A FenceBoard Flyer

How a Backyard Bird Found Its Way Into Fenceboard Flyers

Last spring I was out front cleaning and weeding the flower bed. The kind of chore where your mind can just drift off to other things while you're doing it.

After a while I noticed a little bird flying back and forth behind me. It came in fast, landed not far away, then disappeared into the tree. A few seconds later it shot back out again, gone just as quickly as it came.

I kept working, but I couldn't help watching it out of the corner of my eye. It made another pass, then another. Every move was sharp and certain. Some birds glide. Others bounce around like they're still deciding. This little bird didn't waste time. It just went.

I finally stopped and watched it for a minute. It came in again, hit the opening clean, and was gone before I could even take a step. For something that small, it carried itself like it knew exactly what it was doing.

It wasn't the colors that caught my attention. It was the way it flew. Fast. Direct. Confident. Standing there, I started picturing that little bird with a leather helmet and a pair of big round goggles, flying an old prop plane and leaning into the wind like it had somewhere important to be.

Somehow, standing there in the yard, it made perfect sense.

That picture stayed with me. Months later, when it came time to come up with a logo for Fenceboard Flyers, I didn't have to think very long. That little bird and its plane were already there.

Somehow, he just seemed to belong.

Now he rides along on the website and has become a small part of Fenceboard Flyers. Every time I see him, I think back to that afternoon in the flower bed.

One determined little bird. A little imagination. And an idea that showed up when I wasn't looking for one.