As in it's actually the first of November.

The month of October has passed. Day light savings is over. Autumn is in full swing.

It was Halloween yesterday, and no trick-or-treaters knocked on our door. That's not abnormal; our peak year we had six visitors, and most of them were friends of the older kids. We've since been going to help grandma, where she's hit ever increasing records; last year was 1600 kids. While there are some repeats, we give one candy each, and go through dozens of bags. This year, grandma couldn't not do it after all. She ended up getting 1000 pieces. She distributed by putting batches unattended at the end of her sidewalk, replenishing as needed. She doesn't think she saw 1000 kids, but did go through that much candy.

Our grand-boys stopped by for a visit, with their parents, of course. We hadn't met the youngest, so it was a little treat to see him. We were in the house, 'cause it was a little chilly, with masks and keeping our distance. It was great to see them, and tough not to hug or hold the grand-littles, or even the son and daughter in-law. Great to hear they're doing well, and keeping safe.

School is underway, although changes are afoot. We've committed to full-year virtual classes for our 4th grader, as there have been confirmed cases and self-quarantines already in the first few weeks of hybrid. We made the paranoid call to keep her from class until we felt better, and we don't feel better about the chances.

The 4-year old is still going for a couple hours a day, four days a week. Their smaller school is doing a better job of separating the classes, and from what we've been told, no cases or self-quarantines. We're keeping on top of that, because this is our worst vector, where he's out of our view and control for a few hours nearly every day. It helps his spirits so much, and he is completely enjoying the school routines. He's also wiped out most days and takes a power-nap on the drive home or crashes for awhile on the sofa after he gets here.

At the end of October, last Friday, anyway, a half-million people were confirmed with the virus worldwide. In one day. Almost a hundred thousand in the US, and three thousand in our state. Not only has this thing not gone away, but it has never slowed down. The slightest dip late in the summer, as a reaction to the sharp increase at the beginning of the summer, when too many places started opening up.

I think I need to step-up the "left the house" tracking. Got lax over the summer, as it hit a stride of "walked the neighborhood," "got takeout," and "braved a park until more than a couple other kids showed up." Especially with the apparent speed with which cases are growing. It's to be expected; as more people are infected, they'll infect more. This was all to "flatten the curve," after all, to let the health care system figure out how to handle this, get their equipment going, and establish the new norm. Only some of that happened. The news sounds like it did in the spring, with alerts of pressure, and renewed "stay home" warnings. Still a lot of equipment and gear shortages, and so few tests compared to population. It's almost impossible to believe that only a half-million people were infected yesterday. Even if it is, it'll be more than 40 years before everyone gets this. it's a fairly normal, almost linear growth, though. Before long, it'll be a million a day, or 20 years. Or a few million, making it a few years. This whole time, we've believed "not if, but when."

To start tracking again, we did go to the park today. Two parks, actually. It was about 25°F for the early visit, and then a warmer 35°F before dinner. Yesterday was brilliant, and we spent the nice mid-50°F afternoon raking and bagging leaves, but otherwise stayed home. There are still more to bag, but those are on the driveway, and not the lawn, so I don't care so much. We also made a drive-through run, after the park.

I don't recall anyone going anywhere on Friday, but either Friday or Thursday the wife had a drive-up run to the grocery store, and there was no school for the little on Thursday. Before that is too much of a blur.

Looking ahead, the wife returns to work in the morning. She's been furloughed all summer. It'll be an interesting time as we try to transition and work our schedules around to continue to support the kids at home. It'll be easier, or maybe harder, on Monday and Tuesday, as the kids don't have school due to conferences. That'll mean just keeping them entertained and not fighting. The forecast is at least dry and warm, with a trend through the 60°Fs this week, and 70°F forecast for Friday. We can run around outside for bits. Maybe I'll get those leaves bagged after all. The next week looks like normal 30°F and colder highs.

Everyone's healthy.