An evening with Frances

Our position: 27.88 N, 82.28 W
Frances' position (as of 5 p.m. EDT): 26.9 N, 79.3 W
Tropical Storm Warning issued for our county

The Wife went out at 5 p.m. to get dog food. She called about half an hour later: "I've been injured!" she declared. "A flying tree branch just grazed my arm!"

We're still trying to have a little bit of fun with this, but it appears the fun is going to be subsiding soon. A couple of rain bands, each larger and louder than the previous, have blown through. It still hasn't been anything more severe than the average afternoon Florida thunderstorm, but the fact that they're increasing in intensity each time through doesn't bode well.

The Wife observed in her trip to the grocery store -- a place that was still wildly crowded as afternoon became evening -- that some stuff had already started to blow down. "If we get hours of 50 mph winds," says the woman who's been pooh-poohing this whole thing vehemently since the news stations began playing their "You're All Going to Die" music, "this could be a real mess."

It certainly could be. The longer the thing sits out there on the fringe of the Edge, the stronger it's going to get.