Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for August 01, 2013

Dude, just get an ice cold beer….Better yet, a double gin and tonic….Or read some Carl Hiaasen in honor of the heat!

Have you tried seating in the shade? That darkish place over there. Sheeesh, northerners.

A fellow Minnesotan! And even this “road construction” season is on the cool side – low 40’s in northern Minnesota the other day, with more cool weather on the way.

It was hotter than a two dollar Tijuana tart on a Saturday night when the Fleet’s in!

One of my friends in Sheboygan, WI, said, “you’re going to love summer in Sheboygan. It’s our nicest day.”

Actually, we did have several days of really icky, Florida-type, humid weather with highs of 95. Then a high of 75 blew in.

In Michigan we have four seasons: Winter, June, July and August!

I thought it was spelled Minnesnowta.

Did she kill the rock garden?

Mad dogs and Englishmen, Arlo, mad dogs and Englishmen.

too bad he doesn’t have a boat to get out on the water or a reason to visit thee beach. OH WAIT! didn’t they have a boat once? must have got wrecked by Sandy so no reason to go to the coast.

Here’s the original context for Arlo’s musings, from Clavis Calendaria: Or, A Compendious Analysis of the Calendar by John Henry Brady (1815): “When the antients first observed Sirius emerging as it were from the sun, so as to become visible to the naked eye, they usually sacrificed a brown Dog to appease its rage, considering that the Star was the cause of the hot sultry weather usually experienced at its appearance; and they would seem to have believed its power of heat, conjoined with that of the sun, to have been so excessive, that on the morning of its first rising the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies. That the weather in July and August is generally more sultry than at any other period of the year, and that some particular diseases are consequently at that time more to be dreaded, both to man and best, is past dispute. The exaggerated effects of the rising of Sirius are now, however, known to be groundless; and the superior heat usually felt during the dog-days, has been more philosophically accounted for.”

I’m sure Ludwig would like the “Cat Days” to be captured in prose, remembering the 20 plus hours of sleep, eating Fancy Feast, longingly watching birds through the window, drinking from the toilet and the occasional licking of oneself.

Let’s get Sirius about this.

T’waz I heard the Ancient Mariner say,“Stick around kid and listen to my lay!“Shot a bird for a joke,“Saw my shipmates all croak;“Now I give to the ASPCA!”

How about:When the still sea conspires in armorTrue sailing is dead.Awkward instant as the first animal is jettisonedLegs flailing in mute nostril agony…—The Lizard King

Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time “the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies.” according to Brady’s Clavis Calendaria, 1813.

Arlo wasn’t near “Sandy”. He lives in Alabama! Temp today was 93 – low tonight is expected to be 75. Humidity about 85% – no rain today either!

In that first panel, I thought Arlo’s head had flipped open to let the heat out…

Normally it is hot and humid here in Atlanta. Don’t think we have seen 90 degrees more than a couple of times this summer, and not in the past 30 days. Almost as nice as Miami in the summer, where it never gets above 92.