Dog Days

Weather Grousing

07/30/2026 by ladysmith@cowdogsadvice.com

You know by now this dog is one to be constantly awed by the panorama of the natural world,

welcoming the changing seasons with relish, an infernal optimist who finds something grand and lovely about rain, sleet, even wind.

However, maybe with age, or possibly with the irritability that comes with a long spell of triple digit temperatures, I just want to hole up on the damp ground down by my shady creek.

Or, I’ll use my best vocals to grouse about the weather.

Recreational Weather Grousing may well be the next world class sport. Now in the midst of a summer inferno or flood, or drought, you may think that grumbling about the whims of the sky is a fitting topic of conversation in every circle, from daycare sandbox to the Oval office.

But I submit to you that a person, a dog, and a dog’s person – should earn the right to gripe a bit about a capricious climate.

Kid’s generally don’t mind what falls – or doesn’t – from the sky, finding entertainment in sun, rain, or snow. Sprout freely admits he loves snow, but is clearly as entertained by sun, rain and – his favorite – mud.

I’ve noticed that, while kids are seemingly oblivious to jet streams and cold fronts, they are nonetheless storing up records of every storm, so that someday, many years later, they can share historical highlights, when delicate children and grandchildren whine about the cold, the heat, or the long walk to school.

This is usually a sentence that begins “Why, when I was your age…” and ends with an example of how weather was much worse in the old days, as in “…I walked 10 miles to school, in the Blizzard of ’59 – the snow so deep I had to carry my pony!”

So, while they may be gathering ammunition for future weather-grousing, kids have not earned that right yet.

So age is one way to earn status in the sport of weather-grousing. Everyone, by retirement age, has seen enough wild atmospheric variety to bellyache a little, unless they spent those years in Hawaii, the Caribbean, or the original Garden. Us old cowdogs start to feel it in our bones; as intelligent and clever as we are, I bet we could predict the weather better than Gabriel Fahrenheit [yes, that fahrenheit] or Jim Cantore, if we could speak your language.

If you pay attention, some of us can tell you a storm is coming while the sky is still sunny!

Ranchers and farmers are born into a highly respected class of weather-grousers.

Mom learned this from a good friend, who ran a never-summer ranch on the west slopes of the Bridger Mountains. Living close to the earth, they keep an eye on the sky, and the payments and punishments that are hurled toward their fields are intimate.

Now understand that this old cowdog is not whining about the weather. Recreational weather grousing is definitely not a generalized constant complaint, but carefully crafted observation of the finer details outside.

If you have lived through what the popular media would call a “major weather event,” you get to tell stories and fuss a bit, though in these end-days of diverse weather in diverse places – hurricanes, tornadoes, firestorms and base-ball hail become just another near-death tale.

After you reach old age, however, these stories can be repeated continuously, having become historical lore.

The boss remembers the Wisconsin Tornado of 1959, though mostly from hearing the stories from those then Senior Weather-Grousers and seeing films of it annually as a warning during tornado season.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we had some serious hail here in the foothills, something that rarely happens. It was not as big as my retrieving balls, but as big as a golf ball I’m sure, sounding like cannon balls on the metal roof.

This month there has been record-breaking highs, hail, inches of rain, and lightning caused fires all around.

If we didn’t have to weather the weather, conversation would virtually cease, as this is the main icebreaker and most common topic of discussion. If we lived in a perfectly harmonious environment, could we fully appreciate the delightful creation of a spectacularly powerful Creator?

Would we then believe that we – mere mortals – had control over our world?

Watching hail wipe out a garden, on its way to pummel the car…waking to three feet of pristine snow…glorying in a long-awaited downpour – keeps us humble and gives us something to talk about.

Mercifully, in our little valley, we aren’t on fire or coping with floods right now; people in those predictaments don’t have time for weather grousing, but sure will have some stories to tell later. Weather grousing should always be seasoned with plenty of prayer.

Right now, I’d invite you to join me in a rousing bout of weather-grousing – but it’s just too dang hot!

“The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.”
Psalm 121:6

Dog Days of Summer

07/23/2026 by ladysmith@cowdogsadvice.com

Did you know the Dog Days of summer are here! It is from July 3rd to August 11th, the time of sweltering, sultry weather. I’m not sure how someone decided that – I thought dog days were every day, every season.

It was unnaturally hot here lately – we usually don’t get mid-nineties day after day, up here in the foothills of the Rocky Mountain ranges. Even up here, we’ve been flirting with triple digits a few days!

But it is nowhere near as hot as I remember from the desert!

Maybe it is named for us panting and looking for shade, for when our tongue hits the ground!

Farmers in North America associated the dog days of summer with their crops and even had a rhyme to predict how the rest of the year would go:

“Dog days bright and clear

Indicate a good year;

But when accompanied by rain,

We hope for better times in vain.

There are a lot of tales about the title. Some say it is when the dogs go off the porch and lay underneath. Some thought it was a time when dogs go mad, and attack more. ‘Course, maybe that bad temper came with being hot, tired, itchy – dogs get more hotspots and rashes this time of year.

DOG DAYS IN THE STARS

In fact, right now the sun is in the same area of the sky as Sirius, a very bright star and part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. Sirius is called the Dog Star.

In the summer, Sirius rises and sets with the Sun. Because the star is so bright, the ancient Romans believed it actually gave off heat and added to the Sun’s warmth, accounting for the long stretch of sultry weather. So they called this time diēs caniculārēs, or “dog days.” But the heat is just the result of the Earth’s tilt.

Thus, the term Dog Days of Summer came to mean the 20 days before and 20 days after this alignment of Sirius with the Sun—July 3 to August 11 each year.

There you have it. A lesson in weather, astronomy and canine lore, all in one from a Heeler!

And yet, after a hot spell, this week the temperature dropped like a hot rock, with a few days of heavy rain and chilly-for-July highs.

Even though us cowdogs work in blizzards or sweltering sun, I like time on the porch, and less time all day trailing cows. As I lay in the cool shade of early morning, I came up with a list we dogs all can use to get through the Dog Days.

A Cowdog List for Dog Days Relief

Shade – deep, cool shade, best under trees and heavy brush, but my breezy wide porch is great, too.

2. Dirt – We will dig our own hole and lay in the cool damp dirt – we dogs know how to pick the best spots. Sorry if it is your favorite garden spot, too!

3. Water – there is nothing like a spring-fed creek for wading, lapping, laying, swimming.

Any body of water will do though – a water trough, a pond, a lake. I don’t like the waves lapping on my legs, not crazy about the boat, but dad sure was happy when we were in it.

4. Ice – this makes a great chew toy. It keeps my paws and mouth cool, too. Sometimes I get special Pupsicles made with tasty juices!

A long time ago – but I’ll remember that chunk of ice forever!

5. Indoors – OK, when it’s really hot, this option works. I have a perfect spot between open windows, and under the ceiling fan. I think they put that up especially for me.

Being the joyful Heeler that I am, I know the most important thing is to just enjoy the summer.

Being from the hot desert, I don’t know much about winter, although I arrived in the spring and we had a few big snowstorms after that. It was baptism by snow for me!