Too much of a good thing

Us: Ain't going nowhere
It: Feeling the same way, apparently

Tornado warning currently in effect for our county. The storm is spouting off these tiny little tornadoes that are basically not much more than an annoyance, unless you're outside. Which, of course, we aren't.

I'm sure at some point we had hoped for something along the lines of, "Wouldn't it be nice if we could all have a few days together, here at home, where nobody had any place to go?" Well, it apparently would have been nice if we hadn't been forced t do so. The Old Daughter is currently repeating, "There's nothing to do," over and over. The younger kids are at each other's throats. The Wife is near dementia. I'm trying to take cover, not from Frances, but from them.

A neighbor had scheduled a party for this afternoon. We're going, because it's within walking distance, and because if we don't get a change of scenery, we're all going to go insane. Apparently that's the case on the other end, too. "You'd better show up," the neighbor said, "because if my kids don't get someone to play with soon, I'm going to bust a gasket. Besides, we have all this food ... "

I could not be happier that my family is safe, and sound, and that we haven't lost power. We've suffered no significant damage (so far, anyway.) It's been great to be together. I'm pretty sure, however, that after 48 hours of this togetherness, we're ready to share the love with someone else. We're going to a party, and no damn tropical storm is going to stop us.

The guest who stayed too long

Us: Still here
It: Somewhere in the Gulf

Frances apparently has a very wide ass. It's sashayed to the right just enough to continue to cause us problems.

The tottering privacy fence has come down. We've lost another panel on our pool screen. We're currently under a tornado warning as the southeastern "feeder bands" continue to feed on the Western Edge.

It's a good time to not be a television reporter on the Western Edge. Those poor people have been worked to death over the last three days. The desk anchors appear to be getting just enough of a break to go change clothes. The meteorologists are all on camera at the same time. That doesn't seem to be a good use of resources, to me.

The headline on the front page of the Tampa Tribune: SECOND WIND.