I started the first fire in the wood stove Thursday night to knock the chill off. And I lost the squash plants and other tender ones Wednesday night. At least, we don't have to deal with early snow like my colleague Betsy Russell does down in Boise. As a result, I'm looking forward to watching the Montana Grizzlies play Eastern Washington today in Cheney. I'll be pulling for the Griz. If you're a sports fan and spent five years in western Montana like I did (1977-82), you can't help but like that successful college football team. At least, UMontana had the good sense to stay in the Big Sky Conference unlike another team I know that hasn't been the same since it moved up to Division 1-A. Enough said. Here's your Wild Card ...

Item: Ticket trouble? Tough luck: Cops have heard it all when it comes to traffic excuses/Tom Greene, CDA Press

More Info: Think you've got the best excuse ever for the officer who just pulled you over? Save it. "Just be honest and forthright. Don't B.S. us. We've seen it all," said Kootenai County Sheriff Capt. Ben Wolfinger. Telling the truth, Wolfinger said, "will give it a lot more mileage." Law enforcement officers have some discretion when it comes to speeding tickets or rolling through a stop sign. But if you're driving drunk or speeding where kids are at play, forget it.

Question: When did you last receive a speeding ticket? Do you get many speeding tickets?

Jerome A. Pollos/CDA Press
Anne Way, a nurse from Panhandle Health District, gives a flu shot to Gene "Rawhide" Hyde during the flu clinic Friday at Lake City Senior Center in Coeur d'Alene.

Question: Are you going to get a flu shot this year?

In light of the recent layoff of 27 Spokesman-Review employees and Kaiser's announcement that it will lay off 36 employees, are you concerned about keeping your job?

*Yes
*No
*I work for myself
*With my seniority, I'd be the last one out.
*I'm looking for work now
*Other

Big, fat flakes are falling thickly across the city and there’s nearly an inch of snow on the railing outside my window – and it’s only Oct. 10th! Nevertheless, it’s Boise’s first snow of the season, and it’s a pretty good one. Oddly, North Idaho is basking under sunny skies/Betsy Russell, SR Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: When do you think North Idaho will get its first snow of the season?

Item: Adwatch: Risch ads come in two varieties/Betsy Russell, SR

More Info: Two new political commercials are airing across Idaho in the race for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Larry Craig. Both come from GOP candidate Jim Risch, but the two have sharply differing tones. The first touts Risch's prosecutorial experience as an asset in the national financial crisis, while the second launches a direct attack on Risch's Democratic rival, former Idaho congressman Larry LaRocco.

Question: Obviously, attack ads work. Which campaign attack ad this season do you consider the most effective?

Item: Morgio's Sandwiches opens on Fourth Street/Nils Rosdahl, SR

More Info: Featuring high-end deli sandwiches and daily specials, Morgio's Sandwiches opened last week at 206 N. Fourth St., Coeur d'Alene. The redecorated site formerly housed Scott-Ja-Mama's BBQ and is across the street from the federal courthouse. Owner Paul Grier's sandwiches are constructed with in-house-cooked meats, fresh-daily baked breads and high-quality cheeses. A daily lunch special includes the sandwich of the day, soup, pickle and chips for $8.99. Simple breakfasts are available starting at 7 a.m.

Question: Who makes the best deli sandwich in the region?

Everything about the Owl Cafe is a definite flashback, from the grungy, retro ambience of the décor, to the un-fancy comfort-food lean of the menu and daily specials, and service that's friendly enough to make anyone feel like an old-timer, even on their first visit. "Old-timer" is definitely the key word when it comes to describing the clientele of the mighty Owl. On a recent visit to the popular cafe with Weenis, her 7-year-old daughter and their young friend, it seemed that many diners had been frequenting the same Naugahyde booths and tables since the glory years of the Roosevelt administration/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: Which hole-in-the-wall spot is your favorite in the region?

My wife and I were biking leisurely along the CdA waterfront recently when she said: "It's amazing on a day like this that there's so much ugliness in the world around us." Her words became prophetic way too soon for us. We checked out the new section of Centennial Trail between North Idaho College and Riverstone – and then headed home. As usual, we rode side by side until we heard cars coming up behind us. Then, I pedaled in front to get us both out of the way of traffic. That practice saved me from serious injury or worse. At Harrison Avenue, we opted to bike north toward home on Seventh Street rather than Ninth Street. As we approached the 1400 block, we heard an engine roaring and a vehicle speeding behind us. I pulled in front of my wife, moments before a gray van zoomed by, swerving toward me as if intentionally, missing me by a foot or so. The driver had to pull back to miss the parked car ahead. Mebbe that saved my life. Moments later, a little brown car chased the offending motorist into an apartment complex. As we passed, two women were screaming at each other. One was dropping the B-word and many other expletives on the other. Utter nastiness. Sorta takes the thrill from a beautiful day/DFO, SR Handle Extra. More here.

Question: One did you last have a close call as a result of someone else's reckless driving?

AP Photo
At breakfast only seven;
at lunch hour but eleven;
and by the time they sat to dine --
nine hundred thousand ninety-nine.

The Bard of Sherman Avenue

Yeah, I know our financial markets are going to hell in a handbasket. But I didn't want to focus on that today here. You can find plenty to make you nervous at almost any other Web site today. I'd like to make this a haven today where we can have some fun, interact, and mebbe help one another take our minds off the collective mess. Okay. If you have a thread you're dying to start or a day brightener to share, you can use the Wild Card to do so ...

Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal, AP
Eduardo Silva, of Carson City, Nev., skateboards through a brief snow storm on Little Lane in Carson City, Nev., on Friday while on his way to band practice.

Question: Are you ready for snow again?

A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state's public safety commissioner. The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn't the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely was a contributing factor/AP. More here.

Report findings here

Question: Reaction?

I searched the Internet far and wide to come up with a chili recipe that's been a winner at several chili feeds. Tomorrow I'm hoping to take first prize (whatever that is) at the Athol American Legion's chili cookoff (See second item here). I know the competition is going to be stiff because most of the Legion crowd have about 50 years more experience in the kitchen than I do. Nonetheless, I'm going to give it a try. Just because I haven't. And I have the time. But I'm having trouble coming up with a name. Help HBOers?/Taryn Hecker, The Skinny On North Idaho.

We spend more waking and bonding hours with our coworkers in this weird environment of nasty negative things. Bizarre murders, car crashes, house fires, building fires, Taser incidents ... writing and posting news on deadline, relying on each other to not just be accurate and fair but to call out each other’s mistakes, of which I made many, and they forgave me. Storytelling is then a collaborative activity, a collective consciousness, bringing formless data to a higher plane, like prayer. Ask around in a newsroom about how people feel about their job, and most of them will tell you it’s a religious calling - The way anybody would choose to be a priest or a nun, somebody chooses to be a storyteller/Thuy Nguyen, Mastering Multimedia. More here.

Michael Sullivan/Sheridan Press, AP
Marion Daycare pre-schoolers Vistara Anderson, left, and Madison Hillier get an up close view of a Sheridan Fire-Rescue vehicle during a presentation at the daycare in Sheridan, Wyo. Thursday during National Fire Prevention Week.

*Micron layoffs likely before Christmas/KTVB
*Spokane murder suspect caught in Missoula/SR
*EWU student linked to 3 Rite Aid robberies/SR
*Bail set at $50,000 for Clark Fork man in fatal crash/Bonner County Bee
*Minnick criticizes Sali for jobless bill vote/Idaho Statesman
*Otter prepares to lead trade mission to Asia/KTVB
*Officials: Internet hookups led to HIV/KTVB
*Bonner County man to face trial in near-fatal child abuse case/Bonner County Bee
*North Idaho elk, deer rifle season opens/Shoshone News-Press
*Attorney Eugster: Coe has done his time/Coe Trial Blog
*Vandals smother Aggies for 4th WAC win in a row/Moscow-Pullman Daily News

5:08 p.m. 2-vehicle, head-on crash on Highway 95 in front of the Westmond Store in Bonner County.
4:53 p.m. R/P reports 2 boys on bikes have stolen 5 rolls of toilet paper from the bathrooms by the 3rd Street boat launch and are headed north toward the fire station. 1st Cop: "Do you have fingerprint powder for the bathroom?" 2nd Cop: "Affirmative. I took it from your car."

Kerri Thoreson/OnLocation North Idaho
The penthouse gardens atop the 14-story McEuen Terrace on Front Avenue were once the skyscraper view of downtown Coeur d'Alene. Now the 20-story, 215 ft. tall Parkside Tower across the street is dominating the skyline. For those keeping track, Parkside will be about the same height as the 18-story Coeur d'Alene Resort, but because it's on higher ground, it will be the tallest structure in the evolving downtown/Kerri Thoreson/OnLocation North Idaho.

*I'm a real woman, Palin is not/JeanieSpokane
*That hot dog don't bark any more/Atmospheric Rumination
*Chaos reigns/Bay Views
*Why I'm for Obama/Dogwalk Musings
*Water wars & such/Simple Mind
*Things I plan to do before I do/Gathering Around The Table
*He grew, we scrumped, we laffed, he didn't/Marmitetoasty
*The parabel of Tara & Tim/Slight Detour

HBO Numbers (for Oct. 9): 9694 page-views/5375 unique views

Rachel Dugger & Hunter Snively/UI Argonaut

Question: Do you think a child ever pays attention when you warn him or her to be careful?

I saw this story yesterday about how Angelina Jolie has a tattoo showing the geographical locations where each of her six children were born. I think it's kinda cool. But if I were to have a tattoo like this it would be a little boring. All three of my children were born in the exact same location. In the exact same operating room, even. Not in Africa or Asia or fancy shmancy hospitals in France. So I began to think, if I were going to get ink'd ... to represent my children, what kind of ink would I get/A Butterfly Moment. More here.

Question: What kind of ink tattoo would you get to represent your kids?

Students on campus today may be met by speakers sharing some of their most personal stories about coming out of the closet. Sophomore Kory Larabee, who is openly gay, said Coming Out Week is meant to let people know “that this is a safe time to come out and to be openly gay.” “People are starting to realize that there are a lot of us here,” Rebecca Rod, program adviser for the Women’s Center, said. “ … students have been suffering in silence in their dorm rooms with these issues and when they see someone out there for them and creating programming, it starts to make them feel like … it’s not so bad”/Andrew Priest, UI Argonaut. More here.

Question: Do you agree with UI soph Kory Larabee that it's safer for a person to be openly gay today?

Item: Cell phone popularity challenges pollsters: Campaigns, others adapt to less use of land lines/Tom Lutey, Billings Gazette

More Info: Anderson's household is cell-phone-only. The father of three grown children cut the cord on his land line telephone five years ago as he trimmed costs before returning to college. The change has made him mostly unreachable to pollsters and politicians calling Montanans. Surveyors are concerned because the number of cell-phone-only households is growing, perhaps enough to make election outcomes unpredictable, especially on issues where cell phone users are more involved. Anderson seems to fit the bill.

Question: Which candidates will benefit most when the under-polled cell-phone users vote this November?

Ed Adrieski/AP File Photo
Three suspects in the beating death of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard wait to be arraigned in this, Oct. 9, 1998, file photo, from Laramie, Wyo. From left are Russell Henderson, 21, Aaron McKinney, 22, and Chastity Pasley, 20. In the 10 years since Shepard's death, more than 30 states have passed laws addressing bias-related crimes against gays, but gay-rights advocates point to a series of frustrations including the failure of federal hate-crime legislation. Billings Gazette story here.

*Ed Board rejects UI research dorm/Lewiston Tribune
*Twin Falls sheriff uses on-duty lawmen to film campaign ads/Twin Falls Times-News
*Custer officer's trunk to be auctioned/Billings Gazette
*5 kids at Idaho day-care contract E. Coli virus/KTVB
*3 UMontana footballers face assault charge/Missoulian
*Boise could set record if snow falls today, Saturday/Idaho Statesman
*Otter to host benefit "Blue Jeans Ball" at ranch/Idaho Statesman
*Spokane Tribe upset by Rossi casino ads/AP
*Montana agency OKs killing of wolf pack/Billings Gazette

*Orbusmax Special: Washingtonian tries to make history w/100 mph homemade car here.

Move over Tina Fey, Moscow has its very own Jeanne McHale, who is making waves on YouTube with her rendition of "Wailin' Palin," a hysterically brilliant song aimed at Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin - wink and all. "Writing the song evolved over two weeks and then I sang it at a party," Jeanne told the INKster on Tuesday. "It was a hit." Jeanne teamed up with Moscow videographer Marsha Shoeffler of Que Sera Productions to get her song "Wailin' Palin" up and running on YouTube/Vera White, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.

Anchorage Daily News/AP
Sarah Heath, right, plays basketball for Wasilla High School at the 1982 Alaska state high school basketball championships in Wasilla, Alaska. Sarah Heath is the maiden name of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. A tough defender and sturdy point guard, Palin helped lead the girls' basketball team at Wasilla High School to a state championship in 1982.

Question: Well, can you?

I must confess. I served on a committee with a domestic terrorist who was wanted by the government. You might say we “palled around” since we shared a few drinks at cocktail parties. I served on the Great Lakes Basin Commission’s Public Involvement Group with a man named Barry Freed in the late 1970s. Freed was an environmental activist from New York work to protect the St. Lawrence River and I was a weekly newspaper reporter from the Lake Superior region of Wisconsin. We served with small town mayors and business people on the panel that considered new plans for protecting Great Lakes water quality. Freed’s real name was Abbie Hoffman/Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Idaho Blog roundup below

Question: Have you ever palled around with a domestic terrorist?

SR File Photo
Today, DFO chats with Rustler's Roost owner Woody McEvers re: his move to a new location. In the file photo above, Woody pours coffee for some of his last customers at his old Sherman Avenue location.

Question: I hear you're closing the current Rustler's Roost @ Hayden & 95 Sunday?
Woody McEvers (online live): Yes, we're closing the current one Sunday and we're starting to move on Columbus Day, Monday. The new one is located just north of it, about 100 feet.

Jessica Hill/Journal Inquirer, AP
Eighteen-month-old Andrew Whyte Jr., of Windsor Locks, Conn., sizes up his chances for a basket on the court at Coventry High School in Coventry, Conn. You write the cutline.

Top Cutlines

1. Andrew not wanting to show off, decided on a set shot instead of a slam dunk -- Charlie.
2. Inspired by President Obama, little Andrew realizes that he can achieve any goal in this great nation -- Idawa.
3. Like a midget at a urinal, I'm gonna have to stay on my toes -- Gazettegal.

HM: Pecky

Today we'd like to share three bits of headache medicine in hopes they will ease your discomfort a bit. One came from local financial adviser Brad Dugdale recently when he suggested that we should all just turn off our TVs. Dugdale was not advocating a head-in-the-sand approach to what's happening around us. Instead, he was giving us a little perspective: This problem is bigger than any individual's ability to solve, so rather than worry yourself sick, focus instead on whatever positive outcomes you can create. He didn't say it, but we will: Those positive outcomes start and end with you making yourself as valuable and as productive as you can be, not just at work but at home, too/CDA Press Editorial Board. More here.

Question: What are you doing to look on the sunny side as the powers that be try to fix our economic mess?

OK, so Bill Sali skipped some hearings of the House oversight committee on which he serves because he was in Idaho during the congressional recess to campaign for re-election. The hearings, as Sali's spokesman says, were nothing more than "sideshows" during which the committee's Democratic chairman was engaged in "political grandstanding." If Henry Waxman of California had been doing anything else, "we'd be there in a heartbeat," says Wayne Hoffman. Fair enough. It isn't as if anything important has been going in Washington lately, anyway/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Should Congressman Sali have been at the AIG hearing?

So, this one frozen morning me and Byron, who at that time was like my best friend as all of my salesmannish pleadings created a wonderous young ladly bonding between the two of us, were walking to Jefferson Elementary on Military Hill in Pullman and we came upon a frozen dead field mouse. Stiff as a popsicle. Me, being the terrible little rascal I was at the time, pocketed the Mickeysicle for which to play a joke upon my teacher, a lovely woman whose name escapes me at this time but one who was quite enamored of my preternaturally precocious free versed and imagic poetry about autumn leaves and dead trees, certainly a woman who did not deserve what I was soon to do on this fateful day/TUBOB. More here.

Question (from TUBOB): So, what kind of horrid things did you do in grade school? Can you top mine? If so, please, I implore you, get help, it's never too late.

Jake Barber/UI Argonaut
University of Idaho Interim President Steven Daley-Laursen, right, and Moscow Mayor Nancy Cheney, second to left, help pedestrians cross the Moscow-Pullman Highway on Wednesday. Two students have been injured after being struck by vehicles while crossing the dangerous crosswalk, including one from Coeur d'Alene.

*Idaho Records/Sherry Adkins, SR
*From typewriters to keyboard, ex-Argonaut editors reflect on school years/Greg Connolly, UI Argonaut
*Python's foster family charged with grand theft/Pia Hellenberg Christensen, SR
*LCDC pledges $5000 toward URD 'friends of court' lawsuit/Tom Hasslinger, CDA Press
*Nearly 50% of Lakeland High stay home after threat/CDA Press
*CDA district has offered breakfast for 20 years/Maureen Dolan, CDA Press
*Overcoming UI biology's sexist perspective/Chava Thomas, UI Argonaut

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

Prep sports reporters Mike Vlahovich and Greg Lee take their picks for this weekend's games.

Hercules is the snake that keeps on giving. The 8-foot boa constrictor found under an apple tree in a Post Falls yard in September has been passed around more than a fruit cake at Christmastime, which could cause a Coeur d'Alene man to be charged with grand theft/Tom Greene, CDA Press. More here.

Question: Above, you'll see the opening paragraphs to the CDA Press story of Hercules, the homeless snake. Can you write a better lead w/o using cliches?

When you're on the lower level of the economy this does not effect anything. Spazz and I haven't felt the crunch, except in the fact he can't find a job. This is a market correction - its been necessary for a long time and will take a long time to get out of - but we will pull through. I hope this wakes Americans up and we throw all the "good ol boys" out of congress/Digger.

I rarely preface a question with "Look, is it just me or ..." because the answer is so often an appallingly disconcerting "yes, Bob, it is just.you" but, at the not too small risk of yet again another round of painful self abasement, here goes ... Look is it just me, or does that BizfinderNW.com ad with the bride and groom make the groom look like some predatory and evil vampire about to take a two putt on the ole Jugular Links golf course? It's creeping the crap out of me. Bring back Harelip Baby/TUBOB.

Well, I've worked 10 years beyond a 65 year retirement age in order conserve my retirement investments about half of which are in the stock market. Last month I switched from earned income to withdrawals from investments. Need I say more to make the point. I am seriously considering backing off on criticism of LCDC so I can somehow make new friends and figure out how to get into their bucket of cash. Obviously, I been hanging around with the wrong people over the years. The ones I should have been pals with have already figured it out/Gary Ingram.

Scott Stantis/Birmingham News

I heard on the evening news last night that one third of America considers itself "very stressed." I don't know if that number describes you. I hope not. However, if it does, mebbe we can do something here at Huckleberries Online to provide some comic relief. My goal is always to provide interesting material out front for blurkers and fodder for clever commenters. I hope you find something here today that makes your day. And mebbe you have something that can start things rolling with this Wild Card ...

Thuy Nguyen/Daily Briefing
Someone in the Spokane newsroom found this list of "bureaucratese" that includes translations for the jargon.

Question: Which bureaucratese jargon do you dislike most?

How is (the stock plunge) affecting me? I will no longer be able to retire at 62 (in only three years). {tears up} My only other solution is to sell my body on the streets. What is a 59-year-old lady going for these days, anyway?/JeanieSpokane.

Roller derby might seem like a dangerous sport, but it's nothing compared to the after parties. With a torn ACL sustained after a bout, Lilac City Rollergirl Perla "Euthanizer Bunny" Hernandez is limping proof that some of the worst injuries are sustained outside of the rink. Beyond the usual case of rink rash there is an occasional broken rib, but ask the strong-willed women in Spokane's only roller derby league and most will tell you it's worth the wear/Isamu Jordan, SR. More here.

Question: Are you tough enough to play Roller Derby?

Jesse Tinsley/SR
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, left, and Republican challenger Dino Rossi, right, listen as a producer reiterates the rules for their debate in Spokane Thursday. Story here.

*Ex-UI QB Nussmeier to square off w/alma mater/Lewiston Tribune
*Clark Fork reeling after student death/KXLY
*Spokane man busted for buying bear gallbladders/KREM2
*Boise fireman to pay up to $90,000 restitution after bar fight/Idaho Statesman
*BSU withdraws request for AD's contract extension/Idaho Statesman
*Ysursa drops student warning from voter site/Idaho Statesman
*Thieves burglarize Sandpoint tattoo shop/Bonner County Bee
*Silver Valley gearing up for ski season/Shoshone News-Press

5:28 p.m. A woman in a white Mitsubishi has found a live bullet in a local hardware store parking lot.
5:01 p.m. Authorities are looking for a red Toyota Tercel that reportedly has gone over an embankment 3 miles beyond the end of Bunco Road on Forest Service Road 332.
4:23 p.m. Cop: "I saved the abuse thing for you. It's a he-said, she-said, pick-up-child thing. Not much of a report."

Bill Sali's new TV ad called, "Walt's Dance." began airing in the Boise and Spokane markets today.

Stocks plunged in the final minutes of trading today, sending the Dow Jones industrials down more than 675 points, or more than 7 percent, to their lowest level in five years after a major credit ratings agency said it was considering cutting its rating on General Motors Corp. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index also fell more than 7 percent/AP. More here.

Question: A friend told me this afternoon that he has lost the last year's worth of savings for his child's college education, since Sept. 1. How has the horrible bear market affected you?

ThomG/Special to Huckleberries Online
ThomG Blackberries a photo from today's announcement by Congressman Bill Sali at CDA City Hall. Not sure what Sali's saying. But it might have something to do with that press conference in Boise Wednesday in which he tried to link Demo opponent Walt Minnick to radical enviromentalism. Huckleberries hears that Minnick spokesman John Foster flew up from Boise to attend the press conference. Stay tuned.

"Remember AIG, the big insurance company that got bailed out by all of us? Well they must still be functioning because they sent me a spam email trying to sell me life insurance. At least they’re trying to save some money. Sending spam is cheaper that using the U.S. Postal Service"/Frum Helen Back, Hauser Thoughts.

Kathy Plonka/SR
Matt Harrington/CDA with "Hercules," the 8-foot boa constrictor at his home on Tuesday. He was asked by Kootenai County animal control to keep the snake after someone found it curled up in a back yard in Post Falls. He sold the snake on Craigslist and is now charged with grand theft.

"The snake is a Red Tail Boa - that's different from a python, because red tails have live births and pythons lay eggs," SReporter Pia Hellenberg Christensen tell Huckleberries, adding: "I kid you not." And: "Also, the snake specialist at Spokane Reptile Rescue I just talked to assured me the snake is not suffering any anxiety by being moved around. It appears socialized, she said, because it slithers around among people. She explained that if it was scared, it would be coiled up."

Related: TUBOB Jr. is a snake handler, too.

Granati/Orangefrog76
Granati provides this high definition resolution shot of Snoqualmie Pass.

*Rewrite/Tumblewords
*JBelle embarks on new quest/The 'Kan EWA
*Yesterday was my favorite day in forever/TUBOB
*7 things about Silver Valley Girl/Silver Valley Stories
*I'm voting for Pedro Sanchez/PDX Pup
*Bossy gets axed from Sarah Palin story/Slight Detour
*Bipartisan Male Bovine Excrement, Part 2: Taxing dishonesty, and: Ignoring the economic facts/Wayward Episcopalian
*Washington zooacide/Mrs. Mac Energetic

HBO Numbers (for Wednesday, Oct. 8): 9939 page-views/5674 unique views