Dog Days of Summer

What exactly is the 'Dog Days of Summer'? Everyone knows that the 'dog days of summer' occur during the hottest and muggiest part of the season. But where does the term come from? Why do we call the hot, sultry days of summer 'dog days'� Is it something that dogs everywhere got together 1000s of years ago and decided it was too hot to do anything so they made their own holiday?

Well, according to Google:
1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere
2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity

The Farmer's Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3rd and ending August 11th. If this is true, then we are about done with them. Does that mean on Aug. 12th the humidity will disperse, the earth (and us) will breath easier and all will be right in the world again? I think not.

A casual survey will usually find that many people believe the phrase is in reference to the conspicuous laziness of domesticated dogs (who are in danger of overheating with too much exercise) during the hottest days of the summer. When speaking of "Dog Days" there seems to be a connotation of lying or "dogging" around, or being "dog tired" on these hot and humid days. Although these meanings have nothing to do with the original source of the phrase, they may have been attached to the phrase in recent years due to common usage or misunderstanding of the origin of the phrase.

Here's how it all came about. In ancient times, when the night sky wasn't obscured by artificial lights and smog, different groups of peoples in different parts of the world drew images in the sky by 'connecting the dots' of stars. The images drawn were dependent upon the culture: The Chinese saw different images than the Native Americans, who saw different pictures than the Europeans. These star pictures are now called constellations, and the constellations that are now mapped out in the sky come from our European ancestors.

The brightest of the stars in Canis Major (the big dog) is Sirius, which also happens to be the brightest star in the night sky. In fact, it is so bright that the ancient Romans thought that the earth received heat from it. Look for it in the southern sky (viewed from northern latitudes) during January.

In the summer, however, Sirius, the 'dog star', rises and sets with the sun. During late July Sirius is in conjunction with the sun, and the ancients believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather. They named this period of time, from 20 days before the conjunction to 20 days after, 'dog days' after the dog star.

The conjunction of Sirius with the sun varies somewhat with latitude. And the 'precession of the equinoxes' (a gradual drifting of the constellations over time) means that the constellations today are not in exactly the same place in the sky as they were in ancient Rome. Today, dog days occur during the period between July 3 and August 11. Although it is certainly the warmest period of the summer, the heat is not due to the added radiation from a far-away star, regardless of its brightness. No, the heat of summer is a direct result of the earth's tilt.

So, my next question is are there Cat Days of Winter? :P You know, when it's to cold to chase mice and too much snow on the ground to keep their paws clean....Just a thought....

This Day in History:

August 1, 1942

Jerry Garcia is born

Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia is born in San Francisco. At age 15, he traded a birthday gift from his mother-an accordion-for an electric guitar and was soon playing in San Francisco coffeehouses. Along the way, he began playing in various groups with keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, and drummer Bill Kreutzmann. They formed psychedelic rock phenomenon the Grateful Dead in 1965. The group toured for more than 30 years, acquiring an enormously devoted following. Although many of their songs are now classics, including "Dark Star," "Uncle John's Band," and "Truckin'," their only Top 10 hit was "Touch of Grey" in 1987. Garcia, who reportedly struggled with heroin addiction, died of a heart attack on August 9, 1995.

August 1, 1972

Bush is suspended from flying with the Air National Guard

On this day in 1972, future President George Walker Bush, son of former president George Herbert Walker Bush, is suspended from flying with the Texas Air National Guard for missing an annual medical examination.

Bush’s military-service record became a source of controversy during the 2000 and 2004 elections, and underwent further scrutiny when he launched a controversial war in Iraq in 2003. Although Bush served in the National Guard, many opponents of the war, including veterans, criticized the president for a sketchy military record, which, it was alleged, contained extended and inexplicable absences of six months to a year at a time. Bush defended his military record by saying he satisfactorily completed all of his military obligations.

Bush was given an honorable discharge from the Air National Guard in 1973 to attend Harvard Business School. Still, some veterans and war opponents equated Bush’s stint in the National Guard and his subsequent Harvard attendance as tantamount to a Vietnam War draft deferment procured by his politically influential father. Bush’s harshest critics went even further, claiming that Bush’s military records may have been tampered with or forged to create a positive military-service record. According to analyses by historians and investigators, however, Bush’s military records do not substantiate this or some critics’ claims that Bush ever went AWOL (absent without leave).

Time for me to check out NASCAR practice times. Hopefully this weekend there will be an actual race. Getting anxious for football to start too. Go colts!!

Take care....until next post....