HOW HOT IS IT? TALK ABOUT DOG DAYS IN BROWNTOWN

By Juan Montoya
You don't have to believe the weatherman on television that it is steaming out there.
The occasional shower just makes it the more suffocating when you venture outdoors.
This last weekend temperatures rose to unbearable levels and we saw sights like this all over downtown Brownsville.
Yeah, that's the pitch (tar?) that is literally melting off the treated light poles and collecting in pools on the sidewalk. You don't have to ask Fido back in the yard if it's hot. Don't forget to leave your pooches plenty of water and a shady place where they can take a respite from the stultifying heat.
Romans and Greeks used the term Dog Days, Wikipedia tells us, to refer to " diēs caniculārēs" and associated the hot weather with the star Sirus. They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky. The term "Dog Days" was used earlier by the Greeks (see, e.g., Aristotle's Physics, 199a2).
"The Romans sacrificed a red dog in April to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies." according to Brady’s Clavis Calendaria, 1813.