Another day here in Palm Beach County as we do our best to go on with life. It seems like at this point that we're doing nothing but waiting. Waiting for the power to come on, waiting for the traffic lights to work again, waiting for banks and restaurants to open, and just plain old waiting to get back to normal. Looks like we'll be waiting some more at the rate things are going.

In the good news department I've actually seen three power company trucks in our area today--two vans with supervisory guys taking notes, and just a few minutes ago an honest to God bucket truck with a big spool of wire on the back. Based on all the power poles down just around my house though--I can see 4 from my front yard--it looks to be another sticky night here. Wife and daughter have fled once again to the mall or the stores that are open and have power, just to get out of the heat.

In the very very bad news department it looks like Hurricane Ivan is now projected to at least affect us in one way or another early next week. Whether we'll catch a glancing blow or feel the full strength of the storm is up in the air at the moment. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (good thing) to see that a state that is only 120 miles wide is going to get some very bad weather from this one, which has hurricane force winds 90 miles out from the center, even if it moves along the coast. So, let me just say that this really sucks. Maybe we'll luck out and it will miss the peninsula by a good 100 miles or so.

Today then, instead of continuing to clean up from Frances I've decided to just take the afternoon off and go see a movie. Some of the local theaters are open, so a few hours in the air conditioning watching just about anything will be good. There's no sense in picking up, cleaning up, or really doing any more at my house until we know what Ivan is going to do. That word may come tomorrow, at which time it's back to getting food and water, putting up plywood, and making plans for riding out the next storm. Getting hit by 3 hurricanes in one year hasn't happened here in Florida since 1964, and while I can remember getting hit by Hurricane Cleo back then (which landed on my 7th birthday) I sure don't have any recollection of things being so screwed up for so long. But then, as a kid you have a whole different take on things.

So, life is on hold here. Waiting for the much anticipated arrival of the power crews bringing us blessed air conditioning, and dreading the possible arrival of Ivan on the scene. Maybe this is God's idea of a practical joke.

Heh heh. Good one, God. Not.