That's a couple of female common eiders. If you look in back you can see a floating ball of puff--that an eider duckling!

I was just a zombie yesterday on my flight from Bangor to Indianapolis. All those late nights and 3:30am wake up calls at the ABA Convention had finally caught up to me. It also didn't help that I had one nasty canker sore on my tongue--in one of the worst spots too. It's right on the side in the back and no matter what I do, it rubs against my molars. It hurt to talk and especially eat. I used to get them constantly but thanks to my dentist I have eliminated the toothpaste and foods that trigger them, so I rarely have one. This one was the result of Jolly Rancher candies. I think some of them are flavored with pineapple which is a guaranteed canker sore for me and I remember absent mindedly eating a couple at the ABA.

By the time I arrived at my Mom's yesterday I was tired, hangry (hungry and angry) and just plain sore. Mom worked her magic: I got some good mouth numbing products on the sore, she made some of my favorite food (fried green tomatoes) and she did my laundry! Go Mom! Thanks! After finally getting a full eight hours sleep I am feeling human. From now on Mom goes on all my long trips.

This morning was such a treat. Instead of waking up to a double alarm of a hotel wake call and annoying clock radio, I woke up naturally to the sound of tufted titmice, Carolina wrens and cardinals.

I'll be getting more entries up soon. Mom doesn't have any internet whatsoever and I have to upload on the fly. I hope to have more up tonight.

I'm currently working a convention for Wild Birds Unlimited Stores. It's not open to the public so I don't know how much I can mention of what happens here, but I still have some fun stories from the ABA coming.