This is the time of year when people around town start looking for Halloween decorations. The most popular decoration is, of course, the pumpkin, but black cats aren’t far behind. Just because I’m a black cat, however, doesn’t mean that I’m interested in being someone’s lawn decoration. Already, several people have come up to me in the throes of a candy corn sugar high to ask if I can arch my back and make my hair stand on end. Sorry, I’ve already got a good career, and I am not available this year as a Halloween decoration.

Speaking of careers, you almost need a scorecard to track Ann Mazur’s career in town government. She has moved around so much over the years. Years ago, she worked in the Board of Education office. From there, she took a job at the highway department and eventually was hired for a position in the finance department. And these days, you can find Ann at Canaan House in the Planning & Zoning Department.

Two-year-old Ryan Grabowski accompanied his mother, Christine, during a trip to Edmond Town Hall Tuesday morning. Christine was there to pose for a Bee photo with First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and some of her fellow Junior Women’s Club members. Ryan was invited to be in the picture, but he was too busy crawling around under Herb’s desk. Ryan’s mother assured us that her son is not a spy for the Republican Party.

While I’m on the topic of Republicans, Mae Schmidle went out shopping for American flags this past weekend, but all she could find was a couple of red, white, and blue bracelets. When she took them home, her husband, Bob, saw the bracelets and asked, “Where are the elephants?” It seems Mae had not noticed the Democratic donkeys set along the edges of the two 50-cent pieces of jewelry. Without hesitation, Mae rushed the bracelets up to town hall where she presented them to Mr Rosenthal. Herb thanked Mae for the gift, but admitted his distaste for wearing bracelets. “I’ll give them to Michele and Mrs Bojnowski to wear on Election Night.”

Owen Carney, Herb Rosenthal, Bill Brimmer, and Joe Bojnowski all planned on doing a bit of door-to-door campaigning Monday afternoon. Owen and Bill figured they’d hit the roads of Madison, Roosevelt, and Lincoln, while Herb and Joe figured they’d go to Nunnawauk Meadows. But in what can only be called an incredible coincidence, all four men bumped into each other at Edmond Town Hall. Each team had planned to start there at 3 pm sharp. After a few laughs, the two tickets went on their merry way, assured that their paths would surely cross again before Election Day.

Having Monday off in observance of Columbus Day wasn’t enough for Newtown Youth Services Director Debbie Richardson. On Tuesday when it was time to get out of bed to begin the four-day work week, the NYS director realized she wasn’t feeling very well. She called her co-workers explaining that she was feeling a bit under the weather. Three-day work weeks are great, but not when you have to get them that way. I hope Debbie is feeling better. It must be the onset of winter that is making her blue.

Robin Downes in the photo department at The Bee was graciously inviting her co-workers to stop by anytime at her home in Newtown on Huntingtown Road. The only problem with the invitation is that Robin remembered that her house is on Hattertown. Robin’s only been in town about a year, so I guess she’s still a little confused about the roads – even her own.

Imagine taking your husband to the train as you do each morning and coming home to let yourself back in the house only to break the key in the door. Well, Jane Buitron, who works in the classified department at The Bee did just that. But to make matters worse she left the house in her old pajamas and left the garage opener in the house. Her only rescue was to call publisher Scudder Smith and ask him to call a locksmith. Too bad Jane couldn’t have come to work in her pajamas, but I guess that would have set a dress code precedent.

Marilyn and Paul Alexander have a new dog, a terrier mix that Marilyn found at the local pound and adopted. The first night McDuff, as they decided to name him, slept in the laundry room outside their bedroom door, and mournfully scratched at the door all night. The next night Paul asked whether they should let McDuff sleep on their bed, as their previous dog did. “I don’t know,” Marilyn replied doubtfully. “I’ve never slept with anyone that I’ve only known for a day and a half.”

I ran into Margaret Daly the other day. She told me her sons, Paul and Chris, are working extra long hours these days following last month’s terrorist attacks. Both are members of the NYPD, as is Dave Samoskevich. He’s a rookie. His father, Pete, tells me Dave is working 16-hour shifts. Be careful, boys.

Micaela Hurley and Jason McMurrough were wed on October 6 at the Heritage Inn in Southbury. As with all weddings, nervousness was setting in during the week prior to the wedding as Micaela’s dress was somewhere in the mail. It was shipped from Germany where she has been stationed with the Army. After several weeks in the mail, the dress finally arrived in Newtown three days prior to the wedding. It was a perfect fit for the bride, but the ribbon spaghetti straps had frayed. On Micaela’s wedding day, hours before the photographer was to take pictures, Micaela’s brother-in-law, Captain Benjamin Wallen, was sewing elastic straps on the dress then coloring them with a gold marker to match the dress. It was a perfect match! Micaela and Jason’s military wedding was conducted without a hitch. A festive reception was enjoyed by all the guests.

I heard that the watermelons at the D’Eramo house are growing quite nicely. The quirky watermelon patch grew from the spit seeds at an year-end school party. Mr D’Eramo has really babied those melons! Rumor has it that he put blankets around the pet melons so that they would grow better. One of the four has grown to be 30 pounds. The first one, after some coercing from the press, was cut too early, but this one was pink and tremendously yummy. The D’Eramo family is still waiting a bit longer to cut open the last two watermelons. I hope the D’Eramos remember to spit the seeds back into the patch.

I’ll be out harvesting more news about all my Newtown friends this week, so be sure to…

Read me again.