It’s officially the “dog days of summer.” I’ve heard that derogatory phrase for my entire life but never had any idea of where it came from or what it meant other than seriously hot weather. Pondering when I might have first heard the phrase, I had flashbacks. Growing up in the middle-of-no-where, a/k/a rural Alabama, some of my earliest memories are of me playing barefoot in the summer heat in the front yard at Grandma’s house. I can still see her sitting there in her wooden rocking chair on the front porch, keeping an eye on me while she gently twirled a two-gallon jug of fresh milk on her lap. She’d rock and twirl, twirl and rock for what seemed like hours. Of course, in the heat of what she called those hateful “dog days of summer,” it couldn’t have taken very long. But she stayed at it for as long as it took for the milk to start to sour and clabber (where did you think butter and buttermilk came from?). But where did Gramma ever come up with “dog days?” She never had anything bad to say about anything nor anybody.
Okay, my curiosity got the best of me and I looked it up. It all started back with the Romans when Sirius, the star not satellite radio, appeared in the pre-dawn sky. Also known as the Dog Star, Sirius caught the Roman’s attention because it’s the brightest star in Earth’s night sky. The name means “glowing” in Greek and that’s fitting. Only a few planets, the full moon and the International Space Station outshine this star. Yeah, I know the Roman’s didn’t have the space station as a measure of comparison, but you get the point. Sirius is bright. And it’s most noticeable near the end of July, a period that historically has marked the beginning of the very hottest days of the year. The Romans called this period “dies caniculares” or “days of the dog star,” eventually becoming just “dog days.” Now you know. Dogs do not cause days of heat. The heat is actually more bearable when dogs are around. Proof in point. A few days ago in the late afternoon, my bride and I and our border collie, Remi, delivered several more newly engraved commemorative plaques (Toni can give you all the details if you’d like to have your own plaque) to Bentwater’s dog park and were staking them next to newly-planted trees. Though at 7 o’clock we were still hovering close to triple digits, hardly anyone noticed. Even more dogs kept arriving with their humans in tow. Humans chatting. Dogs frolicking and playing. Nothing derogatory about that definition of “dog days.” Sirius-ly.
– Bruce Sellers
Send Bentwater news and tidbits to Bruce@TheLakeConroeGroup.com
