According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, July 3 marks the beginning of the forty (it runs through August 11 .. do the math) hottest, most sultry days of the summer months.
These "dog days of summer" get their name from Sirius (I'm serious), the "Dog Star" which is the brightest star in the heavens .. besides the Sun.
This dates back to the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans and according to Brady's Clavis Calendarism, these days were believed to be quite evil. A time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad ('I had to shoot my dog the other day.' .. 'Was he mad?' .. 'He wasn't too happy about it.'), and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies."
Just to add my "two cents" .. you sweat a lot, too.
In recent years the term "Dog Days" has also been used when referring to the stock market where summer is typically a slower time (great .. now I have to live at least ten more years than I planned just to recoup what I've lost). Stocks that perform poorly (what I did during most of the departmental recitals during my college days) and have little potential (two words that reoccurred frequently from the voice professors who attended those departmental recitals) are often called .. "dogs."
Today's blog entry is a departure from the norm: Informative with very little humor (as opposed to the usual: Non-informative .. with very little humor).
Still, some of you will be back tomorrow .. doggone it.
"As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly." - Proverbs 26:11
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