Ever since before The Hub and I were married, it seems like I've had crows all around me. It started on the parking lot outside of Beneficial. That's another story for another time. It's hard to tell the difference between crows and ravens, but I'm pretty sure that all of my feathered friends have been crows - just big ones.

There was a pair at Hampstead, which is hardly surprising since we were on a ridge. Then there were three who hung around when we lived in New Windsor, and a whole gaggle in both neighborhoods in MA.

Of course...

....you don't call them a "gaggle". I think you call them a "murder". I don't know that from any authoritative source, though. I just remember it from the lyrics of an old Sting song. It doesn't seem a very friendly thing to call them, though. Especially since crows are actually sort of friendly birds: certainly they are social. Also, it's possible that the MA birds were ravens and the MD birds are crows.

Crows are curious, but I have lately begun to think it a little odd how they often come right up to me, or sit on the porch railing. Why not, right? I'd never harm them, they do their thing and I do mine, though I must say that they are terribly loud. It would not at all surprise me to find that one hopped into my bedroom one morning. I'd have thought it an early morning dream, that I half woke up and saw a huge black bird on top of Kendi's sleeping cage...except that when I did get up the window right by her cage was open....and that's the one that doesn't have a screen in it....and there was a suspicious looking dropping on the cage cover. But who knows? Maybe they were just so freaking loud that I imagined one was right in the room with me.

Anyway, after almost 13 years of being surrounded by large black birds, I began to pay attention to them. I now realize that there are five of them who must live nearby the house, and six to eight of them who must live near the condo complex....though I more often see that social group hanging around 795. It's not weird that they're an odd number. I found out that crows that don't have mates are known as "helpers" and help raise the young of other crows. I guess they are sort of like crow baby sitters, though presumabley without the tendancy to clean out the fridge and make out on the couch with their boyfriends.

The five that live near the house often hang out in the front yard. One of them is really big and often struts up the driveway to the side door and looks around as if to see what's going on.

Theresa said maybe he was selling magazines.

This morning, when they were out in the trees making their "contact calls" I suffered one of my (more and more frequent, it seems) bouts of craziness. The kind of craziness I'm talking about is the "I wonder what would happen if...." type, which has gotten approximately 18 million times worse since I got my diagnosis.

For instance, a few weeks ago I was in the book store with The Hub and there was a not terribly attractive man seated with a woman in the coffee shop. He was wearing a tee shirt that said "Kiss me, I'm drunk". He didn't seem to be drunk, but I had to talk myself out of going up to him and kissing him because I wondered what would happen if I did so.

The other day when it was raining so hard I wondered what would happen if I whipped off my clothes and took a shower under the rain spout which is overflowing because it needs to be cleaned out. While last year imagining the shocked look on The Hub's face would have been enough to prevent me from thinking about it further, the other day that made it seem like a good idea. I was also alarmingly unconcerned about what the neighbors would think. Not that any neighbors were around - it was a weekday and most of our neighbors are not very observant. When I mentioned the idea to The Hub he must have had the realization that I was about a step away from doing it because he said, very seriously, "It's a cold rain." And so I didn't.

But, I digress.

My bout of craziness this morning was to talk back to the crows. I didn't think I could do a very convincing crow call, but, to my surprise, I sounded pretty good. And it must have surprised the crows too....because they were quiet for a LONG time and then broke out into all kinds of crow chatter.

I feel rather guilty. I feel that if I were going to mess with someone it should be my own species. Anyway, the more I learn about crows the more I like them. Research indicates that they are intellegent, curious, social birds, but they have an unjust reputation as being a bad omen among people. Sort of like Goth kids, only, you know, with feathers.

Who knows though. Maybe they were wondering what took me so long to answer them and were surprised I finally did. I'm sure they're curious about the noises the K-bird makes.

I'm keeping that corner window closed, though, just in case.