DOG DAYS: We have more questions now about the
dog days of summer than when we started!

One more column (for now) on the subject and then we’ll move
on.

One question we’ve asked, where were temperatures taken
before the Bradford airport was built? And are they considered by
the National Weather Service to be “official”?

Jim Piscitelli has been keeping his own weather records ever
since retiring in 1972. He compiled his temperature records
directly from the weather report in each day’s Era.

Our temperatures are taken from a thermometer outside The Era
building which has been quite reliable over the years. There is one
small problem: Since it’s located in the alley next to our
building, the temperature spikes at high noon on sunny days.

You may have noticed that anomaly in our weather reports. We try
to average them out but sometimes this little duty escapes new
reporters.

Also on the subject of weather, we pass along a question from a
reader: “On average, July, not August, is our hottest month. Not
sure about that whole ‘dog days’ of summer business. Doesn’t it
have something to do with the stars?”

The stars? Hmm.

We had always assumed “dog days” had something to do
with how poorly dogs respond to the hot and humid days of July and
August, but now must reconsider that hypothesis.

We’ll do some research and let you know.

LOCAL ANGLE: MaryBeth Reed of Charlotte, N.C.,
writes: “I was excited to see the picture of the Stryker in the
paper. My daughter, Megan Canterbury Graham, was the fifth female
invited to join the first Stryker team in 2005. She was stationed
then at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.”

“Megan is staying with us right now since she was discharged in
December and her husband Brett is currently deployed, and I
couldn’t wait to show her the picture, and tell her maybe the next
time we get to Bradford, we can see it.

“She had a good time calling some Army buddies and reliving
their stories about the Stryker.”

GAS PAIN: Several readers passed
along gas prices from the region. If you want to feel bad about
Bradford’s prices, consider this: Gas was ,2.599 at Country Fair
in Erie on Monday; ,2.69 in Edinboro over last weekend; and ,2.69
in Port Allegany.