbanks for the weekend. ( you just didn't see many moose of that size very often) Upon our return on Monday, the bull had dropped one of his antlers! I was excited at this and after work, i put on my skis ( the snow was about 4 ft deep there, you really need skis to walk around in that stuff or else you get bogged down fast!) I skied up 
to the moose and found his trail and started backtracking him, but after a few hundred yards, it became too thick for skis to travel ( too much brush) My next thought was maybe I could get the moose to drop the one antler left on his head! I skied up to him as close as I dared. You see...Moose are VERY big and are not afraid to charge people. He stood up and towered over me! I thought, "if this guy charges, I'm done for! The snow is deep and I can't run fast enough in these skis." So I looked at the moose and told him flat out, "give me that antler and I'll leave you alone!" He looked at me, shook his head, and with a bone chilling snap, it popped off! I could not believe it! Now I'm sure he did not understand me or anything. It looked like it was difficult for him to keep that think on his head so I just thought I would ask. After he trotted off a bit, 
I picked up
the antler and dragged it back to the barracks. The major told me I had to find the other half so that night I went out with snowshoes and looked for it. I found it, not far from where I turned back with my skis. So..without killing any animal, I was able to acquire a matching set of antlers. Now this is the true story....The story I tell my nephew and niece is a little more dramatic with me wrestling the moose to the ground and yanking the antlers off his head! That one is only slightly less believable, but much more dramatic ( and still lots of fun to tell!) You can find these antlers on Ebay for Auction.
reason, I'm missing a day. I was convinced
that yesterday was Tuesday. Which doesn't make much sense. So I am missing a day but that puts the weekend that much closer. It's funny how a week full of carving flies by! Anyway, I carved up 
only 4 seats tonight because our stores have not replenished their supplies yet. We already have a rather large order starting for the weekend, so I'm hoping
they get some seats back in soon. In the mean time, Cheryl found some old carving pictures 
that we took a while ago for our old website. They were with the old camera so they are not the highest quality. Anyway, enjoy! Someday, I'll have to post the story 
behind the moose antlers. A tease, I got them while on a super secret mission in the Army in Alaska. Super secret location. Are you impressed yet? Wanna know more?
