Gloom-grrrr-gloom

The weather is pretty dim. Grim. Dim. Yesterday we actually had a Nor’easter, usually a winter weather pattern here. Not as much rain as usual for that kind of storm, but plenty of wind. My tomato plants blew over. Of course.

We are currently having the second most overcast June in the history of record keeping, and it is getting to everyone. The lawns are green as the sod of Ireland, and I expect a core sample of trees would show a nice wide growth ring for this year. But I still haven’t turned the heat off in our back room for the season, and the space heater under my desk at work has been in use daily. Last night we even used the electric blanket to take some of the dankness out of the bed. I feel as if the mold is growing mold.

To boot, Champagne and I are back to the canter issue again. When I rode Sunday (in the indoor) he only very grudgingly gave me a canter, and kept dropping out of it before being asked to. He has actually learned that I’ll ask for the canter as we enter the turn going into corner to help him pick up the correct lead, and he slows down his trot a few paces before the corner as if to say, “I’m not trotting fast enough to pick up a canter, so don’t ask.” Tonight I plan to lunge him with side reins to get him nice and loosened up before I ride, hoping that will boost his energy. I know I can get a canter on the lunge line. I just hope he doesn’t break my finger again by bolting. (That’s why I’m using the side reins, for that added bit of control. Plus I have seen Cath string the line through the bit on the near side, over the head behind the ears, and clipped to the bit on the other side, which she says gives more control, so I’ll try that too.)

What with the weather, I haven’t flown, either. Both recent lessons were canceled. Now I’m all tense about that again, too. For a cynical pessimist I usually have a quite cheery, involved take on life. But now my inner curmudgeon is showing through.