"Life and It's Vicissitudes and It's Inclemencies"

So, wow! All these years of hearing my grandfather say this and I don't ever remember asking what the heck he meant by that. One of my roomates said something to me the other day and that saying popped into my head and out of my mouth. She asked me what it meant...and I had no idea. It's just something my grandpa said whenever someone got into a jam.
I jumped online that afternoon and went to dictionary.com to look up the two words, after having no such luck in my thesaurus.

vi·cis·si·tude ( P ) Pronunciation Key (v-ss-td, -tyd)n.
A change or variation.
The quality of being changeable; mutability.
One of the sudden or unexpected changes or shifts often encountered in one's life, activities, or surroundings. Often used in the plural. See Synonyms at difficulty.
[Latin vicissitd, from vicissim, in turn, probably from vics, pl. of *vix, change. See weik-2 in Indo-European Roots.]

inclemencies
Inclemency \In*clem"en*cy\, n.; pl. Inclemencies. [L. inclementia: cf. F. incl['e]mence.] 1. The state or quality of being inclement; want of clemency; want of mildness of temper; unmercifulness; severity.The inclemency of the late pope. --Bp. Hall.2. Physical severity or harshness (commonly in respect to the elements or weather); roughness; storminess; rigor; severe cold, wind, rain, or snow.The inclemencies of morning air. --Pope.The rude inclemency of wintry skies. --Cowper.Syn: Harshness; severity; cruelty; rigor; roughness; storminess; boisterousness.
in·clem·ent ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-klmnt)adj.
Stormy: inclement weather.
Showing no clemency; unmerciful.