Dog Days Begin, 1st of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Deneb): And boy howdy have they ever. 

"Why not go to a place where it is neither hot nor cold?,” asked the ancient Zen Master.

Old Angus MacLise's Universal Solar Calendar had five seasons and Dog Days Begin was the second day of his Summer season. My New Revised USC has six seasons, and his Dog Days Begin would have fallen on the 28th day of my Midsommar. I moved it for obvious reasons to today, the first of the Dog Days. 

(For those of you keeping score at home, like Maclise's original USC, my New Revised USC has two winter seasons, Childwinter and Hagwinter, but also has two summer seasons, Midsommar and Dog Days, as well as Spring and Autumn. Each season is exactly 61 days long.) 

With Midsommar over, the season's avatar, the Sun Girl, is gone. Welcome to the new Dog Days avatar, who for now I'm calling "Barkley." 

Fittingly, now that the Dog Days are here, it's hot outside. My thermostat says the outside temperature right now (4:35 pm) is 100° F, and that doesn't consider the humidity. And the outdoor sensor's in the shade! One hundred degrees in the shade, and the heat index is reportedly 105. Unlike yesterday's overcast skies, it's sunny today, and while the sun causes heat problems on its own, it's also lowered the humidity (40%) from yesterday. The dew point right now is 69°, which is sticky but still Georgia tolerable.

Deneb is a walking day, but I stayed inside. One of the advantages of having a fixed routine is that you're allowed to break it, and there's no health advantage to walking outdoors when the temperature is at Spontaneous Human Combustion levels. I did go outside a few times today and it actually didn't feel all that bad, but I wasn't walking for miles beneath the blazing sun with only intermittent patches of shade.

The severe thunderstorms forecast for yesterday never arrived here, and for that I'm grateful. Severe thunderstorm means fallen branches, and falling branches hit power lines, and downed power lines mean no power, and no power mean no a.c., and no a.c. means old men living in old brick houses die of heat stroke. 

The heat dome is forecast to linger over Georgia through the weekend and into early next week. Dog Days End isn't until the 61st day of the season. 

"Why not go to a place where it is neither hot nor cold?,” asked the ancient Zen Master.

“Why don't you go fuck yourself," the hyperthermic monk replied, "you unhelpful old bastard?"

The Master continued to fan himself.