You can't tell us a drunk, unnamed screech owl does not provide amusing imagery.
"After the travel pool left the Inn at Perry Cabin we waited a short time to join the presidential motorcade leaving the Cheneys
residence. White House aides informed us that Maryland Crab Cakes were served at lunch, an important distinction for some of the local correspondents in tow. The president and pool left St. Michaels a little ahead of schedule. Pool landed at Fort McNair around 2:30 p.m., and returned to White House around 2:50 p.m., when Lid was called." -- Jason Dick, CongressDaily
"Short helicopter ride from the Beltsville Secret Service facility across the Chesapeake Bay was uneventful save pooler's memories of untold hours on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge dreaming of salt water taffy or crab cakes while stuck in traffic. A sizable crowd met President Bush at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Before discussing the executive order he would soon sign, the president pointed out to the crowd of fishing enthusiasts, journalists, bystanders and girl scouts that First Lady Laura Bush had skipped the event and had headed to the St. Micheal's weekend home of Vice President Dick Cheney ahead of their later scheduled lunch. 'I guess you could say she's the taster,' Bush said, to laughter." -- Dick
"Bush told the crowd he would be heading out to do a little fishing, because, referring to Cheney, 'The Secret Service won't let me go hunting with him,' likely referring to Cheney's infamous 2006 hunting accident, when he shot his friend Henry Whittington in Texas while quail hunting." -- Dick
"After a short helicopter ride to the Secret Service training facility in Beltsville, Maryland, and a swift motorcade to the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge grounds, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush took a brief tour of the Patuxent Research Refuge before connecting at about 8:45 a.m. with the travel pool at Cash Lake and meeting a screech owl. The screech owl was tended to by Glenn Olsen, the veterinary medical officer at the research center. The screech owl, looking a bit sleepy and wary of the dozens of visitors and cameras, has no name, your pool was informed. The reason? He's a research animal and they don't get names here at the Patuxent facility. He is also not endangered and is quite common in the eastern United States, the president was informed by Olsen. The reason for the nameless screech owl's apparent drowsiness, we were informed, is he is primarily a nocturnal creature, prompting Bush's first early morning quip for the pool: 'Like the press corps. They sleep by day and fly by night.'" -- Dick
"Bush is lunching with biz leaders at the Whole Hog Cafe. They are in a back room around a big table. Bush had what appeared to be a heaping plate o' barbecue. Pool was shown in very briefly at the top. 'I'm looking forward to some good northwest Arkansas barbecue,' the president said. And 'the longer you take my picture, the less time I have to eat it.' As we were getting the old heave-ho, the president added his usual admonishment to 'stop off at the counter and buy something. Put some money in the local economy.' -- Julie Mason, Houston Chronicle
