The dog days of summer are more about July than August
That internet thing is just a wonderful tool – you can find out things both meaningful and meaningless. The dog days of summer is just one example – you get to choose whether it is something important – or not important. It certainly won’t put food on your table or help your portfolio grow or keep inflation at bay. But it is kind of cool. Well, not really because it is going to be a scorcher of a week starting with today, Monday, Aug. 9. Very hot. Weekend temperatures are looking a bit cooler.
Let’s circle back to those dog days for a moment. This year, they started on July 3 and end – whoops- they ended on Wednesday of this week, Aug. 11. For those that are fans of The Farmers’ Almanac, and there are many, you already know the real reason why this period is called “The dog days of summer”. For some reason I always thought the dog days were more about August than July but that is wrong. Wow. Now I am feeling a bit down for not knowing this bit of knowledge.
The ‘dog days of summer’ are called that because of the constellation ‘Canis Major, the Greater Dog,’ and the fact that the sun is in the same region of the sky as Sirius, the brightest star visible from any part of the Earth and part of the Canis Major constellation. Sirius is also referred to as the ‘Dog Star.’ The Romans get the credit for coming up with the ‘dog days’ terminology. Yep, the same ones that built the Coliseum and fed Christians to the lions.
The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics ended on Sunday, Aug. 8 and Team USA came away the big winner with 113 total medals – 39 of those the coveted gold. China was second with 88 total medals with 38 of those being gold. Host country Japan garnered a total of 58 medals with 27 gold and Great Britain showed up strong as the island nation took home 65 total medals with 22 gold. The Russian Olympic Committee came in fifth with 20 gold medals.
The margin for Team USA was not as strong as the 2016 Olympics when we had 121 total medals and Great Britain was second in gold medals with 27. America had 46 gold medals in 2016. Keep in mind that Russian athletes not involved in the doping scandal were allowed to compete – but under a neutral name – thus the Russian Olympic Committee.
There are two significant celebrations in our community this week – as Leadership Coshocton County observes 30 years of serving our community and Clary Gardens is to be congratulated on reaching the 20-year milestone. Each serves the community with a specific mission, and both make our community a better place to live, work and play with thousands of people being positively impacted over the years. Thank you to the vision and creativity to those that made this happen and thanks to those that continue to lead both Clary Gardens and Leadership Coshocton County forward.
The Indians are fading, the Reds just won eight out of 10 and the battle for the National League west continues to heat up with the possibility that three of those teams could make the playoffs if the season ended today. The Reds still have a shot at the wildcard.
Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion
