Dog Days of Summer

I’ve always heard the expression “Dog Days of Summer” but never really knew the meaning, so I decided to do a little research. Turns out, it’s an actual thing, not just some meaningless expression! In general terms, the expression is meant to describe the hot and humid weather in the Northern Hemisphere from July to August.

However, more accurately, the dog days of summer coincides with the annual appearance of the star Sirius in the Eastern sky of the Northern Hemisphere during the summer months. Sirius, one of the brightest stars, is also known as “the Dog Star” part of the Canis Major constellation. This year, the dog days are officially July 3 to August 11.

Who knew, “Dog Days” was an astronomy reference? Needless to say, the ancient Greeks and Romans who probably didn’t have a lot to do at night other than gaze at the stars, connected the dots and associated the annual summer appearance of Sirius coupled with the horrible temperatures as a generally bad part of the year with more civil unrest and violence than normal. Thankfully, I don’t think dog days holds quite the same negative connotation, but the days are indeed a peculiar enough time of the year to cause one to reflect.

Now that I think about it, July through early August has always been a time of discomfort, for lack of a better word. Growing up in the south, the dog days usually fell after the highlight of summer, the annual beach vacation, and ran right up until starting back to school which was never fun. Growing up on a farm, the chores and the lawn didn’t care about the sweltering heat, work still had to be accomplished.

Fast forward to adult hood. Dog days were always the topic of much debate in the military. Whether it was better to be on a field exercise in the bitter cold of January or the intense heat of the dog days. It seems like throughout my career, I always found myself deployed during both!

While stationed in Korea, the dog days took on a new level of suck. Ironically, Korea is one of the coldest places I ever served but also one of the hottest. The humidity in July is almost unbearable and gives way to a monsoon season in August that in some years is deadly. My first tour was during one of the more deadly seasons in 1998 when many villages and US bases were destroyed due to the torrential rains during the dog days.

Now on the back side of life, I scurry to get my outdoor work complete before the sweltering heat arrives each day. The kids are kind of irritable because school starts soon and worst of all, it’s too hot to fish! There exists a general sense of malaise in the air. Perhaps dog days are contributing to my feeling of procrastination I described a couple of weeks ago!

I am confident a scientific study would reveal that statistically, other than being the hottest part of the year, the “dog days” are perfectly harmless. I’m not so sure. Maybe the Greeks and Romans were onto something. I’m not taking any chances; I’ll just hole up in here in the house and soak up some A/C until late August when the weather should start to be more tolerable! 

Looking for a good how-to on wealth building? Check out my book, Millionaire on a Worker’s Budget: Five Financial Truth’s to Build Wealth on sale now at Amazon!

Interested in rental property investing? Look for “Collect Rent, Don’t Pay It: A Beginner’s Guide to Rental Property Investing” on Amazon to learn how our family turned rental property investing into a successful side hustle!

Use the links in the about section below to follow on social media or subscribe for emails to receive updates on the latest weekly blog at www.normspivey.com!