The Howling on the Last Summer Day of Dog Days

Finally, it's August 11, the visiting entities of Dog Days will be leaving soon and the hot summer days will follow suit. The extraterrestrial visitors use the mysterious fog cover to obscure their lift off, and once again August's summer days return to normal, weather wise, at least. Part of a constellation famous for Dog Days, Sirius is their home. You can see it twinkling brightly throughout this time of the last summer days.

At four a.m., the night felt so hot and airless that I couldn't sleep any more. Outside, all was foggy on the ground to about three feet. I had made stuffed peppers and slow cooked them in the crock pot over night The spicy scent greeted me right away.

I take my place at the computer next to a patio door, which leads to a deck and a backyard in close proximity to wildlife habitat, thin as it may be.

The heat from the crock pot made the kitchen feel like the most oppressive of all the summer days so far, even with windows and the big patio door open. I decided to set the stuffed peppers outside on the picnic table to cool.

Some time went by, and just as I stood up from my work, an elongated, low howl pealed through the air. Muted by fog, the mysterious, singular howl was both soft and powerful at the same time.

What a good singer who could hold a key for so long in such a beautiful tone. Eerie too, but the exquisite flow of his song in the night held my attention, and left me wanting more of its beautiful acoustical contribution to the wee hours.

It wasn't very far away. How appropriate that the synchronicity of a lone call in a misty, dark night became the best memory of all the summer days! And just on the last day of Dog Days. In a hurry, I retrieved my stuffed peppers and rushed back into the house.

I wondered about the foggy night, and thought how good it was that the Dog Days visitors were leaving, and giving us back our more pleasant summer days.