With temperatures returned to the 80s, it is right that the Summer Tanagers are giving out what is the voice of the hot summer here, “Pik tuk … peek tuk tuk …” The bosque rings with bird chatterings, whitterings, and calls.

Ellison and I stop on the Cascabel Road at Pasture #3 to watch a Gila Monster cross from one side to the other with the assurance and swing of a bulldog, and one neighbor and another comes along, stops and asks what’s going on–everyone loves a Gila Monster, and this spring has brought out more of them than I have ever seen.