Page 42 - Aug 2022

What are t he Dog Days of Summer? Let's they start and how did days on a calendar go to the
start by forgetting all about the 1950s hit English dogs?
patter song Mad Dogs and Englishmen by Noel Before giving the scientific answer, let's brush up on our
Coward (although, during the time of Empire the knowledge of the stars and the fact that not only the
British, complete with pith helmets and gin, were ancient Egyptians but also the Greeks and Romans knew
posted to some places with pretty miserable about the dog days and had their own understanding of
temperatures compared to back home, this was well what they meant and what caused them.
before climate change entered the picture). The song
Sirius is the brightest start in our solar system, aside
is presented at the right just in case you don't
from our own sun. It is so bright that with the right
remember how it goes.
combination of environmental conditions it can be seen
In fact, let's forget all about dogs, per se, although in some latitudes even during the day. Sirius is also part
we love them and know that the heat of the summer of a constellation known as Canis Major-- that's where
is bad enough for people but worse for dogs who can the big dog part comes in.
only control their temperatures by panting. Summer
The ancients, unburdened by smart phones, actually
is a further misery for dog owners who actually let
looked up ( rather than perpetually down) to the skies,
their pooches ride in their cars and pay the price in
both as a source for navigation and as a source of
shedding dog hair. but that has nothing to do with
figuring out the future. Lacking Google graphics, they
Dog Days, either[ See our video on how to tackle that
saw, through imagination, images in the stars that
issue on page 45.]
would help to identify the locations of particular
If the Dog Days of summer are already well groupings .
underway with this issue of MOTORING, when do
Continued on page 44

The Dog Days of Summer (or life can be a beach & how to best r emoved dog hair fr om your car )

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