The Arrival of Summer

"One swallow dos not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of March thaw, is the spring. A cardinal, whistling spring to a thaw but later finding himself mistaken, can retrieve his error by resuming his winter silence. A chipmunk, emerging for a sunbath but finding a blizzard, has only to go back to bed. But a migrating goose, staking two hundred miles of black night on the chance of finding a hole in the lake has no easy chance for retreat. His arrival carries the conviction of a prophet who has burned his bridges." -Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac.

The geese arrived in Anchorage on Tuesday. All of them. Some years they trickle in over several days or a week or two. But this year it seems like one evening they were absent and the next morning they were everywhere. We cry "Welcome Back!" and revel in the promise of summer that they carry on their wings. Surely winter can't last much longer now that the geese are here. Time to tune up the bikes, break out the hiking boots, oil the glove and dust off the fishing rods. Summer is upon us.

Amy and I decided to celebrate by making a tradition of an annual goose barbeque when they return (no we aren't cooking a goose, though that's not a bad idea). The day the geese come back we'll fire up the BBQ and grill up some burgers. Despite the snow that lingers in the yard.

For now the geese are everyone's friends, but soon Anchorage residents will begin to murmur and gripe as the playgrounds and ball fields we so look forward to get covered in slimy green goose turds. You see the geese love it here for the same reasons we do.