I was feeling pretty foxy Saturday morning when I spotted a real fox along Route 302, whose fluffy tail quite put me to shame. Not the usual shy and sly fox, this black-booted fellow took the time to pause at the roadside and allow me to admire him. Now, I would think that I had imagined the whole scenario if Ruth and Bart Schofield hadn’t also reported seeing the dapper Vulpes vulpes showing off for passersby later that morning.

Someone else is feeling foxy this week. I got a letter from Joey the kitten of the Animal Center, who had major surgery to correct a damaged leg. “Special thanks to all my friends at The Bee for sharing my story,” wrote Joey. “I wanted to let you know that my doctor gave the OK for me to go to my new home during our follow-up exam and suture removal on October 4. On October 6, I was on my first airplane ride to my new home with the Lehmann family in Tierra Verde, Fla. They had found out about me from a family in Newtown, Krista Lehmann and Rich Rekos. I flew in the cabin with my Aunt Krista and Uncle Rich and slept for most of the trip down. My new mom is awesome and I adore all the attention I’m getting. Hey, did you know they have palm trees down here? Living in Florida is pretty cool!” I love a story with a happy ending.

Congratulations to Nora Murphy. She was recently promoted to executive vice president, style and advertising, for Ethan Allen. Nora worked her style magic on the antique chicken coop she and husband, Rick, attached to their Poverty Hollow home last year, turning it into a cozy place to roost at night. Good luck in your new position, Nora.

Congratulations are due to Jim and Sue Shortt of Shortts Farm on Riverside Road, too. They welcomed a son, James Ryan Shortt, into their household last month, September 10. Jim says he’s growing like a weed; can a farmer say that?

A motorcycle ride that came through Newtown a few weekends ago drew a lot of riders (approximately 850 participants, including 50 cancer survivors) and raised more than $30,000 for the American Cancer Society. The event was the Fifth Annual ACS Kick It Motorcycle Ride. Money raised will help the society with research, cancer programs, advocacy efforts, and support services for cancer patients and their caregivers.

While the majority of participants were certainly of the human kind, I heard of one nonhuman who took part on September 23. Todd and Erin Bolmer of Newtown rode with the group, and took their motorcycle-riding dog Nikki along for the 60-mile ride that went from Marcus Dairy in Danbury to Indian Wells State Park in Shelton. That’s Nikki poking out from Todd’s jacket on the day of the ride.

Being a cat, I can almost always smell a rat, so most of the time I take those e-mails warnings about this, that, or the other man-under-the-car-poison-lipstick scam with a grain of salt, as they are usually not verifiable. But apparently the jury scam e-mail going around is not just a fictitious scare. Identity thieves have preyed on victims in a number of states, calling to say that the person contacted has not reported for jury duty and has an arrest warrant out on them. Claiming to never have received the jury notice, caught of guard and unnerved, people have given out Social Security Numbers and other personal information to the caller, thinking they are putting a halt to the arrest warrant.

According to snopes.com, court workers will never call for private information. Most courts use the USPS to get in touch with potential jurors, if they even bother.

You know the moral of this story: Don’t ever give out personal information to anyone on the phone or Internet.

It is okay to give out some personal information to Colleen Honan, though, Meals On Wheels coordinator, if you are applying to become a volunteer driver. Interviews are being conducted for new drivers for the volunteer organization that delivers meals to the housebound. It is a commitment of only once a month during the lunch hours to drop off prepared meals to between one and six homes. To set up an interview and become a Meals On Wheels driver, and maybe spend a few minutes chatting with someone who can’t get out, call Colleen at 426-0714.

Two things we had been missing finally arrived the end of this week: rain and cooler weather. It was getting kind of hard to feel like raking and going on hayrides when the temperatures were hovering in the 80s. And when the rain started to fall, you could practically hear Mother Nature chugging down the precious liquid.

There are so many great programs coming up at the C.H. Booth Library this month, I may have to just curl up in the meeting room and stay there. Mummy-making, a Harry Potter book discussion for young people, a couple of great book discussions, the Searching for Shakespeare Series event, Vadim Prokhorov’s art show…. The list goes on. What’s a cat to do?

Well, I hope you know what to do next week… Read me again.