Q : Why is hurricane season like Christmas?

A : At some point, you know you're going to have a tree in your house.

Looks like Jeanne really is heading our way. That annoying little loopy thing she did a few days ago made me think she would hit way higher up the coast. (Shades of 1984 - hit them! Hit them!) At this point, the prediction is that the wind is supposed to pick up this evening, and the eye of the storm will pass over here at 2pm or so on Sunday. But that could all still change.

We're supposed to have our book group meeting tonight. Not sure whether it's going to be a good idea to be out on the roads late tonight, so we may have to postpone. I can't believe the book they chose while I was visiting my mom : War and Peace. What possessed them? We're supposed to have read the first section - close on 400 pages - by tomorrow night. Thus far I have to say I'm not enjoying it. I keep wondering whether the odd expressions are what Tolstoy really wanted to say, or whether they're a function of poor translation. The other annoying thing about it is that I can't use it as my waiting-room/killing time book - makes me feel too pretentious. I should have put it in a plain brown wrapper, maybe. Bobby actually likes the book, oddly enough. He was able to listen to it, rather than reading it, though, which may have made a difference.

So. Today I heed one of the lessons I learned during hurricane Charley : make sure all your clothes are clean before the hurricane strikes. And afterwards, when the power's out, discard all your liberal child-rearing ideas that say children need to be outdoors and it's wonderful, just wonderful, to see them part of nature, being one with the rain and the mud. Because those ideas only came into existence when washing machines did. Before that, kids were supposed to damn well keep their clothes clean and dry and they got into trouble if they didn't. Failure to heed this lesson results in washing baskets overflowing with wet, muddy clothing, which, in Florida's heat, very soon starts to smell, and very soon goes mouldy. Shudder.