The Dog Days of Summer Are Upon Us

...and its freaking hot.

I don't do well with extremely high temperatures at all. This means I probably wouldn't do very well someplace like Phoenix. Of course this begs the question "then why on earth were you guys considering Phoenix during the Big Move discussions?" Well, those happened back in March when it was rather cold here and not-so-bad in Phoenix. Today, I'd probably be more inclined to entertain a move to Alaska than Phoenix.

I've always wondered why they call this the "dog days of summer?" Perhaps because the heat drains you and makes you dead-dog tired? According to Wikipedia, the term originated from the ancient Romans who named these days after Sirius, the "dog star," and the brightest star next to the sun. The Romans believed this to be an evil time when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, and the dogs went mad (so what makes this different from any other day - especially if your dogs tend to be mad anyway), and all creatures became languid. I can see that. Around these parts the period between July and early September (the typical dog days of summer) tend to be particularly hot and miserable. Our only relief here comes from the Monsoons that should be starting up anytime now. At least one could hope.

When I was a little kid, I thought the term meant that there was a holiday for dogs, kind of like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparent's Day, etc. One day I asked my Grandma "what day is Dog's Day?" She gave me a quick smile and said "Honey, every day is Dog's Day. Just look at that mutt out there lying in the sun," as she gestured to Pepe, her little, and not to mention ornery, dog.

I miss those days. As a kid, you don't complain quite so much about hot weather. I say either it wasn't as hot as it is right now, or I just tolerated it better. In all honesty, I say I didn't care about it because I didn't have to worry about the electric bill from running the central air all day long like I do today.