Dog days

It's very hot. Thanks to my new weather station - a brilliant gift from my son Mike - I know just how overpoweringly hot it is . . . . we thought yesterday was a bit much, but today is more than 3 degrees hotter at 34.7°. (If you're curious, you can see the experimental weather log on this webpage which opens in a new window, and there's a summary of current conditions in the column to the right of this blog.)

Our French teacher, the admirable Mme Gleizes, has taught us a range of words for this weather: I like 'un chaleur caniculaire'. La canicule is the French name for the hot weather that coincides with the long summer holiday that most French workers take, and the name has its origins in Latin - with the same root as the English word canine, to do with dogs.

Apparently, the ancient Romans noticed that the hottest days of the year, in July and early August, coincided with the appearance of Sirius - the Dog Star - in the same part of the sky as the Sun. Sirius is the largest and brightest star in the Canis Major constellation, in fact it is the brightest star in the sky. The ancients believed that the star contributed to the heat of the day. And so into French as la canicule, and into English as dog days . . . .

My etymological ramblings should convince you that either I've finally cracked up completely, or just that it's too hot in the middle of the day to do anything except stay fairly still in the shade. The llamas are behaving much the same, with 'the breeders' neatly slotted into the shade of the field shelter and 'the walkers' lying stretched out to catch as much breeze as possible. You'd have thought that it would be unbearable having a thick fur coat on all day, but they do seem to be coping better than we are. Their drinking rate has increased, meaning we have to make more trips up the hill with large water containers, but the walkers - who have loads of vegetation to browse - still seem to be getting most of their liquid through eating. Not for nothing are they members of the camel family!

Max, being a dog, loves the dog days. The hotter the better. As the sun moves around the house, so does he - so in the late afternoon, for him there's nowhere better than the balcony, where he can get fully exposed. He's not so good at walking any more, and rarely runs at all, but lying in the sun is really his specialist subject.

Meanwhile, I manage to dart out into the sun every now and again to water the flagging seedling vegetables. We're having a courgette glut, and are eating lettuce as fast as we can. The tomato crop should be good. If only I was a bit more organised, we would have a balanced diet. As it stands, we shall have to eat the various components of a good salad each in separate weeks. And I'm definitely losing out to the snails with the radishes and beetroot. My organic beliefs are being sorely tried by the rampant chewing of thousands of molluscs . . . . We hardly ever see any in action, because they have the knack of hiding away from the sun all day and then emerging to feast overnight. Any non-lethal ideas welcomed!