Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

This is the time of the season for the summer doldrums.

Hot and humid.

Air so thick you can grab a handful, squeeze it and, drops will hit the floor.

July 3rd through August 11th; The “Dog Days of Summer”.

Ancient Greeks believed Sirius (the Dog Star) rising with the sun this time of year brought summer’s peak heat.

The Romans called this time “dies caniculares” (Days of the dog star).

They believed the season brought lethargy, fever, mad dogs and bad luck.

The ancients linked this time to both astronomy and folklore after viewing it as a time of drought, disease or unrest.

“Dog days, bright and clear

Indicate a happy year

But when accompanied by rain,

For better times our hopes are vain.”

The “Dog Star” constellation “Canes Major”( greater dog) had the Greeks thinking it’s appearance intensified the summer sun.

Sirius means “scorching”.

The Egyptians called the bright star “Sothis” and it signaled the annual flooding of the Nile.

Sirius actually has no affect on the temperature.

Even though the summer solstice occurred around July 20th, and daylight is actually decreasing, it’s the residual of all those warm days that keeps “piling up” this time of year.

Roman poet Virgil wrote, “Sirius brings drought and plague to frail mortals” this time of year.

Actually, in thousands of years, due to the Earth’s wobble in rotation, the “dog days” might have Sirius rising with the sun and eventually become “the dog days of winter”.

Might make that old sled dog truism even more impactful.

“If you’re not the lead dog, the view is always the same”.

Dogs have had other impacts on our lives over the years.

In cartoons and movies we watched “Deputy Dawg”, “Underdog”, “Huckleberry Hound”, “Snoopy”, “Pluto”, “Astro”, “Scooby-Doo”, “Clifford the Big Red Dog”, “Goofy”, “The Jetson’s “Astro”, Garfield’s “Odie”, “Lady and the Tramp”, “Blue” from Blue’s Clues, Toy Story’s “Slink”, “Lassie”, “Rin Tin Tin”, The Simpson’s “Santa’s Little Helper”, “Toto”, “Frank” from Men in Black, “Gromit”, “Old Yeller”, “Benji”, the Little Rascal’s “Petey”, “Eddie” in Frazier, “Sandy” in Annie and “Hooch” in Turner and Hooch to name a few.

I know you can think of more.

While you’re thinking…

Have you ever been dog-tired?

Did you ever buy an old book book that was dog-eared?

Work can be tough in this “dog eat dog” world.

Married men. Ever spend time in the doghouse?

Don’t stir things up, Let sleeping dogs lie.

Politics might be nothing more than a big dog and pony show.

Tough day on the job ’cause you worked like a dog.

Been drinking? A bit of a hangover? You might need a little bit of the hair from the dog that bit you.

Perhaps the wrong person is in charge. Might be the tail wagging the dog.

You ever had a yelling supervisor? Many times, his bark was worse than his bite.

We had a Boxer that would chase squirrels up a tree. She’d sit patiently on the ground waiting for those squirrels to come down but they’d be cavorting in the branches of other trees yards away.

Was our old dog barking up the wrong tree?

You caught a break and somebody yells, “Lucky dog!”

Remember, no matter how bad it is today, every dog has its’ day.

You ate some bad sushi and now you’re sick as a dog.

I struggle at times with new technology perhaps proving you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

In 1967, Chuck Negron, Corey Wells and Danny Hutton came together to form “Three Dog Night”.

Perhaps through dogged determination?

Maybe I should call off the dogs on this article.

No dog story of mine would be complete without a flashback to our old family Boxer, Pat.

We’d take her with us to go swimming on the beach east of Huron, Ohio, in Lake Erie.

Dad would anchor the boat off-shore and he would toss Pat into the water.

One of us would have to lead her into shore. (Usually me.)

The first thing she would do was to shake violently before trotting down the beach, in search of the most disgusting and rotten fish carcass she could find.

She’s dip her shoulder and roll in that mess, legs kicking in the air.

Dad said it was from their wild hunting days when they would disguise their own aroma.

The only thing it resulted in was a bath in the lake and me with a bar of Ivory soap trying to de-stink our dog.

It was not the most pleasant job, doggone it.