Early Canada goose season began half an hour before sunrise on the first of September, and the daily bag limit is 15 birds. When the shots come popping off the ponds, many people assume that it’s fireworks, not realizing that hunters are trying their best to solve a growing overpopulation problem.

Sadly, there are not enough water-fowlers about any longer. If every man, woman and child on the Vineyard secured the bag limit of geese each day for the entire season, that might help get a handle on our goose situation.

Ordinarily, Canada geese drop by each spring and fall, driven ever onward by ambition and instinct. But at some point, certain of these geese decided to stay right here, where they can enjoy the island’s ponds, bays and golf courses with abandon, 12 months out of the year.

A good-sized Canada goose can generate up to a pound and a half of acidic goose grossness each day, which is no doubt responsible, in part, for many of the pond closures.

In their spare time, the geese are capable of uprooting vast swaths of farmland and pasture at a frightening rate. They can be quite unpleasant when questioned, too. In plain words, the non-migratory geese have upset the natural order by choosing to stick around.

One sunset last week at Lambert’s Cove, we watched a little flock of geese take off together and fly rather sloppily toward the Elizabeth Islands, falling in and out of V formation. That V always seems to encapsulate both the wistfulness and determination of this season; it’s one of autumn’s quiet rewards for keeping your head up.

We waited for the geese to tighten their ranks and turn southward. But these geese were not going anywhere far. In another moment, the V careened around, flapped apart and descended on James Pond. Soon they were out of sight, behind the dunes.

School started Wednesday, Sept. 8. The West Tisbury School asks that parents picking up their children not arrive early, because it disrupts the flow and backs up traffic into the street. Just come at 2:40 p.m. Or, better yet, let’s save the planet and make our kids ride the bus this year.

Come to the West Tisbury Library at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11, for an outdoor poetry reading celebrating Island poet Donald Nitchie’s new anthology, From the Farther Shore: Discovering Cape Cod and the Islands Through Poetry. Other local poets will be attending as well.

The library is expanding its children’s room hours to accommodate kids after school, and will be open for drop-ins from 2 to 6 p.m. from Mondays to Thursdays, and from 2 to 5 p.m. on Fridays.

We checked out Alley’s General Store this morning. The scale is still in place on the porch, along with a row of banners that people must fly everywhere now, it seems, to let other people know that they are not scoundrels.

Inside, the place looks nice. Our favorite things were the big beautiful baking potatoes, the barrel of oyster crackers, a refrigerated case of cheese, and a table covered with little metal trucks.

At first, my children were crestfallen at the lack of interesting candy; the chocolate bars on offer have an expensive, shade-grown, adult-y vibe. As we were leaving, we happily discovered a whole wall of glass jars filled with sweets, right next to the door. It looks as if you have to ask for help from the clerk, so shy children might be tempted to tuck a jar under their arm and run.

All in all, the new Alley’s is a lovely store and a lot of stock has yet to arrive. It’s great that they have opened now, just for us. They have the whole off-season to sort themselves out, which is a pretty good way to begin.

Sept. 8 is the second birthday of my littlest, Patrick Joseph. Since his siblings were back in school that day, we celebrated early with a trip to Goodale’s, where we watched all kinds of big trucks do their work. Some of the truck drivers honked their horns and waved. Joey was invited to sit in a bulldozer but that was too great an honor; he was happy just to touch the treads, reverently, with the tips of his fingers.

Always looking for scraps and stories. Please don’t be strangers.