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                   It's the end of the world as we know it

[Guess who's coming for dinner?] [1] [2] When Mom and I moved down here in
1979, we were immediately greeted with the spectacle of Hurricane David [3]
bearing down on us. Fortunately for us, it turned north at the last minute.
As the years passed, thirteen in all, so did the hurricanes, slipping past
South Florida without so much as a “How-ya-doing?”

Two weeks after moving into an apartment with friends when Hurricane Andrew
[4] comes knocking. And knocking. And knocking.

It knocked Homestead [5] right off the map.

In the early morning hours of August 24^th, Mom, her mom and I were huddleded
in Mom's walk-on closet. They were sleeping as I watched Hurricane Andrew on
TV (Television) [6]. Nothing more sureal than watching a Class-5 hurricane
[7] dance across the TV screen as it dances across your lawn at the same
time.

We were fortunate—fortunate enough to be far north of Hurricane Andrew where
the only damage we received at Mom's condo were a few small trees knocked
down.

And so the years pass, twelve in all.

And now we're facing Hurricane Frances [8] in all her Class-4 [9] fury,
bearing down on us, on what looks to be a much similar course as David in
1979. At best (well, for us here in South Florida) it looks like it'll make
landfall a ways north—perhaps an hour or so north, unless there's a high
pressure system that keeps Hurricane Frances heading more west than north
(which is what happened with Hurricane Andrew).

Further updates as they happen.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/gPhlog:2004/09/01/t020253W_sm.gif
[2] gopher://gopher.conman.org/gPhlog:2004/09/01/t020253W.gif
[3] http://www.hurricanecity.com/david.htm
[4] http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1992andrew.html
[5] http://ci.homestead.fl.us/
[6] http://www.wildweather.com/mom/norcross.htm
[7] http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/21/earlyshow/main519456.shtml
[8] http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_astorm6+shtml/020253.shtml?
[9] http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT1+shtml/020244.shtml?

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