#weekendcoffeeshare 80 – The Dog Days of Summer

Hello, everyone, and welcome to my weekendcoffeeshare hosted by Natalie! Come on in and share a cuppa with me. There is expresso and also some Japanese Sencha green tea if tea is more your thing.

I missed the weekendcoffeeshare last week because I was out of town, but I’m back this weekend. I’d have to tell you, if we were having coffee, what wild, strange weather we’re having in this part of the world. They warned us about climate change and I fear we are watching it come true. We’re having the hottest summer here in the southern Appalachian Mountains that I can remember and that most of the old-timer’s can remember. In truth, I’m right on the cusp of the “old-timer” category myself. While the western portion of the U.S. is having record-breaking droughts and wildfires, here in the East and in the mountains, it’s like a jungle! Just this week, we had terrible storms and flooding rains. In some parts of Kentucky, there is terrible flooding happening. Fortunately, we are safe from flooding, but down this mountain, it’s flooded and we would probably have a hard time getting out.

The big news from here is that we had a new roof put on our house. Our roof was old and the storms this summer had not done it any favors. So, we finally pulled the trigger on a new roof. Given the cost of building materials, the cost shocked me, but we had to do it. Putting a new roof on a house, and removing the old roof is pretty traumatic on the inhabitants of the house. Lots of noise. But, we survived and we have a beautiful new roof! We had a really pleasant experience working with the roofing contractor which was a nice change of pace. I’ll have to say that the cat, Cherokee, and the dog, Clarabella, were not appreciative of the noise!

These days are what we, in the South of the U.S., call the dog days of summer. The ”dog days” are the period, generally, from July 3 – August 11 which can be the most heat oppressive days of summer. With each day hitting 90 degrees F. or at least pushing it, it feels like the dog days this year! The humidity almost matches the temperature. The Romans associated the hottest part of summer with the star, Sirius. During the period of July 3 – August 11, the sun occupies the same spot in the sky as Sirius and the ancient Romans thought that meant Sirius was also giving off heat. Sirius is known as the ”dog star.”

Due to the excessive heat, my flower gardens have gone dormant and only the shade garden seems to be thriving. The New Guinea impatients are doing all right. This is the time of year when you go outside during the early morning or the evening. Any other time is too hot and you are setting yourself up for heat stroke. I try to get some exercise in during the evenings. I am not a morning person. I’m a nightowl.

Not much writing this week. Other things have taken precedence. I hope to get back to my fantasy story for young adults this week. Hope you’ve had a fantastic week and thanks for stopping by my #weekendcoffeeshare!

Thanks, Natalie!