Racket During the Day

I don't know what I'd do if I had to stay home all day long. There's only so much yard work one can do (note sarcasm). I can lounge all day reading and watching movies and doing some blogging, but I'm amazed at how many times the phone rings. The majority of the calls are telemarketers. The tell-tale sign is a 1-800 number. Once in awhile the caller ID will read "Unknown Caller," but the second sign is that they never respond to my hello right away. There is always a two or three second pause before a strange voice (usually with a thick foreign accent) chimes in asking to speak with either Kristie or me (and Casey, all of 17, has even been getting them now). That is when I hang up.

If the phone's not ringing, then the birds are squawking. There is a belligerent blue jay that has been harassing the house for most of the day. The black birds are annoying too, especially when I let Einstein out. They're quick to pinpoint him hiding in the bushes and squawk like mad so they all know he's out. It's not like he could catch one of them, but it does help me locate him when I have to try and usher him into the house.

There are several other exotic sounding birds, but I have no idea what they are. Usually, when I try to see I just glimpse leaves and branches. But I will put up with their racket all day compared to the deathly silence of winter.

Then there is the radio blaring and the engine of the white trash kid who tears through our neighborhood in his battered old blazer, windows down, no shirt on, and some horrible rap music thumping. I almost prefer our neighbor's dog which usually begins barking when they go to work - sometime around six - and when they either finally feed it at night or let it into the house - sometime around nine. Mercifully, the must be on vacation because I haven't heard anything from him this week.

Oh, there goes the phone. Another "Unknown Caller" . . .