Dog Days of Summer?

When I saw Elly enjoying the hot summer day the phrase "dog days of summer" crossed my mind.  Then I wondered what that really meant.  When asked a question I am not sure of the answer I frequently say, "Let's look it up."  The internet makes that so easy to do.  So I looked it up I found this information from Wikipedia:

Dog Days" (Latin: diēs caniculārēs) are the hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere, they usually fall between early July and early September. In the southern hemisphere they are usually between January and early March. The actual dates vary greatly from region to region, depending on latitude and climate. Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress. The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather.

The Romans referred to the dog days as diēs caniculārēs and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky. The term "Dog Days" was used earlier by the Greeks (see, e.g., Aristotle's Physics, 199a2).

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, Quinto raged in anger, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813. [1]

The modern French term for both this summer period (and for heat waves in general) "canicule", derives from this same term. It means "little dog", again referring to Sirius.

 In Ancient Rome, the Dog Days extended from July 24 through August 24 (or, alternatively July 23-August 23). In many European cultures (German, French, Italian) this period is still said to be the time of the Dog Days.

The Old Farmer's Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the ancient heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. These are the days of the year when rainfall is at its lowest levels."

Technically we are not in the dog days of summer.  Today it certainly doesn't feel like it.  

Yesterday we enjoyed a 92 degree day in Fargo.  This morning it is 50 degrees outside.  That's a 42 degree difference.  I don't like it. 

One nice summer day I got my flowers planted.  

After which we looked out the window and saw Elly digging up one of the marigolds.  

We reprimanded her.  She now knows not to do that but still would run through it.  We thought a little fence might deter her as well as the cat from going in the flowers.  So we got a few of those little metal fences and put it around the flower bed.  It is green and unnoticeable in this picture.

When getting out my five gallon buckets with the bottoms cut out to put around my tomato plants Leah noticed this rabbit.  Grandpa Keyes had given this...

as well as this...

...to the children a few years ago. 

They are now residing in the flower garden.  Elly seems to think the turtle is a dog toy.  If I can't get her to leave it alone I will have to put it away for this year.

Tim tilled the vegetable garden on Sunday.  The children and I got most of it planted that day.  We had no potatoes left to plant.  But Tim found some seed potatoes at a garden shop so we got those planted on Monday.

Yesterday we had Daniel's appointment at Dr. Agnes' in Fargo.  While in Fargo I found a few more heirloom tomato plants at Lowe's.

It rained hard and fast shortly after we got home so I didn't get them planted.  But they should keep for a few days.

With the cold dreary weather I am feeling rather lazy.  But I need to get going.  We still have four days of school to finish and I want to get one of those finished this morning.