TWIN LAKES VILLAGE - Add this one to the list of excuses for missing work on a warm spring day: "OK, look, I've actually got a bull moose blocking my garage door. I can't get my car out of the driveway."

It's the perfect excuse as golf season swings into action.

A moose on Thursday watched from the 13th green as groundskeepers prepared Twin Lakes Village Golf Course for its opening today.

Then, after snacking on some green grub and wandering about the course, the young male moose sauntered over to a nearby family's residence, at 21377 N. Circle Road. There, it slumbered through a good part of the day in front of the family's garage door, likely blocking access in or out.

Calls to the residence weren't immediately returned.

Bicyclists, dog walkers, and others made their way by the house, including a few who slowed their vehicles to take a closer look. Some, including the neighbor across the street, said they hadn't noticed the animal curling up in front of the garage door, until is was pointed out to them, though the house and the animal are similar colors.

"He sleeps where he wants," said Tom Date, greenskeeper at the golf course. "I'd say this is his place, he lives here."

Date said the moose wandered off the 13th green early Thursday as members of the grounds crews went about work on the approach. Moose are common on the course, eating grass and standing around, Date said.

Assessing the scene at the residence, neighbor Zoli Linzer said that what appeared to him to be a young bull was rumored to be recently separated from its mother, which he heard was struck by a vehicle. He heard from another neighbor the mother was struck along nearby Highway 41.

"In the fall we could see the two of them together," Linzer said.

He said he has heard the animal has been feeding around the golf course and drinking from a pond.

"I don't think he's as helpless as I first thought," he said. "Maybe we can get him together with some other moose."

He said the moose remained by the family's garage door until at least late in the afternoon. The last time he went by was about 4 p.m.

Though the village has a lot of moose sightings, he said, "It's always exiting" when one turns up like the one on Thursday.

Neighbor Doug Lowden agreed, "Particularly if you're trying to tee off and then they walk in front of you."

Both Linzer and Lowden pointed out that the animals are plentiful enough in the village that Twin Lakes Elementary, at 5326 W. Rice Road, is known as the "Home of the Moose."

The two said the wooded area south of Rice Road and the school provides ample refuge for moose.

They speculated the animal is about a year old, or slightly more, based on how long they've seen the moose inhabiting the village.