We’re in the dog days of summer around here. Hot and humid. But also, the corn is tall and the melons are ripening and the cicadas are sawing. There’s a certain late-imperial decadence in the air.
Last year I quoted the Old Farmer’s Almanac definition of “dog days of summer”. I thought about that definition again yesterday because I think they’re wrong about the dates, i.e., July 3 through August 11. That’s too early around here.
OFA mentions that the dog days get their name because of the dawn rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. So I checked on the dates of the heliacal rising of Sirius around here and it appears to be Monday. So I’m going with that, because it fits my theory. I would verify it myself but it’s hard to get an unblocked view of the eastern horizon here in the wooded hills of southern Indiana.
There’s also the very biblical 40 day length in the OFA definition. That would have this period ending around September 20th. That also feels about right. The worst of the heat is behind us at that point and you’ll sometimes gets hints of fall.
So welcome to the dog days of summer. Plenty of heat ahead of us, but it’s the beginning of the end.