Changes

The weather this past week has been cooler, so Fall is definitely here. I doubt that we will have any more days in the 80's until next spring, unless we get a tropical system moving right over us. That is possible, but I doubt it. Last winter was wet, this whole year overall has been wet. We had several dry years before this one, and a year ago the entire state of Oklahoma was under a ban on outdoors burning. The ban even included rules for outdoor welding. Wildfires affected large parts of the Tulsa area, including some towns close to me. I'm glad that threat is over.

Many people look forward to winter weather, but I don't! I can handle heavy rain, but I prefer to do without snow, sleet, and ice. Snow I can live with if I have to. But sleet and ice are another matter.

We usually don't get much sleet around here. When it does happen, it doesn't build up much before it turns onto snow. Back in January or February, we had a winter storm that laid down about 3-4 inches of sleet. It looked like snow, but it sure wasn't! I managed to get outside and on the ground right in front of my house where there was a strip that was bare because it was on the sheltered side of the house. I noticed the sun had loosened up a corner of the sleet on top of the concrete porch. I took my shovel and pried off a chunk and tossed it out onto the yard. It didn't sink like it would have it had landed on snow. It just hit with a thud and slid. That sleet pretty much kept me inside the house for the better part of two weeks.

The part of winter that affects me the most is the cold. My mucous membranes defintely do not like the cold! I usually have at least one bad cold every winter.

The weather is not the only thing that is changing at my house. I haven't said much about my family or home life. I live with my mother in a house that once belonged to my grandfather.

My uncle was staying with my grandfather, then my uncle got sick and died. He had heart problems and I believe that's what did him in. My granfather needed someone to stay with him, I was out of a job, my mother and I were living in a garage apartment in Sapulpa and she was paying the rent. We moved in with my grandfather because it was a mutually beneficial arrangement for all of us. My grandfather left the house to Mom, even though she was not his daughter.

Mom has retired since then, and about 3 - 4 years ago she began volunteering to spend Sunday nights at a Christian women's halfway house in Sapulpa. She has been pretty steady there since the place opened. She was the first volunteer they called on to spend the night when their first resident came in. She has volunteered on other nights when they needed someone.

Things have changed at that place, and not for the better. Mom will be spending her last Sunday night there tomorrow night. I think she would like to continue, but she does not agree with some of the things they do, and going there has become a burden. I am concerned, because that place has helped several women that have become Mom's friends. I hope the place doesn't close. Maybe Mom's leaving will send them a signal that they need to change.

I was used to having the house to myself on Sunday nights. I usually did things that I normally wouldnt' do when she was home, because she wasn't in my way. Oh, well, I'll learn to adjust.