Article 3 (June 2020): Welcome to Dog Days of summer - July 3 - August 11

In 1813 Brady's “Clavis Calendarium” described Dog Days as an evil time "when the sea boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics and frenzies."
              
These are the hottest days of the year, variously calculated to run from 30 to 54 days.  Though they are named after our canine friends, our current Fidos and Busters had nothing to do with the original designation.
              
In ancient times when Sirius, The Dog Star, rose just before or at about the same time as the sun, people believed that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather and named the short season after the star.  Hot weather combined with common summer diseases of the age to make it a very unhealthy and uncomfortable time.  To appease Sirius, the ancients prayed and made sacrifices.
              
All of that, of course, was before air conditioning and modern medicine that has pretty well eliminated the worst suffering of both man and dog.  But hot weather can still get you down, Dog Days or not.