The Pick-Your-Pet Days of Summer

Raise your hand if I'm not the only one who reluctantly turned the calendar page this morning. August already? I feel like June and July were each like 4 second long!

Apparently we now enter what's called the Dog Days of Summer. Can we still experience those if we have a cat? Not sure. I also figured Dog Days had something about being lazy like a dog (or cat, really), so I had to look it up.

Spoiler alert: You're about to learn something.

Why are they called the Dog Days of Summer? The ancient Romans called the hottest, most humid days of summer "diēs caniculārēs" or "dog days." The name came about because they associated the hottest days of summer with the star Sirius. Sirius was known as the "Dog Star" because it was the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).

When are the Dog Days of Summer? According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, they're traditionally the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, which coincide with the dawn rising of Sirius.

So this pretty much means we only have 10 more days to loll around, pant in the heat, and attempt to scratch behind our ears with our hind legs.

Since I love heat, I probably won't be entirely lazy. I started making a concerted effort in July to get 10,000 steps a day. Yes, I know I always TRY. But I rarely keep a streak going. Until this time. I officially logged at least 10k a day on every day in July – except July 1, which is surprising because we golfed that day... but also ate a fancy anniversary meal and cheesecake. I probably couldn't walk after that! (Probably why I got my 10k in today before we went out for coconut shrimp at Two Lakes Supper Club!)

Hoping that I can continue that streak of minimum activity in August – and maybe even step up my exercise game. Of course, that might require one of those dog shock collars to get me going. I wonder if that's part of the Dog Days, too.

Yikes. I better keep moving.

Happy August!