Work was bizarre today - people trying to do normal work things while battening down the office (we're in a tall glass building) and obsessively watching Frances on the internet.

I'm packing and cleaning up my house, putting away anything I can, in plastic containers if appropriate, and generally going for Zen Decor here. I hope to come home to a very tidy and intact house, but I can't count on it. If windows get broken or blown out that's bad enough, I can at least try to minimize collateral damage. Later this evening I will move this computer from its current location (in front of several windows) and put it up on my dresser. I'm unplugging anything electronic and if possible, moving it to higher ground and away from windows. I'm kinda freaking because some of my neighbors are actually boarding up windows. I've been in Central Florida for over 20 years and I have never seen anybody board up in our area. That's something that happens on the coast. Personally I don't see much point in it, because if anything goes in my house it'll be the 20+ year old living room skylight, and boarding the windows won't make much difference if that sucker blows out. I'm closing the blinds when I leave, it'll catch anything that might fly through, but that's it.

Besides important papers, I'm bringing my laptop, some software I've been meaning to load and play with, the camera and its software, bank stuff, as much of the expensive contents of the fridge as I can fit in the two cheap coolers I managed to grab at the supermarket, a lasagna for Friday night, and of course knitting and things to do. And then I will try not to sit there freaking out over what's happening at home.

The latest path of the storm has it exiting the state over Tallahassee, so it's not like I'm going to avoid participating in this fun. But by the time it gets that far it should have weakened to a really bad rainstorm/weak tropical storm.

I have no idea when my office will reopen, I have no idea when I will have regular internet access again, I have no idea what I'll come home to on Monday, if I can even get out of Tallahassee on Monday. I'm so scared for the Boychild, who is riding out the storm in "the bunker" as we call his 40-something year old rental house - concrete block, flat roof and plaster walls, it's old school FL construction and is as good as it gets for riding out a hurricane. I invited him to come up to his sister's and join the hurricane party, but he's of course a Manly Man and he's not going to retreat. I'm worried about the kitties, but this house is also concrete block and though not flat roofed, it's small and square and built to take a beating. I will move their litterboxes from the garage to interior rooms where they will be likely to shelter if it gets scary here. I'm just plain worried, period.

The further north on the coast it hits, the greater the damage to the Orlando area, because it won't have slowed down much when it gets here. But of course, there are millions of people in greater danger right now, so I'm not trying to be melodramatic about my personal plight. This is really bad for most of the state. This is Stormzilla.