Dog day afternoon

[Rick336]

In early June my central air conditioner broke. The effects of the recession has forced me to budget my cash flow so I decided not to get the air-conditioning fixed. Besides, June was beautiful with temperatures in the low 80s with low humidity. I figured that if I could get through July then I could easily sail through to September.

But I forgot about dog days. Again. They arrive every year this time and mock the memories of June. The sweet smell of magnolia has faded. The sun has turned the grass from bright green to slight green and the sound of lawnmowers has become rare. The sultry air makes my t-shirt stick to me.

My kitchen is 84 degrees. The humidity is 75 percent. My poor cats lay on my hardwood floors all day trying to keep cool. I spend most of my time in my front porch rocker crunching popsicles and begging for a breeze.

Yesterday I laughed when I saw a Christmas tree with lights in the window of a crafts store near the mall. It was as if they were taunting me with some kind of sick joke.

The final week of August me and a buddy pack up and drive to the South Carolina beaches to play in the surf and sleep in a cool air conditioned motel room with a flat screen HDTV. But that's still four weeks away. Dog day weeks.

I need to go to the kitchen and grab a popsicle and head back to the porch rocker. If a breeze comes, I definitely want to be there.


Rick

[Gennee]

Dog days are here too. High humidity, temps in the mid to high eighties and little breeze.

Gennee

[BruceChris]

Climate change here in Minnesota over the last few years has meant longer and longer, and cooler and cooler springs. But with some dog days in July or August. This year, we have had only ONE 90 degree day so far, with lows in the 60's, but the year is far from over.

The good news: We now have all new thermopane windows on the house.

The bad news: The landlady had me spend the whole weekend moving stuff around the house, and taking stuff downstairs that I will soon have to bring up again, to get the place prepped for the construction crew.

I feel abused, but at least I can hide from the heat during the day, and open the windows at night, with a fan. And we'll save money on heating, come winter.

Bruce Chris

[Rick336]

Today is in the upper 90s with the humidity about the same. A few puffy little clouds drift across the hazy blue sky hopefully the beginning of a late afternoon thunderstorm to quench my lawn and cool down the sweltering air.

Labor Day is still twenty-six days away. But I know that those days will fly and that in no time at all I will be leaving my front porch rocker for the warmth of my fireplace on an icy gray afternoon and the breezes of dog days will be just a memory.

Writer Russel Baker once wrote: "Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."


Rick

[Rick336]

Hurricane Bill kept his distance far out into the Atlantic so that me and my best buddy could enjoy the last days of August along the sandy shores of South Carolina. We stayed on the sixth floor of a high-rise hotel that overlooked a stretch of beach twenty miles south of Myrtle.

We spent our days playing in the ocean while the rolling surf tossed us around like beach balls. When we weren't in the water we were kicked back in our beach chairs pulling beers from the cooler and watching the sea gulls run from the waves. A constant breeze keep the sweat off of us even as the sun reminded us that late August is still every bit summertime. At night, as a half-moon glistened off the Atlantic and the Milky Way rose on the horizon, me and my buddy walked along the wet sand joking back and forth and talking about nothing in particular.

But the days and nights flew and now all that remains of the trip is a sunburn and a stack of photos. As back-to-school sales dominate prime-time commercials and plastic jack-o-lanterns begin to appear at Walgreen's, I know that these dog day afternoons are numbered. Next Monday (Labor Day) is the official end of summer. But this one will find a place in my bank of memories and can easily be recalled by the scent of magnolia, the taste of a cherry popsicle, or the sound of distant thunder.

(Holds up beer) Cheers to summer '09.


Rick

[Gennee]

We got some rain yesterday but today is sunny and mild.

Gennee