A busy week

It doesn't seem like a week has passed since the Titian show, but here it is, another Saturday, and where did the week go?

I've had a pretty busy week, web-wise. Two jobs (that will hopefully pay, although I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I'm grossly undercharging people for what I do) have kept me busy all week. I'm happier every day with my MagicJack. It's turned out to be exactly what I needed for a business telephone line at an incredibly inexpensive price. In theory, despite the "unlimited" hours, you are limited to a fifty-hour usage per month, which I will never hit, but even so, for $20/year?? I can't complain. I'm waiting for Google Voice to go public to grab a better phone number, but other than that, I'm very happy with MagicJack.

Now if folks will just send me the money they owe me...

I was listening to a grackle earlier tonight. Grackles are pretty, iridescent birds and common here, and not known for being anything special. A couple years ago I saw what I've since been calling "The Grackle Dance" and I'm still trying to catch it on video. Who knew what a production the common grackle made of its mating ritual? I'd never heard about it or read any reference to it until I saw it for myself a couple years ago. Tonight I heard a bird singing it's heart out, making all sorts of sounds. I couldn't figure out what kind of bird it was and I thought maybe we had a very early Baltimore Oriole. Then I saw it — it was a common grackle, sitting high in a tree and going wild with song. I've never seen a grackle singing like this. It was imitating everything it heard. Not a loud as many of the other song birds, it was covering a wide range of sounds, including something between a woodpecker pecking and a grouse's thumping wattle sound. He hummed, he trilled, he sang … he made all kinds of sounds, none of which I'd ever heard or would have expected from a grackle. I dragged Queenee out to hear him so I'd have a witness. It was pretty cool.