The dog days of summer are here. It’s hot. It’s humid, and there’s no relief in sight. Where I live, we’re floating in swimming pools and searching for parking spaces beneath shade trees when we must go out.

Mostly we’re hibernating inside with air-conditioning to escape the heat and stay cool. My dog doesn’t move from in front of his fan.

The term “Dog Days” has been used forever to describe the hottest, most sweltering weeks of summer, but summer heat doesn’t really have anything to do with dogs. It comes from astronomy, specifically the Dog Star Sirius, which rises and sets with the Sun in the summertime.

Ancient Egyptians believed that the brightness of the Dog Star Sirius added heat to the sun and produced a long stretch of sultry weather during the forty days beginning July 3 and ending August 11.

The accuracy of those ancient “dog day” dates doesn’t hold today, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Jim Andrews. Summer dog day dates actually vary based on the rotation of the Earth and whether you live in the northern or southern hemisphere.

Anyone who’s lived in Texas knows that dog days can (and do) begin well before July 3 and extend long after August 11. Afternoon temperatures can soar into the nineties with heat indexes in triple digits. Heat wave warnings are sounded well into September.

Fortunately, dog days don’t last forever, even though it feels like it. And summer can have its charm. It’s a laid-back time. Time to enjoy:

~Swimming

~Going barefoot

~Ice cream cones and frozen slushies.

~Watermelon and fresh veggies.

~ Lazy days

~Sitting under the porch fan and reading

~Sipping Dog-Day Iced Tea

Here’s a great recipe for Dog Days Iced Tea from the Old Farmer’s Almanac

Ingredients

7 bags black tea (English, Earl Grey, etc.)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup mint leaves and sprigs, divided
2 cups of chilled orange juice
1 orange, sliced crosswise
1 lemon, sliced crosswise
ice cubes

Instructions

  1. Brew a strong tea in about 10 cups of water. While still hot, add sugar and about a dozen mint leaves. Let cool.

  2. Remove tea bags and mint; then add orange juice, fruit slices, and ice.

  3. Serve over more ice, garnish with fresh mint sprigs, and add a fruit slice or two to each glass.

Mostly remember: Fall is coming! This heat will pass…

Unless you live in Texas. Here we’ll be hot until November, maybe December, but we don’t have snow and ice to deal with. 😉