A small gray squirrel lugged a half-shelled cob of field corn across the side street as the meathead and I started off.

At the next house, a rabbit and two doves sat within feet of each other. Storm gave a token look, then rambled on.

It seemed like every living thing came to out after the oppressive heat of Saturday. We hit 95, then dropped more than 20 degrees in minutes as the front and storms came through.

Shocking, but welcome, change.

Change comes to the water, too.

Carp roiled the shallow water near the neckdown between the two old clay pits. That made me look for mulberries. When the water is warm enough for carp on shore, it is usually mulberry time.

Not yet.

Yesterday, I found four pairs of Canada geese with goslings, 14 between them. That's the highest count I found so far. Most years, seven pairs nest. Not sure if the cold, wet spring impacted that number this year or not.

By the way, calling them goslings is probably unjust to the young geese. They're half the size of their parents with that gangly look of a 14-year-old going through a growth spurt.

Two boys had camped out in the brush overnight. I could hear them, but couldn't see them with the heavy summer growth. Just made me glad that boys still snuck off to camp out overnight.

A kingfisher screeched off, but I couldn't pick up off the shoreline.

Back in town, a rabbit let Storm and I walk within 10 feet. That's too close to lunging distance for the meathead. I knew that, and hung on.

Then the rabbit had the audacity to let us walk with 12 feet, then again within 15 feet. Wonder not why they are prime forage for predators.

Yet, another tick crawled up my leg as I finished typing. that's about the third one this week. Not sure if Storm or I am picking them up.

Not sure if it a strong year for ticks or it just seems that way.

Summer is here. It was inevitable.