The Dog Days of Summer Sink In

Oh sure, you've likely heard the term dog days of summer and either you didn't know what it meant or you didn't really care. Of course, in my days at the newspaper we encouraged Dog Days of Summer Sale! and that sort of thing because we didn't have anything after Back to School… and nothing for businesses who didn't give a hoot about going back to school.

In our county, you'd have to imagine a farm equipment business having a sale on tractors and tillers for Back to School Daze... I think not. See what I mean? Good old Dog Days filled in for awhile at the newspaper but I guess I never knew it would come home from work with me. Back then it was my job to keep consumers interested in shopping locally and keeping my friends and local businesses happy. I had no idea what I was up against until I retired, came home, and got old.

I'm here to tell you the truth about geezer dog days. Starting sometime in late July and early August, we begin to run out of energy for summer projects. I think it's probably because we are early starters and make plans for summer in March. By the time summer gets here, we're several steps ahead of it. By the time August gets here, we're wearing thin on the daily watering routine, heat, garden weeds, smoke in the air and back-to-school ads. An added bonus on years like this are those nifty political ads. Most of us don't like those either.

My friends, these are the dog days. They go back to ancient times when days of lethargy, inactivity and/or indolence plagued the population. Apparently, the only thing they could think of to make sense of this was to blame it on the rising of Sirius, the Dog Star, at the same time as the sun.

The modern day translation of this is that during the sultry months of July through September, we tend to be inactive, lethargic and indolent. I can speak to inactive and lethargic but indolent is a personal matter. Basically that means you've gone beyond lethargic and inactive. If you get there, please let me know. That's crazy lazy.

So here we are at the end of August. I waited until now to speak of this because I was afraid to be too early in June and too late in July. If I had addressed this issue at the beginning of August you would have called me "bossy pants," because I was telling you what was about to happen. Since I try hard not to tell you what to do... with exception of doctor visits, immunizations, counseling, eating veggies, laughing and having a hobby, I kept quiet.

Now we're here. These are truly the Dog Days. You'll have to stop watching Hallmark and TMC movies, listening to old hits on your earphones and eating frozen, reheated foods. You're being overcome by Sirius, the Dog Star.

If you've noticed a change in your buying habits and house cleaning, it's the dog. Don't have a dog? Doesn't matter... you're still under the influence of the star. Dogs like treats, naps and an occasional romp off leash. That's it. They hate baths/ and or grooming, vet appointments and walking on a leash. They don't care about how clean the house is. They just want a nice, fluffy bed to crawl into and to sleep as long as they can.

Sound familiar? Well of course. I'm not sure about you but we've been sleeping later than we ever have. I've stopped telling people the truth about when we wake up because it's starting to scare me. Mr. S has assured me that this is normal. Why? When I get up at 8:45 he's sawing logs in his recliner and has been for a few hours. I stay very, very quiet and make sure that Grover, who sleeps in with me, doesn't make a big deal of jumping on his man sleeping in the recliner.

So, these are the Dog Days. Enjoy every minute of them. Some flowers are in full bloom, the days are sunny and nights are chill... a sure sign that these days are coming to an end. We had one third of an inch of rain this week and felt renewed by it. That tiny bit of rain signaled the beginning of the end of Dog Days and all this summer has brought our way.

To all of you who have lived in smoke filled skies these past few months, I send best wishes and a hope that you'll have clear skies when Dog Days roll 'round again. Have a good week, my friends.