Mother Nature Strikes Back

I did one weather complaint post in winter, I'm due for one in the summer. Don't get me wrong, compared to the weather in my hometown back in Minnesota, New England doesn't really have weather. You can go a week at home and not get above zero at all in the winter, and then top one hundred in the summer with mosquitoes big enough to take a roping saddle. That doesn't even begin to cover the straight line winds, tornadoes, or blizzards.

Actually I should suggest that to my mom as a new way to work her sheep. Round them up with her trusted mount, a Minnesota mosquito. I digress.

Even if the weather here on the East Coast is more mild, it can be damn unpleasant at times. Such as today. Projected high is 96 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius, I'm getting pretty good at doing those conversions on the fly because of teammates in Europe), with a heat index of 105. That's pretty miserable in any part of the country, especially when it's humid enough to feel like I've been slapped in the face with a wet blanket each time I step outside.

Considering the conditions, the princess is getting the day off. She does tend to get panting easily and sweats a good bit, I don't want to push her on a day like this. Tomorrow's lesson is at 9am and the humidity is reportedly going to start breaking, so it sounds like a better day all around. Between the bugs and the weather, conditions have been less than ideal. I took her out for a nice, relaxing ride in the woods on Sunday. This turned into a break neck gallop up a long hill with me cheering her on, yelling 'We can lose them!' as we outran the deer flies. Fiona enjoyed herself a good bit, but it was not exactly a leisurely trail ride.

This is the worst part of the summer. It's hot, it's muggy, and the bugs are monstrous and persistent. Mid-July to mid-August is the part of summer I don't like. Mid-Febuary to mid-March is the matching time in winter that I loathe. But I probably don't have much room to complain, I could be back in Minnesota. Nine months of winter and three months of lousy sledding.