The Goose Days of Summer

They call these the Dog Days of Summer — because Sirius, the Dog Star, is ascendant, and not because the dogs don't want to do nothin' but lay on the porch and bark at strangers —

Me, I don't think of dogs this time of year, I think of geese. The tomatoes are ripe, full, red, and delicious, the peppers are ready for picking and pickling by the peck, and the beans are ripening faster than we can think of ways to eat them. The plums are still a week or two away from being ready to harvest, but boy, are we going to have plums out the ears this year.

Meanwhile, the days are still hot, but the nights are turning crisp and cool, and over in the cow pasture, the wild geese are starting to flock-up. Every morning, about half an hour before dawn, they start raising an unholy racket; as far as I can tell, in goose-speak, they're all saying, "So, you think it's time to fly south?" and "No, not yet," over and over again, by the hundreds.

How about you? What's your favorite indicator that Summer is almost over and Fall is just around the corner?