What Would Jimmy Do?

Well, we’ve made it into the Dog Days of Summer and through the 4th of July and tonight is the last night the first full Moon of the summer season will look “full.” This month’s full Buck Moon rose after sunset on July 3rd — the eve of Independence Day and the first “official” Dog Day of this summer.  

July’s full Buck Moon will be 224,895.4 miles from Earth — that means that August’s Blue Moon will be the only supermoon this year that will be closer to our planet. This month’s full Moon is called the Buck Moon because the antlers of male deer are in full growth mode at this time. (Bucks shed and regrow their antlers each year, producing a larger and more impressive set as the years go by.)
The Cherokee people refer to this month’s Moon as the Month of the Ripe Corn Moon.

While on the subject of the Moon, if you believe in such things, astrologically speaking, the emotional, spiritual, and intuitive effects of a supermoon can be felt on a deep level by earthlings.
I’m not sure I understand what it means, but apparently the astrological meaning of July 2023’s full Moon is: The Capricorn full Moon aspects Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn (currently in retrograde.) These planets add a positive element to the overall vibe. We’ll opt to take cautious steps towards manifesting our desires, meaning we won’t go overboard with our goals and will remain practical in order to not exceed our expectations.
I guess that’s good advice, but I think I’ll just go out a look at the Moon — full Moons are pretty cool…..
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Today in Independence Day — back in 1776 the Continental Congress voted in favor of declaring independence from Great Britain.
Before the declaration, America was part of the Kingdom of Great Britain (now known as the United Kingdom.) In the 1600s, people came from Great Britain to settle in what is now North America. Between 1607 and 1732, the British founded 13 colonies — Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. As those colonies grew, the residents thought the British government treated them unfairly — e.g., they had to pay taxes on items such as tea and allow British soldiers to stay in their homes. The colonists were required to follow these laws but couldn’t do anything to change them. Finally, in 1775, the colonists rebelled — resulting in the Revolutionary War between the the colonies and Great Britain. 

The colonists decided they needed to declare their independence in writing to explain their reasons and gain support from other countries. On July 4, 1776, a small group of representatives from the colonies — called the Continental Congress — adopted the Declaration of Independence. 
The document was written by a committee led by Thomas Jefferson and was signed by people from all 13 colonies. 

The Declaration of Independence is recognized around the world as an important message of self-governance — and — human rights. Maybe the most important sentence in the Declaration of Independence is the second…. that all people are created equally and have rights that include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That sentence was written by Thomas Jefferson.

So today, we celebrate Independence Day like we always have — with picnics, parades and fireworks. John Adams, who helped write the declaration, in a letter to his wife, predicted that the colonists’ independence would be celebrated by future generations as an annual festival with parades and bonfires. Looks like John was right. Happy Fourth!!
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Today is kind of a special day — it’s the official beginning of the Dog Days of Summer. A lot of us have heard this expression most of our lives and it traditionally refers to a period of particularly hot and humid weather occurring during the summer months of July and August.  

But which days are really the “dog days,” and why are they called dog days? Well this is another one of those subjects that just begged for some of my extensive research — here’s what I found….
So why are they referred to as dog days? Some think it’s a reference to the hot, sultry days that are “not fit for a dog,” and some believe it’s the time of year when the extreme heat drives dogs mad. Of course, that’s not true…..

The phrase actually comes from the stars — specifically, Sirius, the Dog Star. During the “dog days” period, the Sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, the brightest star visible from any part of the Earth. Sirius is a part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. In the summer, Sirius rises and sets with the Sun. And on July 23rd, it is in conjunction 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 and that’s what accounted for the long stretch of sultry weather. The Romans referred to this time as diēs caniculãrēs, or “dog days.” The term came to mean the 20 days before and 20 days after the alignment of Sirius with the Sun — July 3 to August 11 each year.

Actually, the appearance of Sirius doesn’t affect the weather here on Earth, but its appearance during the hottest part of summer over time has added to the lore surrounding the star — even today. 
For us today, when Sirius makes its appearance, it just mean’s it’s probably going to be hot and sultry. But to the ancient Greeks and Romans, Sirius’s appearance signaled a time when evil was brought to their lands in the form of drought, disease, or discomfort.
Virgil, the Roman poet, wrote, “…fiery Sirius, bringer of drought and plague to frail mortals, rises and saddens the sky with sinister light.” Obviously, this is a superstition, but in 2009 a Finnish study was conducted to determine if the claim that the rate of infections was higher during the Dog Days had any merit. Here’s what the report concluded — “The study was conducted in order to challenge the myth that the rate of infections is higher during the dog days. To our surprise, the myth was found to be true.” 

So make of that what you want — maybe the Canadian wildfires aren’t the only thing we should be concerned about this summer.
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Looking at the news shortly after I got up this morning, the first story I saw was that a block party in Baltimore, celebrating  Independence Day, was marred by a horrendous mass shooting. The suspect has not been apprehended yet, but I suspect it was a young man with an extremely disturbing social media history but was still able to legally obtain firearms.
As you can imagine, everyone is shocked.
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Continuing this year’s trend to talk about and welcome each month — today’s topic is…..July!
Tomorrow, July 2nd, is the exact middle of the year — of course, that’s true every year, so you can be sorry, or relieved, that the year is half over. And, if your New Year’s resolutions you made back in January haven’t panned out, tomorrow is a good day to try again.

The month of July is named after Roman leader Julius Caesar. Before the month became July, it was known as Quintiles. Quintiles is the Latin word for five — it was the fifth month on the Gregorian calendar. Actually, Julius Caesar modified the calendar, adding the months of January and February and the Julian calendar is still in use today. 

July (in the northern hemisphere) is usually the hottest month of the year. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the United States was in Greenland Ranch, California — 134ªF on July 10th, 1913.

Over the years, a lot of notable “firsts” have occurred in July — like the first atomic bomb being detonated (in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945) and the first rabies vaccine being administered (by Louis Pasteur) on July 6th, 1885. And of course I should mention that the first bikini debuted in Paris on July 5th, 1946. But — arguably — the most exciting July event took place in 1969 when Neil Armstrong was the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20th.
On the down side, 7 US Presidents have passed away in July — the most of any month.

July’s full Moon — the Full Buck Moon — will make its appearance in a couple of nights, on July 3. 
Aphelion — when the Earth is farthest it will get from the Sun for the entire year — occurs on July 6th. On that date, the Earth will be 94,506,364 miles away from the Sun.

And according to superstition, if ant hills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard. So we can look forward to Canada Day, Independence Day, Bastille Day, International Town Criers Day, World Emoji Day and the start of the Dog Days of Summer…. welcome, July.
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Both you faithful readers know that this is one of the most anticipated times of the year around here. yea, it’s coming up on America;s birthday, but more importantly, for a few days to a few weeks we are treated to a wonderful view of a Porta-Potty when we step out our front door. The big 4th of July party held annually across the street will be on July 1 this year instead of the traditional July 4. I’m not sure what this change will do to the Porta-Potty schedule. 

For those of you that anxiously check in here to see if it has arrived — I’m happy to announce that the Porta-Potty is here!!!
Feel free to stop by and view it’s beauty from our front porch or yard anytime. 
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I mentioned a few days ago that growing up in the “south,” I used some phrases or expressions that seemed foreign to a lot of people after I left home and went out into other parts of the world. I remember when I first came to the Washington area, people used to ask where I was from — I’m sure I had an Oklahoma accent or “twang,” but I used terms that were strange to people living around Washington. For instance, I referred to a container you put things in as a “sack” — not a “bag.” When I was growing up, working in grocery stores, I was a “sack boy” — we didn’t have “bag boys.”

Here’s some things I remember my parents and grandparents (and other people) saying when I was growing up.
Over yonder; Fixin’to; Cotton picking’; eating high on the hog; sharp as a butter knife; cooking with gas; too pooped to pop; naked as a jay bird; skinny as a rail; raised on beans and taters; green as a gourd; scarce as hens teeth; its/he’s no count; madder than a wet hen; til the cows come home; the pot calling the kettle black; blown’ up a storm; fly off the handle; hissy fit; well, I declare; hold your horses;  too big for his britches; barking up the wrong tree;

I remember that my grandad used to say “they were cut out right — just sewed up wrong” when he was talking about a strange or peculiar person. I’ve heard “this ain’t my first rodeo,” but in Oklahoma, the saying was “this ain’t my first goat ropin.” If someone had had plenty to eat, they’d say they were “full as a tick,” and if something fell into the too little, too late category, you’d hear “it don’t do no good to close the gate after the horse is out.” When I was a kid, every summer we got to get a new pair of tennis shoes — had nothing to do with the game of tennis — I never heard the term “sneakers.” Even though I’ve heard the terms occasionally lately, we always called a bottle opener a church key. When I was little, most grocery stores didn’t have shopping carts — some of the larger ones had baskets, but usually, you just piled your purchases on the counter as you shopped…. but there were a few that did have carts and my grandmother always referred to them as a buggy — not a shopping cart.

And I remember hearing “nervous as a long-tail cat in a room fulla rocking chairs.” One of my grandmothers used “bless your heart” a lot and most people around Maysville didn’t say I think or I believe — they said “I reckon.” “If the creek don’t rise” was almost always used to describe something out of your control. I remember one of my dad’s favorite expressions when something wasn’t valuable or important —he’d say, “it don’t amount to a hill of beans.” If something was broken or not right, it was “cattywampus.” If you couldn’t remember the name of something, it was referred to as a “doohickey.” One thing that always annoyed me was when some old lady wanted to give you a kiss, they’d say “gimme some sugar.” And seems like all the old ladies always told every kid they saw, “aren’t you precious.” Carry was a popular word for “take” — people would ask someone to carry them to the store, not take them. If someone was showing off, my mom would say they were “highfalutin.” My dad would always say “sure nuff?” A lot of people said, “sho nuff?” 

A southern accent is a lot like blonds — people tend to categorized blonds a “dumb,” and if you talk with a Southern accent, it’s perceived you are slow. Of course, that’s really not true — I’ve met just as many dumb people that talk without an accent as with….
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I heard on the news last night that every living person who has served as President of the United States is descended from ancestors who owned slaves — except Donald Trump. I’m not sure why someone decided a study was needed to come up with this startling information, but apparently, it’s important. The obvious reason Trump isn’t in the group is because the Trumps arrived in the U.S. after slavery was abolished.

I find another fact even more interesting — no only child has ever become President of the United States. Some Presidents, for all practical purposes, were raised as an only child, but all have had, at minimum, one half-brother or half sister. For instance, Franklin D. Roosevelt had only one half-sibling (his father’s oldest son, James) and James was 28 years older than FDR. 

And to amaze you even more — fifteen Presidents are firstborns, and seven have been the last born, or babies, of their families. All the rest have fallen somewhere in the middle of the birth order.
Maybe because of all the smoke from the forest fires in Canada, it’s kind of a slow day around here…..
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A little while back, the subject here was the guillotine and it’s rise to prominence during the French Revolution. I didn’t mention that a famous couple were executed with the popular new execution tool. 

During the French Revolution, the French masses were in revolt — their target was the nobility. King Louis XVI, who had formerly been the absolute monarch of France, was reduced in stature during the revolution and tried to flee the country with his wife, Marie Antoinette. They were unsuccessful in their attempt and didn’t make it very far — the king was branded a traitor, so his trial was just a formality. The guilty verdict was never in doubt. Because the court proceedings dragged on and lacked any element of suspense, bored spectators in the gallery ate little snacks and passed around wine and brandy. Outside, at the local cafes, the disorderly crowd took bets on the outcome of the trial.

King Louis XVI was sentenced to death by the guillotine after he was found to have been conspiring with other countries and engaging in counter-revolutionary acts — he was found guilty of treason. On the day of his execution, Louis XVI, who had become very “portly,” walked from his prison cell to a large green carriage. The possession, that included 1.200 guards, made its way to a huge square packed with spectators. His chubbiness, the king, was guided to the guillotine that was operated by Charles Sanson, the city executioner, whose father had preceded him in the office and whose son would follow him. Apparently the king had one too many French pastries over the years and when the blade came down, his neck was so fat that his head “did not fall at the first stroke.” The crowd rushed forward to dip their handkerchiefs or pieces of paper into Louis’ royal blood — I guess a perfect souvenir for such an important day.

Even before the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, the Austrian-born queen, was the most hated person in France. She was known — and widely disliked — as a person with perverse, despicable habits. Some of which included plotting to starve the poor, sending money Austria (France’s hated arch-rival,) and indulging her unquenchable sexual appetite for both men and women. The failed attempt to flee the country with the king only served to fuel the people’s hatred and suspicion of their queen. Whether any of the charges levied against her were true or not really didn’t matter. She was found guilty of treason just like her husband and condemned to death.

Nine months after Louis’ death, Henri Sanson, the son of the man who pulled the rope on the king’s guillotine entered Marie’s cell and escorted her to a tumbril (a small cart used to carry political prisoners to the guillotine.) When climbing the scaffold, she stepped on the executioner’s foot. She apologized, saying “Monsieur, I beg your pardon. I did not do it on purpose.” They were the last words she spoke.

The guillotine remained France’s state method of capital punishment well into the 20th century — the machine’s 189-year reign only officially came to an end in September of 1981, when France abolished capital punishment for good.
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A few days ago the subject was about dog phrases or “idioms” that have made their way into our language. One that I mentioned was “that dog won’t hunt.” That’s a dismissive phrase used to mean that a particular idea or approach is going to fail or that a certain accusation is false. The first time I remember hearing that one was during the Clinton Administration. I don’t remember why he said it — probably in opposition to something, but it was a phrase that I’ve remembered. 

Clinton was from Arkansas and I think the expression probably originated in the south. I didn’t check, but I imagine it’s an old hunting expression…. for most hunters, any dog that won’t hunt is pretty useless.

Even though the people in Oklahoma usually don’t admit it — I grew up in the south and sometimes southerners don’t say things directly, but use colorful phrases that gets the idea across better than a few words.
Maybe one day I’ll blog about some of the phrases I remember from when I was growing up….. 
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