It's going to be a busy week here at the ol' tax blog.

First, we're taking a brief break from taxes on Thursday. That day, Sept. 28, we will be hosting the next edition of I and the Bird. We're delighted to be tapped as hostess, since IatB is THE Internet birding hot spot.

Regular readers know that our feathered friends are one of my nontax passions, so I'm looking forward to putting together a group of fine avian bloggings from some of cyberspace's dedicated birders and naturalists.

If you've got a bird-related submission, send it along by Tuesday, 9/26, to ensure that it makes the 33rd I and the Bird (hey, that rhymes!). You can e-mail your items to me (link in the righthand column of this page) or check out I and the Bird's main or Blog Carnival pages.

Then, four days later (Monday, Oct. 2), it'll be time for another twirl on the tax Tilt-A-Whirl. The 5th Carnival of Taxes will be up on the site that day.

As we head into fall, tax planning starts hitting higher gear. I know there's lots of valuable tax advice out there in cyberspace. If you posted some of it, or simply ran across it in your tax surfing, pass it along.

You can send Carnival of Taxes items directly to me (again) or go through the official Carnival of Taxes Blog Carnival page. Just please do so by Saturday evening, Sept. 30. If you're not sure what we're looking for as far as tax carnival fun and games, check out this post, which has guidelines for submissions, as well as links to previous tax carnivals.

Thanks for participating in either or both upcoming Blog Carnivals. We'll be looking for you along the midways next week.