. . . . "Moose Country"@en . "Didi is trying to feed her son, Tommy, some sort of orange-brownish baby food in the kitchen; she scoops some of the food in a space-craft shaped spoon made for babies and tells her son \u201CNummy-Nums; that\u2019s right, Nummy-Nums\u201D to coax him into eating it. Tommy however doesn\u2019t seem to find the food to be very appetizing and covers his eyes as his mother tries in vein to feed it to him; noticing that her son is resisting the food, Didi calmly tells her son: \u201COh come on Tommy, I know you\u2019re hungry. Really honey, you\u2019ve got to eat something.\u201D She then attempts the old \u201Ctrying the food [herself] and saying [she] likes it\u201D trick by saying \u201CLook, Mommy likes it\u201D and pretending to eat it (she really only puts the food close to her mouth and dumps it back into the bowl, hoping Tommy won\u2019t notice) and"@en . . . . . . . "6"^^ . . "1991-09-15"^^ . . . . "1"^^ . "Didi is trying to feed her son, Tommy, some sort of orange-brownish baby food in the kitchen; she scoops some of the food in a space-craft shaped spoon made for babies and tells her son \u201CNummy-Nums; that\u2019s right, Nummy-Nums\u201D to coax him into eating it. Tommy however doesn\u2019t seem to find the food to be very appetizing and covers his eyes as his mother tries in vein to feed it to him; noticing that her son is resisting the food, Didi calmly tells her son: \u201COh come on Tommy, I know you\u2019re hungry. Really honey, you\u2019ve got to eat something.\u201D She then attempts the old \u201Ctrying the food [herself] and saying [she] likes it\u201D trick by saying \u201CLook, Mommy likes it\u201D and pretending to eat it (she really only puts the food close to her mouth and dumps it back into the bowl, hoping Tommy won\u2019t notice) and saying \u201CMmm!\u201D Her husband, Stu thens walks into the kitchen from the backyard, dotting gardening attire, and tells the two \u201CAhh, the great outdoors! Working in the yard really makes you.. you know.. \u2018in tune with nature\u2019.\u201D As he washes his hands in the kitchen sink, his father Lou comes into the scene and interjects: \u201CHeh, nature? You call that \u2018mudhole\u2019 nature?\u201D Stu replies, \u201CWell I\u2019m not finished yet pop, I-I still gotta put the trees in\u201D and we get a look out the window and see that Stu is landscaping the family\u2019s entire backyard; from outside the window, we see mounds of dirt, holes in the ground, and recently purchased young trees next to the holes, ready for planting. Lou scoffingly replies: \u201CTrees? You call those \u2018twigs\u2019 trees? Ha, ha. Why when we lived up in \u2018moose country\u2019, we didn\u2019t bother with anything smaller than a mighty redwood.\u201D Stu questions (as he wipes his wet hands dry with a towel): \u201CMoose country? I don\u2019t remember any moose back home pop.\u201D Didi interrupts and tells her husband \u201CNow Stu, don\u2019t forget: We have Phil, Lil and Chuckie coming soon\u201D; Stu replies \u201COh yea, we gotta get going; I gotta get some more mulch.\u201D Didi then puts Tommy\u2019s bowl of food down on the table of the height chair Tommy is sitting in and walks away with the spoon, and she openly suggests that they set up a playpen outside for the babies and that Lou keeps in eye on them. Lou agrees to the task; and while no one is looking, Tommy picks up his full bowl of food and puts it on his head like a hat, and the bowl\u2019s contents trickle down Tommy\u2019s head and he licks some of the food. We then fade to later on in the backyard, where Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil are all in said playpen (this is a different kind of playpen than the simple barrier in the family living room they usually keep the babies in, and the babies can only be lifted out of this sort of playpen), and Lou is in the middle of recounting an encounter and had his own father supposedly had with a \u201Cginormous bull moose\u201D decades earlier. Lou claims that the moose was \u201Cjust a hair bigger\u201D than the house, but then takes it back after a pause: \u201CWell, maybe he wasn\u2019t as big as the house; but he was certainly bigger than the garage!\u201D Tommy and his friends are nevertheless intrigued by his grandfather\u2019s supposedly true story. Lou continues: \u201CAnywho, the whole Pickles clan had moose for breakfast, lunch and dinner the remainder of the great depression [slightly mispronounced as \u2018deperson\u2019]; now that was real food, not like that \u2018green\u2019 mush you\u2019ve been eating. And just what did that moose look like you say? Well, I just happen to have his picture, right here in my wallet.\u201D Lou then takes out his wallet and produces what appears to be a small black-and-white photograph of a large moose standing on a rock in the middle of a forrest with the sun shining in the background; he holds the photo up in front of his grandson\u2019s face and states \u201CHere he is! 15 tons! A bull moose!\u201D, and Tommy smiles back, quite interested. Lou then sits down in a reclining lawn-chair and states that he can still sometimes taste said moose, and he then promptly falls asleep. We then shift attention to the babies; Tommy points out to his friends that his grandfather has fallen asleep and he suggests that they themselves go look for a moose like how he was talking about, Phil and Lil reply \u201CYeah!\u201D Chuckie, who\u2019s looking closely at an insect on the floor of the playpen, adds in \u201CThere\u2019s no moose around here Tommy.\u201D Tommy rebuttals \u201Chow will we know for sure if we don\u2019t go out and look for one?\u201D; Chuckie then points out that the kind of playpen they\u2019re in is inescapable, but Tommy then notices how the insect Chuckie was looking at was able to climb up the side and fly away, and this gives him an idea. Tommy has Chuckie stand against the side of the playpen and he then climbs up onto Chuckie\u2019s head; this causes Chuckie to loose his balance, stumble around and almost fall over, and Tommy instructs Phil and Lil to hold Chuckie\u2019s hands to keep him steady. Phil and Lil scramble to get a hold of Chuckie (both walking around him in circles) as Chuckie stumbles back over to the side of the playpen, but they eventually get themselves secure (though Chuckie continues to strain under Tommy\u2019s weight); Tommy then produces a squeak toy in the shape of a hot dog, tells his friends to watch, and begins to squeak it whilst holding it up. The squeaking gets the attention of Tommy\u2019s dog, Spike, who\u2019s rolling around in a patch of flowers and thick grass on the side of the house; a straining Chuckie gruntingly states: \u201CCome on Tommy, you\u2019re too heavy!\u201D Spikes then runs over, grabs the squeak toy with his teeth, and begins to tug on it whilst Tommy continues to hold on; and in tugging on the toy whist Tommy holds on to it and hangs on the playpen\u2019s side, Spike (with the help of the babies\u2019 weight shifted to the side of the playpen) also tips the playpen onto it\u2019s side and this knocks the babies out - the babies now free, Tommy releases the toy and Spike runs off with it. As Chuckie, Phil and Lil lie on the ground, Tommy states \u201CWow, Moose Country!\u201D Chuckie, thinking for a moment that Tommy was referring to the insect from earlier that\u2019s now on the ground next to him, replies: \u201CIt\u2019s not a moose Tommy, it\u2019s just a bug.\u201D Tommy then corrects him: \u201CNo not that, that [pointing to the backyard, where the young trees ready to be planted, potted plants and the mounds of dirt so somewhat make it look like something of a vast countryside to someone the size of a toddler].\u201D As Tommy and his friends pick themselves up (strangely, Tommy was standing up before the camera view changed), Tommy continues \u201CCome on Chuckie, we\u2019re gonna find us a moose\u201D, and he, Phil and Lil start on their way; and after a brief pause, Chuckie somewhat reluctantly follows. But not long after, Chuckie begins to have second thoughts, and he stops, looks back toward the house, and states \u201CI don\u2019t know Tommy, I don\u2019t think this is such a good idea\u201D; but Chuckie then turns around and notices how for behind he now is, and (not wanting to be alone) rushes to catch up with everyone else. Just as Chuckie catches up to Tommy, Phil and Lil, they all stop at a deep hole in the ground that Stu had apparently dug earlier (presumably for a large tree he intends to plant); the babies stand on said hole\u2019s edge and stare down into it in awe and Chuckie openly wonders: \u201CWhat is it?\u201D Tommy kicks a rock down into the hole and it lands in a shallow pool of mud on the bottom, and Tommy openly figures \u201CMaybe a moose lives here\u201D; he then asks \u201CWho goes in first?\u201D Phil and Lil both instantly decline, and Spike just then comes up behind them (with the Hot Dog squeak toy from earlier still in his mouth) - though none of the babies notice Spike. Chuckie states to everyone that he hopes it isn\u2019t a footprint, and just then, Spike puts the speak toy down and barks at the babies; Spike\u2019s bark startles the babies and they all fall into the hole at once as a result (though the pool of mud at the bottom gives them a soft landing). As they all pick themselves up, Lil chuckles and comments \u201CYuck!\u201D Chuckie then shakes some mud off of his arms, and in doing so accidentally flings it all over Tommy, Phil and Lil; after a pause, the three then decide to retaliate by scooping up some mud and throwing it into Chuckie\u2019s face (a-la snowballs). Chuckie is hit in the face and Lil says \u201CGot-ya\u2019!\u201D; an annoyed Chuckie then wipes his face, scoops up some more mud and throws it back at Tommy, Phil and Lil. It then escalates into the babies having a friendly mud-ball fight (a-la a snowball fight) for a brief moment, but as Lil gears up to throw another ball of mud, she feels something moving around in the mud she\u2019s holding and gets distracted; after getting hit with more mud and wiping it off her face, Lil then takes a closer look at the mud and an earthworm emerges (Lil openly asks: \u201CWhat\u2019s this?\u201D). Lil holds her ball of mud up so that everyone can get a close look at the earthworm; apparently however, none of the babies have ever seen an earthworm before, and with no adults around to explain, Phil makes it out to be \u201CChocolate Spaghetti\u201D. Chuckie points out that it\u2019s \u201Cdancing\u201D (squirming around); Tommy then picks the earthworm up with his fingers to get a much closer look at it, and not knowing any better, he ingests it to see what it tastes like! As Tommy chews and swallows the poor earthworm, Phil and Lil eagerly ask Tommy \u201CWhat\u2019s it like?\u201D; Tommy replies that while it doesn\u2019t taste like \u201CChocolate Spaghetti\u201D, it \u201C\u2018dances\u2019 all the way down\u201D. The rest of the babies then eagerly try to find more earthworms to eat; and we briefly focus on Chuckie, who finds another earthworm in the mud and ingests it, but promptly retches and spits it out because of the taste, leaving the poor, chewed up earthworm to struggle back home. Tommy then interrupts everyone, stating that while \u201CChocolate Spaghetti\u201D is ok, they\u2019re main task at hand in finding a moose, and he also mentions: \u201CMaybe, if we\u2019re real quiet, we can sneak up on one\u201D; they all then proceed to climb out of the hole. Tommy, Phil and Lil manage to climb out quickly, but Chuckie finds the he\u2019s unable to pull himself out and is left behind; the babies (sans Chuckie) then start to wonder around the yard, looking for a moose. Phil points out a silhouette that indeed looks like a moose sitting down, but upon a closer look is revealed to be a potted plant on top of a small grey box that itself is on top of a much larger box of fertilizer for the yard; Lil then points out another silhouette bearing great resemblance to a moose, but this upon closer look is also revealed to not be a moose at all but rather a blue shirt hanging on an upside-down rake that\u2019s leaning up against a box of \u201CHi Grow\u201D. As they continue to wonder around, the 3 babies come up to a pile of bags of fertilizer; the bags are arranged in such a way that the 3 babies are able to crawl under 2 of said bags that are leaning up diagonally against the rest, and an open bag of fertilizer is also perched on top of this edifice of bags. As the babies crawl under said bags, Spike (with the Hot Dog speak toy in his mouth) dashes over and leaps on top of the bags before leaping away and accidentally knocking over the open bag of fertilizer, which spills its contents onto Tommy as he emerges from under the bags (leaving him as well as his 2 friends filthy). We briefly focus on Spike as he shakes the toy around in his mouth and sends it flying into a pile of cut down branches near a tree; Spike chases the toy into the branches, digs around for it, and emerges with 2 modest sized branches stuck on his head, which bear resemblance to a pair of antlers. The 3 babies then peak though some bushes and tall grass and see a silhouette of Spike with the branches on his head, which altogether grant him great resemblance to a moose, and the babies thus figure that they have finally found a moose; Tommy asks Phil and Lil how they intend to catch it. Lil suggests digging a big hole for the moose to fall into and get stuck in, but Phil suggests using a net; Phil and Lil have one of their trademark arguments for a brief moment on whether to use a net or a hole, but are suddenly interrupted as Spike begins to walk over. The babies fail to notice that the silhouette is really Tommy\u2019s own dog and think that the moose they think they found has spotted them and intends to get them; a frightened Tommy thus shouts \u201CRUN AWAY!\u201D and the babies all run for their lives, leaving a confused but intrigued Spike behind. As the three babies run back the way they came, they come across the big hole that they were down in earlier and that Chuckie is still stuck in; Chuckie, hearing his friends approaching, holds both his hands up whilst jumping and shouts for help. Tommy, Phil and Lil stop by the hole and find that Chuckie is indeed stuck; Chuckie orders Tommy to get him out. Tommy tells his friend that they have to hurry as they believe a moose is coming after them; Chuckie however has become too impatient to want to hear anything more about mooses and skeptically replies: \u201CTommy, there is NO moose in your backyard! Now will you please get me out of here!?\u201D Without another word, Tommy, Phil and Lil slide back down into the hole to help Chuckie out; they give Chuckie a boost up, and Chuckie is able to just stick his right hand above the edge of the hole and feel around for something to grab onto. Chuckie (unable to see what he\u2019s grabbed) grabs onto the tiny handwheel of a valve on a long, green water tube that\u2019s part of the Pickles\u2019 sprinkler system; Tommy, Phil and Lil give Chuckie a big push up and while this successfully gets Chuckie out, it also causes an unprepared Chuckie to roll over and accidentally pull the valve (headwheel and all) clean out of the water tube, leaving behind a rupture in the sprinkler system - which is apparently designed to operate at a water pressure much higher than that of mains water pressure, with the extra pressure achieved via an electric water pump - and releasing a huge geyser of water several feat straight up high above the house (the water also washes the disembodied valve up to the sky with it)!! As a lightly dizzy Chuckie picks himself up, and as his friends climb out of the hole and join up with him, the water begins to rain all over the yard, including all over the babies (this also washes the fertilizer from earlier off of Tommy, Phil and Lil); we also see that the ruptured sprinkler system is siphoning a huge amount of water from the town\u2019s water entire system, severally reducing everyone else's water pressure!! We cut to a view of Tommy\u2019s maternal grandparents, Minka and Boris, and we see Boris filling their birdbath with the garden hose when the water suddenly stops because of the reduced pressure; a confused Boris peaks into the hose and says to himself (in his trademarked Russian accent) \u201CWhat\u2019s with this water?\u201D We then cut to a view of another couple (no one that any of the main characters know), who are both wearing swimsuits, listening to music though headphones and relaxing on lawnchairs next to a spitting water fountain; the fountain\u2019s water is also stopping because of the reduced water pressure, but the couple doesn\u2019t notice (they\u2019re looking away from the water fountain and they can\u2019t hear the water stopping as they have headphones on). We then cut back to the Pickles\u2019 residence and find that the geyser of water is indeed still spewing from the rupture in the sprinkler system and that airborne valve is falling back down to earth, and Tommy feels that it\u2019s plummeting straight toward his sleeping, paternal grandfather, Lou (Tommy: \u201CGrandpa!\u201D); but the valve instead falls onto the roof, falls down the rain gutter, bounces off the back of the reclining lawn-chair that Lou is sleeping on, bounces off the door handle of the sliding door between the backyard and the living room, and finally lands on top of the programmer-timer box that turns the now ruptured sprinkler system on and off - after spinning around for a brief moment, the valve falls down the side of the programmer-timer and lodges onto one of the trippers on the timer\u2019s dial and pulls it forward to the point where it clicks the system off. Thus, the Pickles\u2019 ruptured sprinkler system shut\u2019s down, the huge geyser of water stops spewing, and the town\u2019s water system is able to build pressure back up and stabilize itself - though not without causing more chaos all over town: We cut back to Boris and Minka and see that Brois is still examining their garden hose by looking down into it, when the water pressure is suddenly restored and the hose sprays an unexpecting Boris in the face; as Boris struggles with the hose and is sprayed in the face, he hollers out to his wife to turn the hose off. We then cut back to the other couple who are reclining next to their spitting fountain, who still haven\u2019t noticed what happened to their fountain\u2019s water; the water pressure is suddenly restored, but the sudden spike in pressure damages the fountain and causes it to squirt a large torrent of water across the yard and all over the couple, who are both equally surprised and soaked (and likely thankful that they were wearing swimsuits). We then cut back to the babies; as a soaked Chuckie shakes himself dry, Tommy asks him if he\u2019s ok. A frustrated and quite irritated Chuckie replies: \u201CAm I ok? Am I OK!? First you talk me into breaking out of the playpen! Then you leave me in a hole! Then you get me all wet! AND FOR WHAT!? HUH!? A MOOSE!? [as Chuckie continues to share his pain, Spike, who still has the branches stuck on his head, comes into view behind Chuckie, but the other babies still see him as a silhouette and thus still think he\u2019s a moose] I don\u2019t see any moose; WHERE\u2019S THE MOOSE TOMMY!? WHERE!? WHERE!?\u201D Tommy interrupts Chuckie and points him in the direction of Spike\u2019s silhouette, and Chuckie turns around and sees Spike\u2019s silhouette - he also doesn\u2019t see it\u2019s really Spike and also believes it\u2019s a moose, and a flabbergasted Chuckie says \u201CWow!\" in awe at that he sees. After a brief moment however, Spike comes into a much clearer view and he also manages to shake off the branches that were stuck on his head; the babies finally see that their moose was really Spike (Tommy, Phil and Lil: \u201CSpike?\u201D) and Chuckie (with his ego inflated as he finds he was right all along) adds in: \u201CHuh! Some moose.\u201D Just then, the babies hear Tommy\u2019s father, Stu coming into the backyard whilst carrying heavy bags of fish fertilizer (he hollers to his wife \u201COpen the door Didi, this fish-fertilizer weighs \u2018a ton\u2019\u201D), and they all rush back to the playpen to avoid being seen and getting into trouble; just in the nick of time, the 4 babies make it back to the playpen - which is still on it\u2019s side, thank goodness as the babies won\u2019t have to climb back into it - and they jump into the floor so that it tips right-side-up again with all of them back inside. The noise at last wakes up Lou, who is without a clue that anything happened while he was asleep; Didi opens the door and she and her husband walk out into the yard. Stu asks his father is everything is under control; and Lou, who of course wasn\u2019t awake to see what the babies had been up to, replies \u201CAll quiet on the western front.\u201D Didi then looks at their yard and notices that everything is soaking wet from Chuckie accidentally rupturing their sprinkler system; but of course none of them know about what Chuckie did and can\u2019t see the small rupture he made in the system\u2019s tube from where they\u2019re all standing, and all Didi can think to ask Lou is: \u201CSay, it didn\u2019t rain or anything while you were out here, did it?\u201D The three adults briefly look up at the sky to check for rain clouds; they don\u2019t see any, and Lou replies to Didi \u201CNot today, no.\u201D Stu then decides to take a nap and starts walking back into the house, and Lou then asks his daughter-in-law \u201CSay Didi, did I ever tell you about the time me and my pappy bagged a great northern bull moose?\u201D; Stu stops when he overhears his father recounting his story to his wife. Before Didi can answer, Lou cuts her off and goes on: \u201CHow big was he you say? Well, I just happen to have a picture of him right here [and he gets out the black-and-white photo of the moose that he showed his grandson and his friends earlier to show Didi].\u201D Just before Lou hands the photo to Didi, Stu walks over, cuts in and takes the photo from his father for a closer look (Stu skeptically says: \u201CLet me see that\u201D); upon turning the photo over, Stu discovers that the photograph is actually a pocket sized insurance calendar, revealing that Lou\u2019s family never had an encounter with the moose in the calendar\u2019s picture in the first place and thus invalidating it as proof of his story. Stu hands the insurance calendar back to his father, stating to him \u201CThis is an insurance calendar, pop\u201D; as Lou takes a closer look at the back of his calendar, Lou replies: \u201CWell, maybe it isn\u2019t his actual photo, but he was just as big.\u201D A skeptical Stu and Didi then begin to walk back inside the house and Stu rebuttals \u201CSure pop\u201D; Lou adds in \u201CBigger in fact!\u201D and a still skeptical Stu replies \u201CSure pop, bigger.\u201D Seeing that his son and daughter-in-law are skeptical as to whether his childhood story is really true, Lou mumbles to himself in light irritation. We then focus back on the babies: Chuckie tells Tommy \u201CI told you there was no moose out there, Tommy\u201D; Tommy openly wonders why his dog \u201Cdressed up like one\u201D (as he\u2019s too young to understand that Spike didn\u2019t intentionally stick the branches on his head), and Phil and Lil add in \u201CYeah.\u201D Tommy then openly figures that perhaps his dog was trying to tell them all something; Phil rebuttals \u201CLike what?\u201D and Lil adds in \u201CYeah, like what?\u201D Tommy figures: \u201CMaybe\u2026 that we only have to go \u2018a little bit further\u2019 to get to moose country.\u201D Phil and Lil openly agree (Phil, Lil: \u201CYeah!\u201D); but Chuckie, clearly not up for another moose related adventure (especially if it involves going \u201Ca little bit further\u201D than they had already gone), puts his left hand on his head in grief and shots \u201COH NO!\u201D We switch for an overhead camera angle and pan outward for a final overhead view of the backyard, and the episode comes to an end."@en . .