•The Dog Days of Summer are named after Sirius, the Dog Star, in the constellation Canis Major, which shines most brightly during this time of the year. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed the star was responsible for the heat and blamed it for periods of drought, sickness and plague.
•The Dog Days of Summer are the 40 days from July 3rd to August 11th.
•Want to get an idea of the temperature outside on a summer night? Count the number of cricket chirps in 15 seconds then add 37 and you’ll find the temperature of the air degrees Fahrenheit.
•July is National Ice Cream month as it is the time of year the most ice cream is sold. The average American east 5 1/2 gallons of ice cream a year.
•The highest recorded summer temperature at the South Pole is 7°F.
•The Frisbee was originally designed as a tin pie plate in the 1870’s. It was a marketing plan to encourage homemakers to see the name "Frisbee" on the pie tin and think how much easier it would be to buy a pie instead of making one. Eventually, Mr. Frisbee’s pies were sold all over Connecticut. In the 1940’s, Yale students began tossing the pie tins to one another in a game of catch. About 10 years later, Wham-O saw the pie-tin tossing fun at Yale, and decided to market is as a toy. There were some design issues with the tin, so the plastic disc was born.
•The U.S. has more than 12,000 summer camps. These include sports camps, day camps, and sleep away camps.
