MINE!! MINE!!

This past week, the BestHubbyEver and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. We went out for coffee on the actual day, but this past Saturday we went on a more substantial date. We left the girls with GrammaJ and headed south.

First stop was Augusta for a small lunch, then we headed to Freeport. Because we've signed up to raise money for the American Lung Association via the Trek Across Maine, we had coupons for 20% off any biking or camping gear at LLBean. We had some fun shopping and came away with a couple of bargains. We grabbed a couple of free coffees at a local gas station (more coupons) and wound our way south to Portland via the back roads.

We drove here and there wasting our $3.75 per gallon gasoline in a leisurely way. Finally we parked near the Old Port and got out to walk on the cobbled streets and enjoy the ocean breeze. After quite a bit of walking we were getting hungry, so we reviewed the restaurants we were passing. There were plenty of them and many looked quite good, but we decided to settle for familiarty. We got back in the van and headed up to Yarmouth to enjoy a meal at The Muddy Rudder. The restaurant has a classy, romantic atmosphere, decent food and a gorgeous view of a tidal river and marsh.

We came in to dine rather early, so there was no live music, but the entertainment on the marsh was first rate. As we ate and whispered sweet nothings to one another ("Pass the salt, please"), we watched the birds outside. There was this one duck who seemed determined to go fishing for his own supper. He'd go down for a long dive, then come up for air and dive again.

We were watching pretty intently, trying to predict where he would surface. Suddenly he popped up with a shining silver fish flopping in his mouth! The BHE and I practically cheered for him. However, we weren't the only one watching the action. A seagull who had been lazily perched on a post also spied him. He was in action immediately, swooping on the duck in an attempt to steal his food. I could almost hear him yelling out, "MINE!!"



The duck dove, but he lost his fish. A few minutes later he caught another. This time TWO seagulls attacked him, "MINE! MINE!"

The next fish he caught almost got him brained as a whole flock descended on him. After that he (wisely, in my opinion) thought better of fishing in that part of the river and moved on.

The whole incident got the BHE and I to thinking. What were we doing paying for a meal? We could each just perch lazily on benches or chairs in the restaurant and wait. As soon as a waitress emerged from the kitchen we could swoop and try to snag a hearty meal! If she could fight us off, then fine. But if we overpowered her - "MINE!! MINE!!", we could end up with some awfully nice meals for very little work.

;-)