title explained

Onward and upward! something that you say in order to encourage someone to forget an unpleasant experience or failure and to think about the future instead and move forward.

My e-mail: jjmiller6213@comcast.net

Saturday, May 6, 2017

The weather doesn't help.................

.........my mood.

I have always been very aware of the weather.  My Daddy taught me a lot about what kind of weather was coming.  No TV's back then with their predictions and forecasts.  Daddy could tell by the way the clouds moved, how the wind felt and how the animals acted.  

I distinctly remember a summer day when I was about ten years old.  I was playing outside, enjoying the sunshine and Daddy came walking toward the barn--he was walking fast.

"You get all the chickens in the coop and haul your rabbit cages into the barn.  I gotta get the cows up from the pasture."

"Why, Daddy?"

"See those clouds?" he pointed west, out in the country, you can see the sky from a long ways off.  "There's a lot of wind in those clouds.  We've got a bad storm brewing."

Well of course, I did as I was told.  Took me nearly half an hour.  Have you ever herded chickens?

I loaded my rabbits, in their cages, into my wagon and hauled them over to the barn and dragged them inside.  Just then I heard Daddy getting the cows in their stanchions.

As we stepped out to head to the house, I could hear the wind roaring in those clouds and fat drops of rain pelting down.

Mother already had all the windows in the house closed as Daddy and I ran up into the back porch.  A glass enclosed porch.

We stood in the kitchen, looking out the window that faced west.  All of a sudden, Mother turned and Daddy grabbed my arm and we ran down into the basement.  Michigan Cellar is what it was--stone walls and dirt floor.  We could hear sounds of glass breaking, loud thunder and the wind roaring overhead.

When things calmed down a bit, we climbed up the wobbly wooden steps and looked around.  Everything looked okay until we walked into the kitchen.  Our big Willow tree that I loved to climb in, was split in half and it was smoldering.  It had been hit by lightning.  

We had twin pine trees in the front yard, where two rope swings hung from the lower boughs--one pine tree was laying on it's side.  "There's hail out there six inches deep," Mother said.

Then Daddy walked out into the porch-room to go outside to check for damage.  "Dorathy, come here," he yelled.  Every west facing window in that room was shattered and rain was pouring in.

He stepped outside and stood on the cement step, I heard him moan.  There sat our almost new car, at the end of the path that divided our lawn.  It was covered in pock marks from the hail damage.
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Being in tune with the weather, the last four days of steady rain and temperatures in the 40's, with nary a glimpse of the sun, everything has made me moody.   I shouldn't complain.  When I see the news photos of the floods down south, I can't even imagine what those people are going through.  There is water to the roof-lines of their homes!  How do you ever recover from something like that?
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It's the 6th of May!!  Mother Nature, bring us some warmth, okay?

The sun is out today and my mood is better.  Still only a "high" in the 50's and freezing temps every night.  The furnace still comes on from time to time.

I just saw a guy walk by in tank top and shorts, walking his dog.  I ran to my indoor/outdoor weather station to see the outside temperature.  48 degrees!  By the way the guy is dressed, I thought it might be in the 60's.  Nope!
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I DID walk up to Merle and Pearl's yesterday afternoon.  I didn't know it, but this is the second time in a week that they had to call the ambulance people for help.  She fell last week.

I asked her how and why she fell.  Did she get dizzy?  Did she black out?  Wasn't she using her walker?

No, she wasn't dizzy.  She didn't black out.  Yes she was using her walker, but she has no strength in her legs and they collapse and even using the walker, she just goes down.  She is so heavy that Merle can't get her up, so he has to call the ambulance people.  

Two summers ago, when Merle was so sick and weak and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, Pearl seemed to keep herself going.  She walked out to get the mail every day.  She'd walk down here to visit.  She worked in her small flower garden.  She cleaned house and did it all--grocery shopping, driving her car.

The minute Merle was diagnosed with Parkinson's and responded (like a miracle) to the drugs they put him on.........it was like Pearl just sat down and gave up.  She has always said that she wants to die first because Merle could get along better, by himself, than she could, if he went first.  

It almost seems to me that she has decided to just give up, sit in her chair and wait for her last breath.  WHICH IS STUPID, because she has NO health problems!!  Her heart is strong.  She doesn't have high blood pressure or cholesterol, no breathing problems.  She takes two pills a day--for pain.  That's it!

She could easily live another ten years, but of course, she won't.  

She doesn't move because her legs hurt.  Her legs hurt because she doesn't move.  Her muscles are wasting away.  AND SHE WON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, and good or bad weather---her attitude still makes my mood sad!!!

11 comments:

  1. Those floods around the country are so scary and it's hard to imagine what's it's like to go through something like that. A few years back when I had 3 inches of water in my basement is cost so much, took so long to clean up and was so stressful, but some of those people have water up to their roofs! Just terrible.

    Sad what is happening to Pearl but you can't make people see they have a life worth living if they're determined not to see it.

    Your dad probably saved the lives of the farm animals that day by his keen sense of weather.

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  2. I love summer pop-up storms but they can certainly be dangerous. I live in fear of a tree falling on our house, or on somebody else's house. Your reminiscences of those summer days with your parents are poignant and precious! As to Pearl ... I guess we all get to make our choices. Like the old song says: " ... living and dying with the choices I've made." xoxo

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  3. Amazing story of weather-wise wisdom from your Dad. Living on a farm, one really becomes conscious of weather.How fortunate that you listened carefully and got all those chores done quickly before getting to safety. I remember being told how you can smell impending rain, and it is so true. Teddy and I often talk about that when going out to catch the bus in the morning.
    So very sad about Pearl. People just do not get the no move, no move thing. It does take a deliberate effort, but is so worth it. I have many friends in that state, too. It does shorten one's life.

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  4. It is a great farm story.
    I will try to outlive my husband for inheritance reasons.
    My good friend Mary is 75 yrs old. Mary's mother passed on, and Mary's 97 yr old father is married to an eightish widow. It looks like the family home will be passed to the Merry Widow.

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  5. though a difficult storm - that is an amazing story, you remember so many of the details. it reminded me a little of the wizard of oz, my all time favorite movie!!

    i have always asked my husband to let me go first, i'm not sure i could do it alone, but one never knows. i would never give up, life is so precious for me!!! i hope you are having a nice weekend, just keep to yourself!!!

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  6. Knowing how to predict the weather, it intrigues me! How wonderful, that your father had learned how to, and well... By observing, I'm sure. And remembering what he had observed.

    Quite a memory there, you have. Not a fully good one, but certainly a vivid one.

    A book I enjoyed, a while ago... A character in the book, was an old woman, who was totally engrossed in the weather. She had all sorts of old fashioned weather instruments, around her yard. Meaning, she had learned how to read the weather, before "The Weather Ch." was around. ,-) She was a great character, and I loved that part of the plot.

    Yes, weather can certainly effect our moods. It's only logical.

    And those neighbor women of yours, certainly have to effect your mood. Yikes! Then again, maybe just seeing them and how they act, is a great incentive for you.... To do the Logical thing.

    We had wind, and sun, and showers here today. Mother Nature is still having a "Bad Hair Day" and can't make up her mind. -sigh-

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  7. Interesting story, Judy! It brought back memories of running to the old cellar, which was really not very safe, several times in one night. As for the flooding, it's been bad in our state, but not in our area. Perhaps the saddest story to come from it all, is the one where a mother's car was washed off the road and her two little ones were swept away from her arms. The boy's body was found but so far the 18 month old girl hasn't been found. How does one ever recover from that?

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  8. It's very hard to lose everything familiar. Even if you have insurance, you can never get back certain things that mean so much. Floods and fires are horrible.

    Your news about Pearl is very sad.

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  9. Love your stories
    and remember my grand parents predicting much,
    Seems they were usually right.,,

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  10. Isn't that interesting how much all of our parents/grandparents could listen to the sounds and smell the smells and could accurately predict the weather. My Dad taught me how to watch the birds and squirrels ... if they were out in the rain, it was going to rain all day. If they tried to stay dry, we would be getting a break!

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