Ten Bullet Post, Oct. 31st.

* I drove through Milwaukee yesterday on the way to pick up some tea I can only find in one store in the entire city. I can't imagine better autumn weather. Huge piles of leaves seemed omnipresent, a warm wind blew stray leaves through the streets, and a grey sky hovered two feet above my head.

* My car is acting weird lately. I drive a 95 Saturn, with close to 140,000 miles, so I worry when A) winter draws near, and B) the car appears to struggle. My gas mileage is down, too. I'm hoping to ride this baby to 200,000 miles. Why do people buy new cars?

* I've been teaching my sons to sing this line from that new Tenacious D song:

"If you are snooty
Then sniff in my booty"

I don't think they get it, but they laugh anyway.

* Last night I put down the Thoreau for a bit and read from Gaiman's "American Gods". I love the part in Cairo, Illinois, describing the quiet first night of winter. I'm looking forward to the snow.

* Tomorrow November starts. November is usually my most difficult months in terms of depression and the like. I don't deal well with howling winds on Sunday afternoon, with the sun falling at what feels like noon, unless I can curl up on the couch with a book. I do feel like the worst of my autumn depression is over, however. I'm in a pretty good place now. We'll see. I don't want to give that end too much power.

* My sons and I played football in the back field yesterday after school. I love those hours. All three can catch pretty well, and they tackle each other with complete abandon.

* Is it wrong to spend fifteen bucks on sixty bags of tea? If I ever become unemployed, I'm going to have to stop. I picked up some Bija "Cold Stop", which both my wife and myself currently swear by when ill, and some "heart hawthorn", which I tried last night and liked quite a bit.

http://www.florahealth.com/flora/home/canada/products/tg7.asp

* Yesterday the new Utne Reader arrived. I had to subscribe for a class a couple years ago, and I thought I only subscribed for a year, but that sucker keeps showing up on my doorstep. The editors' "aren't we cool for saving the world...and we're fit and rich, too!" stance bugs me, but I read anyway. Some of the ads are interesting. I've promised my wife to never attend graduate school again, once I finish my doctorate, but the weird "ecology spiritual Masters degree" programs or whatever out west sound, well, at least as if they'd be different.

* I have to drive to the Dells for state meetings this week. I could leave either Wednesday night, after the kids are asleep (I want to make sure I seem them Wednesday for a while), or very early Thursday morning. I'm leaning towards Thursday morning. I won't be home until Friday evening, then I teach all day Saturday. Tough week.

* My youngest son is up way too early, despite my wife's valiant efforts to get him back to sleep. Looks like he'll be taking messed up sleep cues from his dad.