I saw a post the other day on social media about the dog days of summer. I’m sure we’ve all heard of the dog days of summer, but I never knew it was so early in the summer season.
I always believed the dog days of summer happened in late July or even early August when the sun is still very bright and high in the sky and days could be sweltering.
I believed they were when the grass was dry from a long summer of heat.
It seems I was partially right; I just had the starting date wrong. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the dog days of summer begin on July 3 and run through Aug. 11.
Best described as the summer days of hot, sultry weather, this year seems to fit the definition.
The almanac states the reason why they are called the dog days of summer is simple, the weather is unfit for a dog and the 5 ½ weeks, or 20 days, during this period is always the most oppressive time of the year.
According to the almanac, “The phrase is actually a reference to the fact that, during this time, the sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, the brightest star visible from any part of Earth and part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. This is why Sirius is sometimes called the Dog Star.
Also the sun’s tilt is at its maximum point on its axis for the Northern Hemisphere for us to get our strongest sun’s rays.
Even though we hit maximum peak sun’s rays during the summer, it is actually the southern hemisphere that gets even stronger rays from the sun during their summer. The reason is the earth is actually closer to the sun during the northern hemisphere’s winter months in the earth’s orbit around the sun.
So if we think it’s pretty hot and oppressive here during our summers in good old Greater Pittston, be glad you don’t live in Australia during their summers.
I bet you didn’t think you’d wake up this Sunday morning to read a science report. Well, if anything, at least you know the meaning of dog days of summer.
Last weekend I had the privilege of covering the Battle of Wyoming ceremony at the Wyoming Monument.
The history is so rich in our area and the Battle (or massacre) of Wyoming that happened 243 years ago.
The thing is, we take our history for granted and we drive by the Wyoming Monument, some of us, a few times a day and never once do we think about the history behind it or even the history that affected our emerging country at the time.
More than 300 patriots were killed that day at the hands of the Iroquois raiders. Approximately 40 of those patriots surrendered and brutally tortured.
It was horrific and it was a massacre. The same massacre was so well known after it took place that when the River Raisin Massacre (Battle of Frenchtown) took place 35 years later, many in the media compared it to the Wyoming Massacre. The British killed nearly 400 soldiers and the Native Americans massacred dozens of wounded captured prisoners the very next day.
Eventually American military took revenge on the massacre and the massacre at Cherry Valley when the Sullivan Expedition, commissioned by Gen. George Washington, destroyed 40 Iroquois villages. The Iroquois could not bounce back for the devastating blow by the Americans unless they teamed up with the British until the end of the war.
There are 178 names of patriots killed at the Battle of Wyoming immortalized on the side of the Wyoming Monument.
So many names on the monument are names you see in and around our towns such as street names, for example, such as Butler, Dennison, Shoemaker, Campbell, Ransom, Abbott, Carey, Williams, Harvey, Hollenback, Bennett, Blackman, Franklin, Searle, and Slocum.
You’ve probably have driven on many area streets named after such heroes listed above.
The name Wyoming is so synonymous with our area. There is of course the Borough of Wyoming, the Wyoming Valley, Wyoming Area, Wyoming Valley West, Wyoming Avenue, and as we know, the state of Wyoming received its name after our area.
Yes, we are steeped in history here and going to an event like the Battle of Wyoming is a great way to get back to what made our area, the Greater Pittston area and Wyoming Valley what we are today. We just can’t lose sight of that and thankfully organizations like the Wyoming Monument Association keeps that ugly day in our nation’s history alive to never forget.
People such as author William Tharp, who was the guest featured speaker at this year’s ceremony, who has written several books on the Wyoming Massacre, also keeps our history alive.
It was great to get out and see a few hundred under the massive tent erected at the site of the monument. We really are getting back to normal.
I bet you didn’t expect a history lesson this morning either.
Quote of the week
“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” – Elbert Hubbard
Thoughts of the week
“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” – Andre Gide
Bumper stick
“Let us do or die.” – Scottish Poet Thomas Campbell
