Dog Days

The dog days of August are almost here.

I can hear the katydids in the pecan trees each night.

"The term "Dog Days" was used by the Greeks (see, e.g., Aristotle's Physics, 199a2), as well as the ancient Romans (who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs)) after Sirius (the "Dog Star", in Latin Canicula), the brightest star in the heavens besides the Sun. The dog days of summer are also called canicular days.

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes. The ancients[who?] 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, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813."

Ole Sassy, the black lab howled at the moon every night during dog days. I had to put her in my dark garage at night so she wouldn't howl.

Sable rarely barks but when she does you better take notice.

The crop is all laid by now meaning we have done all we can do to help it. Planting, fertilization, scouting, limited pesticide as needed.

My newest helper is Tyler, an 18 year old next door. He told me that all his friends asked him why he was so interested farming now. He said that is all I hear all day.

He likes biology so it is natural for him to learn the trade.

The young man is a hoot and the owls hoot every night now.

Time for tractor pulls and family fun now. We are enjoying it.

Ed Winkle