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!!!