Misc.

According to Public Radio, Elder Son has been officially welcomed to San Francisco by a magnitude 5-something earthquake.  No injuries reported, minor damage.  Don't know exact epicenter.  We shall see how preliminary reports get modified by further data.

Nippy morning, 28 F for the newspaper walk, with waning moon and Venus overhead.  I managed to track down that astronomical fuzzball in last night's clear sky.  It's . . . fuzzy.

Expecting the annual deluge of sucrose-seekers this evening.  Wife has laid in supplies for approx. 200 trick-or-treaters.  We live in a fairly compact neighborhood, houses and converted-house-apartments on 60'x120' lots (sometimes two houses on one lot) so the kids can enjoy a high candy/walking ratio.  I swear people bus the little bastards in from outlying townships and cabins in the woods.

Wife and I are seriously unimpressed by the crop of candidates for next week's city council and school board elections.  Almost as bad as national races...

We seem to have lost one of the Parkview Trio gang of cats -- have only seen two of them for several weeks now, the largest black longhair gone missing.  They've been a neighborhood landmark for at least a decade, panhandling pedestrians for leg-rubs and scritches.  Abandoned by a previous owner, several families keep food dishes and water out for them and let them into shelter in the worst of winter.  One soft touch even pays for annual vet checks and shots.  We'll miss the little fur-person.

First pillage, *then* burn

We ran out of candy before 7:00, starting with a couple of toddlers* at about 4:00.  That is 250 small packages of candy corn.  Many of the kidlets were too small to handle our front steps safely, had to be helped by parental (or otherwise) adult units.  This madness must cease.

*For those in audience who find meaning in this, the first customers were escorted by Zeus and associated female.  No idea why they ended up on our street.