I can’t believe we’re in the midst of the dog days of summer already. I just learned the other day that the phrase refers to Sirius, the Dog Star.
In the summer, Sirius rises and sets with the sun. On July 23rd, it’s perfectly in conjunction with the sun and at its brightest. The ancient Romans, when they weren’t building colosseums and using urine as mouthwash, believed it actually gave off heat and was responsible for the long stretch of sultry weather this time of year, so they named the 20 days before and after this alignment diēs caniculārēs (“dog days”). Ergo, July 3 to August 11.
I’ve always taken issue with constellations. Other than the Big Dipper, which actually looks like a big dipper, I just don’t see any of these other shapes. Saying this random grouping of stars resembles a dog seems like a huge stretch to me. It’s all so subjective, like when people gaze at clouds and see animals or clowns or whatever. I could connect those dots in different ways and come up with a tea kettle or a mermaid or a Hyundai, I’m sure.
Speaking of Hyundais, we finally bought some kayak racks that would fit atop the Kona. Previously, we’d been transporting them in Tara’s truck, but because her bed isn’t long enough they were sticking up over the cab and held in place with ratchet straps. It was crude but effective, and also, a pain in the ass to load and unload. The new system is better.
Our purchase was timely, as yesterday we embarked upon our first-ever river kayaking excursion. A couple of months ago, our neighbor Brian told us about an upcoming group paddle on the Bark River sponsored by the Fort Atkinson Parks & Recreation department. We signed up, figuring the $10 fee for shuttle transportation and a guided tour over an unfamiliar body of water would be worth the price.
It was. There were 30 paddlers total, and we put into the Bark River shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday.
For the next almost-three hours we paddled down the Bark River, meandering through woods and pastures, eventually joining up with the Rock River, which flows through downtown Fort. The weather was absolutely perfect and the scenery, idyllic. The river was really low because of the drought, so there were a few tricky spots where we had to navigate around and under fallen trees, but all in all it was a peaceful excursion. Except for Annoying Guy Drinking Beer.
That’s the problem with social groups. There is always an Annoying Guy Drinking Beer. The beer is sometimes real, sometimes metaphorical, but the Guy is always Annoying. In this case, he was a loud and obnoxious thinks-he-knows-it-all who played music over his phone and constantly belittled his wife. Like, he was calling a paddle board everything but a paddle board. He referred to it as a stand-up kayak and then a longboard.
“Isn’t a longboard a surfboard?” his wife asked.
He kept insisting it was not, but guess what? It is. Dumbass. Fortunately, the group was pretty spread out, so it was easy enough to keep our distance.
All in all, we had a lot of fun, but we were happy to disembark in the early afternoon. Three hours of nonstop paddling is a lot, and our arms were feeling it. With a group, you can’t take your time or pull over. We’ll definitely do it again, but now that we know the route and have two vehicles that can carry kayaks, we’ll just do it by ourselves next time.
Afterward we came home, showered, and went downtown for a few hours of bar hopping. We felt we’d earned that treat.
Picked up sandwiches from the never-disappoints Good2Go, came home, put on one of our favorite movies ever (Singles), and had a chill evening.
The dog days of summer are probably my least favorite time of year, but at least the coming week isn’t looking too hot or humid, our air quality has been fine, and we have multiple chances for showers and thunderstorms.
Fingers crossed!
Mark My Words 
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