“Dog Days” originates from the ancient folks, who associated the rising of the star Sirius, known as the “Dog Star,” with the hottest and most uncomfortable days of summer in the regions about the Mediterranean Sea.
Until Friday, this has been a cool week on the Naneum Fan at 2,240 feet elevation. But Saturday was warm (89°) and today, Sunday it came up to 99°F. Monday and Tuesday are each expected to reach 94. Some claim the Dog Days go through to the 11th. Wednesday is supposed to be cooler, so we are very close.
Mornings to about 11:00 are sufficiently pleasant so that I can do a few things outside. I’ve been working on dismembering three Hawthorn trees that are old, large, with dead limbs, and close to a small barn. The deer will eat the leaves and the pea-sized fruit. They manage to so so despite the thorns. The next day I move the limbs and cut new ones. The young ones still have spots and are more skittish of me than the older ones.
Another animal I see is the Douglas Squirrel – inset in the photo below. They have a couple of favorite places to sit and eat the seeds from the Ponderosa Pine cones. The leftovers accumulated under a tree in front of the house are in the image below. Before they take it apart, a cone is the size of a baseball or larger.
Washington radar sites are lighting up at night – not with rain, but with birds heading south. Cliff Mass, a Univ. of WA professor, put up a post today with images.
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2025/08/birds-know-that-summer-is-ending-soon.html?lr=1754867156634
The technology can show which direction the birds are migrating.
There is another fascinating technology for those of us that grew up having to talk to an operator to make a phone call. Modern phones dispense with all we went through. Case in point – Nephew Eric visited a cousin in Sweden and we talked for 15 minutes. My last contact with Lars was at Christmas in 1992.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John
It seems a little late in the year, but I really don’t know. Information on the internet claims birthing begins in late April to early May with peaks during the summer months.
Many years ago I had a very basic table saw. I loaned it to the man that was taking Brittanys for Nancy when she couldn’t go to a show. I no longer remember why he needed a saw, but it was in a shed that burned. I also do not remember if he offered to replace it. If he talked to me, I don’t remember. It was an inexpensive model and I guess that might have been when I bought the now deceased Craftsman radial arm saw. Anyway, it will be new here next week. 
week. Several phone conversations later, I’m convinced it is not coming back to life. Unfortunately, the service desk person at a local shop said bring it in, so I built a ramp and managed to get it slid into the bed of the pickup. At the store, the head repair guy said “Oh, that’s an electrical tool and we don’t work on that sort of thing.”
My April 27th post started with a photo of this tree at the height of blossoming. Lots of flowers need lots of bees but the trees don’t want that much fruit. If I touch a small yellow one it will fall. They will naturally fall and wind helps.
I won’t be cutting trees down this weekend.