General

Dog Days

What we see in the image accompanying this blog post are two dogs sleeping in the sun.  One of the dogs is taking advantage of a pool float that provided cushioning from the hard gravel surface.

There are beach towels and a lounging chair in the background which suggests that the dogs are in an area that contains a swimming pool.  The dog on the pool float is actually wet from being in the pool and is napping as she dries her fur in the sunshine.

In researching the dates for the “dog days of summer” I found similar but sometimes conflicting information. Generally the dog days are in July and August.

July 3 to August 11 was stated in several articles however those articles also admitted that those dates can vary.

Other sites that I visited stated that the period known as dog days could last anywhere from 40 to 60 days. Every article I read agreed that it is traditionally the hottest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

They all agreed that the history of when dog days appeared was tied to the location of the stars, particularly Sirius, the Dog Star.

This blog entry is being written the last week of June, only a few days before that July 3 start of Dog Days.

This year (2023) the start of Dog Days appears to be a global heat wave.  The United States, Europe and SW Asia are all having unusually and sometimes deadly high temperatures during this period.  People worldwide are trying to find ways to deal with the sweltering heat.

Let’s hope that this year’s Dog Days are short lived and people around the world are able to find relief from the heat until those stars realign and cooler temperatures arrive.

Please feel free to share in the comment section below how you deal with heat waves and the Dog Days of Summer.

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