For Surely

Why do we call the hot, sultry days of summer “dog days?”

Some say it signifies hot sultry days "not fit for a dog.” Others claim it’s the weather in which dogs go mad not to mention a few humans as well.

The term "Dog Days" was coined by the ancient Romans, who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs) after Sirius (the "Dog Star"), the brightest star in the heavens besides the Sun. They believed that that star was the cause of the hot, sultry days of summer.

The dog days are defined as the period from July 3 through Aug. 11 when the Dog Star, Sirius, rises in conjunction (or nearly so) with the Sun. As a result, some felt that the combination of the brightest luminary of the day (the Sun) and the brightest star of night (Sirius) was responsible for the extreme heat that is experienced during the middle of the summertime. Other effects, according to the ancients, were droughts, plagues, and madness.

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.

So folks stay cool, drink plenty of water, and if you want go out bumming do it early in the morning when supposedly the day is cooler.

Received a call from the vet, he had just finished cleaning her teeth. I said, "I'll be right down.” I am not going to sit here, waiting until 4:00 to pick her up. When I went in the little room to pick her up she was standing up. Knowing Surely, as I do, she would not have laid down until I came and got her. She is better off at home with her favorite blanket and her people.