On August 29th, 2012, foxes were running the forests and meadows of West Michigan. On the day of the red fox, I think I saw one of these beautiful canines north of Hesperia, before the final 21 days of summer.

I was riding on a yellow school bus south on Dickinson Road, and we
were high enough above the road to see for miles into the fields. A
farmer had left a strip of corn between two fields of alfalfa, and I
was guessing he had left the corn for the deer to nibble and live
around the acreage until the first day of hunting season. There's
always free corn around a deer blind, even if there's a restriction
against baiting. We saw a different tableau of deer in the next three
fields. One field, the deer family seemed to be running to keep us in
sight. It was here my eye fell upon a dog like creature sitting
expectantly, looking at the road. I pointed it out to a husband and
wife I had talked to during the journey. It didn't look like a German
Shepherd, although the animal had hints of the shepherd. So I went out
on a limb and called it a fox to my companions, who didn't catch a
glimpse to confirm or deny.

We called out our discoveries as we traveled along, including a
turkey, more deer herds and a pen of pygmy goat. We rolled into
downtown Muskegon in enough time to see an outsized red fireball
resting upon the sands of Bluffton across a long stretch of Lake
Muskegon.