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DAY TWO

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but... look down in the lower right hand of this picture. That guy's name is IVAN and he is the next hurricane in the pipeline behind Frances. This is just wearing us out.

Frances is taking its sweet time strolling across the state, and the poor bastards on the south east coast have taken a brutal beating. Unfortunately, it's not over yet. Up here in Orlando, the wind is holding at around 40 knots sustained and 65 in gusts. Not too bad. I went out and looked around this morning. Not too much damage. I've still got electricity, although I seem to have an interrupt about every fifteen minutes and that makes posting anything an adventure. Not too much in the way of trash on the roads. Absolutely no body is out driving around.

I went and checked the JAC and there was no damage there. Our little system of shipping all the felonies to the county jail has worked out. Hey, a plan that actually worked. Don't tell Tallahassee, they'll expect such miracles all the time.

I haven't heard from Stevie since last night. A alert went out shortly after I disconnected with her warning of twisters going up Wolf Branch Rd. in Lake Co. Right up at her house! I'm counting on the fact that bad news travels fast and I haven't heard anything bad so far.

I can't reach anybody in Titusville so I have no idea how the boat is doing. The wind is still blowing over there. Same thing with the plane in Leesburg. I find that I'm amazingly attached to these toys of mine. Maybe I'm getting possessive in my dotage. I don't know.

It's working on 2 PM now and the wind is holding at around 35-40 knots with gusts up to 65. Not too bad. I'm just real glad that I don't live down near Okeechobee. Those guys have had it bad for the last 24 hours. Damn.

And to think that we might have to go through all this again in a week or so when Ivan gets here. Yikes!

Bob