Charlie's done, over, kaput, finished here in Florida. While he caused some severe damage in other areas, where we were he was a bust.

Granted I was asleep, but the winds predicted didn't materialize, neither did the rainfall. I don't have an accurate reading, but when I went to bed at 1530 last night the gauge read just over a half inch.

I don't recall waking through the night to any heavy rain and now things are quiet can calm. The sky is still overcast, but that is expected to change soon too.

For this time, bye bye Charlie.

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Looks like the revised storm track and forecast still has Charlie heading off to the east of us. The wind predictions have been revised downward somewhat and the forecast has this storm past us and out to sea off the east coast of Florida by 2:00 AM Saturday.

We're seeing some rain showers, but nothing extra heavy, and little in the way of winds as of yet. I know there's more of this storm to come, it's still centered south of Orlando heading northeast at about 22 mph. But it appears the dire predictions of earlier in the day may not be realized here in Ocala while some of the rest of the state will still see some pretty nasty weather.

Looks like I'll be going in to work, so it's bedtime for me. Good night and I'll have a final follow-up report on Charlie tomorrow.

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The first of the leading bands of rain came in about 3:50 with brief, heavy showers and gusty winds. It passed quickly, but there's plenty more comin'. According the the Weather Underground web site,
"Marion County winds are expected to increase after sunset
and should reach 40 to 60 mph between 9 PM and midnight. Winds are
may increase to hurricane force over eastern portions of the
County... especially over the Ocala National Forest... between midnight
and 3 am. A gradual decrease in the winds is expected after 5 am. If
the storm continues on a more eastward track a revision of the
forecast windfield may be required and wind warnings for Marion
County may be discontinued later today or tonight."

The outer edges of the main body is currently about 30 miles south of Orlando and a new, revised storm track has the storm heading east of Ocala and moving off the coast around Palm Coast, about 35 miles north of Ormond Beach and about 60 miles south of Jacksonville.

While we won't get a direct hit, the worst winds in these storms are on the western side, that's the edge that we will see.

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Our main focus here in central Florida is the big blow coming this way. The current storm track has it coming on shore near Fort Myers and heading up the center of the state, straight through Ocala.

I've been watching the National Hurricane Center for the past few days, and put a link on our home page. It's a good source of information, but somewhat technical, so you have to read close and take your time to process the information given.

Current conditions here are humid, calm and very overcast. We're just waiting for things to start happening. Later today I'll fill up the bathtub for a supply of water to flush in case we lose our water, we have candles and batteries and we're distilling water for drinking. And Karen has her supply of granola trail mix.

There's been predicitions that we could potentially lose power for up to two or more days here if the winds get rough. Current thought is we'll see 35-50 mph steady winds with gusts up to in excess of 65 mph. Up to 8 inches of rain is also being predicted.

At work we're watching and waiting while the District office waits and decides what's going to happen. The Postals Service's Rapid Information Bulletin Board Service (RIBBS) provides information on a variety of matters of interest to mailers, notably for us, conditions in areas impacted by weather and other natural events. The plants south of us in Ft. Myers, Manasota, Tampa and St. Petersburg all shut down this am for at least two shifts while our plant in Gainesville as of the last information I had had not made a decision on the matter.

If they do, that will affect us tomorrow in an undetermined way. So, we wait and see. If we have power I try to add an update to our situation later today or tomorrow as time allows.

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Top Ten Reasons to Defeat George W. Bush

1. Bush is destroying workers rights and outsourcing jobs instead of protecting the right to organize and creating new jobs rebuilding schools, bridges, roads and hospitals

2. Bush is privatizing Medicare, Social Security and public education with phony reforms instead of enacting health care for all, protecting retirement funds and full funding for public education through college.

3. Bush is bankrupting the Federal Government with giant tax cuts for the very rich and super-funds to the military instead of securing the budget for human needs by taxing the rich and spending on human needs.

4. Bush is rolling back civil rights gains instead of enforcing and expanding affirmative action to end racism in all areas of life.

5. Bush is curtailing women's rights and choice by undermining Roe v. Wade instead of upholding the right to choice and ending the gender wage gap.

6. Bush is abusing immigrant workers in low-wage jobs instead of providing a clear path to citizenship and equal rights.

7. Bush is exploiting and ruining the environment by protecting corporate polluters instead of conserving our natural resources for the public good.

8. Bush's war in Iraq is a disaster for our security and economy. He is pushing for more preemptive wars and for first strike nuclear military policy instead of negotiations and cooperation utilizing the UN.

9. Bush is denying civil liberties and free speech in the name of fighting terrorism instead of repealing the USA Patriot Act and helping cities, towns and states fund firefighters and police.

10. Bush discriminates against Gays and Lesbians with a Constitutional Amendment instead of expanding civil rights and liberties for all.

Sounds like the Democrats top ten reasons to vote out President Bush are what we've come to expect of them. Gay rights, free speech, lousy record on Iraq, destroying the environment, abusing women, immigrants and civil rights, bankrupting and privatizing government and destroying worker's rights.

Hmmm...but wait, this isn't the Democrats, it's the...Communist Party USA! That's right folks. If you want to know the agenda of the Dems, go to CPUSA Online. Sure it's the Communist Party, but to listen to and read their agenda, ya can't tell the difference.

At first I thought, "well, maybe the Dems are a bit more urbane in their approach, then I thought of Michael Moore, Whoopie, Al Sharpton, John Dean and James Carvel. So much for sophistication.

For more on this see, "Communist Party USA supports John Kerry" in the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.

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