Summer in the South

Over the past several weeks there has been something weighing on me heavily, this heat in the south! I am not sure why it comes as a shock every year; I’ve lived most of my life in the south. The roughly 6 week “dog days” of summer just hit different here. This year we’ve had much more rain than normal during the dog days. Of course, that just means even more humidity!

Thankfully, the dog days depart as quickly as they come, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Last year I took a look at the expression dog days and discovered it’s an actual thing. The following is what I learned.

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.

I recall a little over 20 years ago when I lived in New York. The summers, although hot, were incredibly pleasant in my opinion. I remember local news would exclaim that the 90-degree heat was deadly. Would like to see some of those folks summering down here! I always enjoyed the weather in New York, but after the first winter of shoveling, snow lost a lot of its charm.

Same goes for the nearly four years we lived in central Texas. If I heard it’s a “dry heat” one more time, I would have lost my mind. It’s a hot, hot! That being said, almost three months of sunshine is nice, and the ultra-mild winters are pleasant.

I guess it’s all matter of perspective, but I suppose the universal truth is the dog days suck no matter where you are. Ask anyone and they will tell you it’s the worst where they live!

Well, I got to go and get my outdoor chores completed before the sun gets too high!  

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