These are the Dog Days of Summer, July 3 thru August 11 if it matters. The Greeks responded to the sultry midsummer and gave it a name. Midsummer was generally associated with drought or storms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs (why I don’t know) and particularly the heat. The “Dog” comes with the constellation ‘Canis Major’ (or Big Dog). The moon rises in the east just like the Sun but it can come up any time of day or night, depending on just where it is in its orbit around the earth and likewise, the stars keep their own schedule but they have a different story. There are ten stars in Canis Major and the Greek astronomers were quick to note that one of them (Sirius) was the brightest star in all of the sky (except for our Sun of course but it does’t count because it is so close to us). So the Big Dog rises in the east, sometimes sooner, sometimes later and they (Greeks) kept close track of that schedule.
Just so happens; on July 3 (Gregorian) calendar the last constellation to rise before the Sun comes up is Canis Major; The Big Dog. They couldn’t miss it then, we can’t miss it now because Sirius is so bright. Shortly after that the sky turns pink and the Sun comes up. By midwinter the Big Dog has been up all night, starting to sink in the west. So said, they associated Sirius and the Sun coming up so close together as a signal if not the cause for summer’s heat and discomfort.
There is a proud story that accounts for the order in which constellations follow one another across the night sky and what their business is; why the dogs, there are two (Canis Major & Minor) following Orion, the hunter and whose trail is the hunter on? I loved the story when I first heard it but the complexity of two satellites both in rotating and revolving relationships with each other and a relatively fixed star (Sun) if you will; that had to wait for me to grow up. But the Greeks were famous for their stories.
These are the Dog Days, 2023 on the current Gregorian calendar. Nowadays the Dog reference is no more than cultural carryover from the early Greeks that has found a niche. Back then it had astronomical significance that no longer prevail. The official dates are Greek but we will still be in the Dog Days (Hot) thru August and into September, as long as it is stifling hot and we’re longing for cool nights and some fall color in the trees. We don’t need the stars to tell us, it’s hardwired into our comfort zone.
But it is hot how, uncomfortably hot. Today makes three days in a row to register three digits, 102 degrees today and a few more forecast in the next week. Some rain on the way and a break in the heat, down into the mid 90’s and then back to lethargy and watching the voltage dial on the electric meter spin. I have a new, improved air conditioner and I can take comfort in that my bill will be less that with the old one. I keep the thermostat set on 80 or 82 while most of my family and friends think I’m trying to prove something. They need it down in the low 70’s or they think they are being punished. I don’t think I’m different, I just remember 100 + when I was a kid and we didn’t have to be told, just go play with the water hose to keep cool. We acclimate to what we’ve got. That is worth repeating, and I don’t want to be fixed on a hook at 68-70 degrees when the Dog Days are set on parboil. If I stay acclimated to the mid 80’s then a 15-20 degree bump can be tolerated; a 35-40 degree bump cannot. With my new AC, if the air is dry and moving I can cope, even take a nap.
But I hear on the news that all over the world, even here in the U.S.A., people are dropping over from heat exhaustion and some don’t get back up. I should count myself lucky and I do, not just for the heat but the cold as well. I used to brave the blizzard with frost in my nostrils and eyelashes but I come inside now before I have to. If I don’t like the weather where I’m at I can go someplace where it checks to see what I’m wearing before it makes up its mind. By the way, Orion the hunter is following Leo the lion with only a sword and two dogs that don't seem to care one way or the other if they catch up with the lion.
Just so happens; on July 3 (Gregorian) calendar the last constellation to rise before the Sun comes up is Canis Major; The Big Dog. They couldn’t miss it then, we can’t miss it now because Sirius is so bright. Shortly after that the sky turns pink and the Sun comes up. By midwinter the Big Dog has been up all night, starting to sink in the west. So said, they associated Sirius and the Sun coming up so close together as a signal if not the cause for summer’s heat and discomfort.
There is a proud story that accounts for the order in which constellations follow one another across the night sky and what their business is; why the dogs, there are two (Canis Major & Minor) following Orion, the hunter and whose trail is the hunter on? I loved the story when I first heard it but the complexity of two satellites both in rotating and revolving relationships with each other and a relatively fixed star (Sun) if you will; that had to wait for me to grow up. But the Greeks were famous for their stories.
These are the Dog Days, 2023 on the current Gregorian calendar. Nowadays the Dog reference is no more than cultural carryover from the early Greeks that has found a niche. Back then it had astronomical significance that no longer prevail. The official dates are Greek but we will still be in the Dog Days (Hot) thru August and into September, as long as it is stifling hot and we’re longing for cool nights and some fall color in the trees. We don’t need the stars to tell us, it’s hardwired into our comfort zone.
But it is hot how, uncomfortably hot. Today makes three days in a row to register three digits, 102 degrees today and a few more forecast in the next week. Some rain on the way and a break in the heat, down into the mid 90’s and then back to lethargy and watching the voltage dial on the electric meter spin. I have a new, improved air conditioner and I can take comfort in that my bill will be less that with the old one. I keep the thermostat set on 80 or 82 while most of my family and friends think I’m trying to prove something. They need it down in the low 70’s or they think they are being punished. I don’t think I’m different, I just remember 100 + when I was a kid and we didn’t have to be told, just go play with the water hose to keep cool. We acclimate to what we’ve got. That is worth repeating, and I don’t want to be fixed on a hook at 68-70 degrees when the Dog Days are set on parboil. If I stay acclimated to the mid 80’s then a 15-20 degree bump can be tolerated; a 35-40 degree bump cannot. With my new AC, if the air is dry and moving I can cope, even take a nap.
But I hear on the news that all over the world, even here in the U.S.A., people are dropping over from heat exhaustion and some don’t get back up. I should count myself lucky and I do, not just for the heat but the cold as well. I used to brave the blizzard with frost in my nostrils and eyelashes but I come inside now before I have to. If I don’t like the weather where I’m at I can go someplace where it checks to see what I’m wearing before it makes up its mind. By the way, Orion the hunter is following Leo the lion with only a sword and two dogs that don't seem to care one way or the other if they catch up with the lion.
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