Saturday, July 3, 2010

The "Dog Days" Are Here...!


A little bit of mundane stuff for you this morning!

Seems like a lot of weather items are on folks' minds, so here's a little more!

Dog Days Begin

The phrase "Dog Days" conjures up the hottest, most sultry days of summer. The Old Farmer's Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days: the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius.

The rising of Sirius does not actually affect the weather (some of our hottest and most humid days occur after August 11), but for the ancient Egyptians, Sirius appeared just before the season of the Nile's flooding, so they used the star as a "watchdog" for that event.

Since its rising also coincided with a time of extreme heat, the connection with hot, sultry weather was made for all time:

"Dog Days bright and clear
Indicate a happy year.
But when accompanied by rain,
For better times our hopes are vain."


I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that the Dog Days are going to be really, really HOT! Know what I mean?

Now, how about some coffee or tea in the kitchen? Still raining outside!

9 comments:

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Didn´t know that. Thanks for the info!
We don´t have that expression over here. But we have one week with only womens names and it usually rains a lot on that "wonens week" :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

HermitJim said...

Hey Christer...
You just never know what you might find at the Hermit's!

I didn't know that about the week with all womens names! Pretty unusual!

Guess we both learned something today!

Thanks for coming by today!

JoJo said...

Good Morning My Special One
Did not know this, thanks for the lesson as always. Sorry about all the rain but I guess thats common for your neck of the woods this time of year with huracane season isn't it?
But no matter where we have our coffee or ice tea its always a pleasure for me.

HermitJim said...

Hey JoJo...
I guess that we always get a lot of rain this time of the year, but it sure is a bother!

Not to mention, it makes the skeeters bigger than normal!

You have a great day, and thanks for coming by today!

Ben in Texas said...

As a kid ,some timers, ( pulling my leg) told me The Dog Days were the best time of year for dogs to get rabies!! :-)

Mechanic in Illinois said...

I have a feeling the dogdays are coming in central Illinois. This last week was 80 day-60 nite which is perfect but I think our luck is about to run out. Thanks for another great lesson and have a safe and happy holiday weekend.

HermitJim said...

Hey Ben...
Gotta watch those "old timers". You know how we...I mean, they are!

Hey, thanks for coming by today, buddy!


Hey Mechanic...
Looks like you are going to catch up to us here in the South!

90 to 100 every day...and the hot days of August aren't even here yet!

I need a swimming hole!

Thanks for the visit today!

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

HJ can you please send some of that rain our way cause we are in a drought situation here on the VA eastern shore. Thunderstorms are "promised" but seem to pass us by. Cooler temps this weekend, but forecast is for back in the 90s starting on Sunday. Happy 4th to you!

DianeLynn said...

Rain eh? Haven't seen rain nor likely for quite awhile. It is dry and still drinking ice tea in the morning on the deck.