Now that the election is over and President Bush has been declared the winner, I might have to look for some new election-year prognostication rituals.

To begin with, I am going to throw out the one about the Washington Redskins. Ever since 1936, there has been a consistent pattern of the Redskins winning their final home football games before an election where the incumbent is returned to office. Conversely, if they lose, the incumbent loses. That method proved reliable for 18 presidential elections in a row, but not this year. Last weekend, the Redskins were soundly beaten at home by the Green Bay Packers, 28-14, and President Bush was reelected.

Maybe I’ll start reading tea leaves, counting the stripes on woolly bear caterpillars, or watching for clues spelled out by bits of kibble floating in the dog’s water dish (otherwise known as the drool pool). I must admit I noticed on Tuesday that my Friskies had arranged themselves into an irregular, Ohio-shaped mound in the center of my food dish. Perhaps it was the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series this year that put the kibosh on the Redskins football method. Too much magnetic energy emanating from Beantown.

Town employees at Canaan House were sure that the ghosts were at work last week. Ever since they moved into the building, the wall clocks have read 1:30. One day last week, however, the hands on the clocks suddenly began to advance, spooking everyone who noticed. It turned out that the master clock, located in a different building, was being examined to see if it could be restored, and when its hands were moved, clocks in the other buildings responded by moving ahead, too.

 The same clock goblins were also at work at Edmond Town Hall on Halloween when Jerry Valenta and Chris Locke spent the afternoon there moving the clocks ahead one hour and doing semiannual maintenance on the system. The two volunteers have kept the clocks in the tower and throughout the building running for about five years, but they were stymied on Sunday when the master clock refused to start up again. They finally had to leave, planning to try another day. Almost a half hour later, the clocks suddenly started working, something Chris noticed while out trick-or-treating later with his kids. Goblins and other problems aside, the clocks should be back on time this weekend.

Newtown Parks & Recreation was especially busy this Halloween. There was a party for local kids up to 8 years old with games, a scavenger hunt, and a parade. Parties for grades five and six and for seven and eight had a DJ, a costume contest, mummy wrap game, and a hula hoop contest. Park & Rec brought in bands to play at the high school party.

Congratulations to our Newtown Health Director, the former Donna McCarthy, who celebrated her wedding a couple of weeks ago. Upon her return from the honeymoon, the newlywed Mrs Culbert was not only greeted with loads of well-wishers, but by a very important wedding “gift” — half of the flu shot supply she ordered earlier this past summer. Those shots will be distributed to qualifying residents at the senior center on November 16.

While the WIN (Women Involved in Newtown) membership is busy rounding up food for more than 70 Newtown families who will receive holiday food baskets this Thanksgiving, they remind those who may be making room for incoming holiday gifts that they are also collecting stuffed animals and donations for their Easter basket campaign. Demand for the colorful springtime toy and treat-filled baskets has grown from 40 requests from Newtown five years ago, to more than 400 from Brookfield to Danbury to Bridgeport. Send donations to WIN, PO Box 286, Newtown, 06470.

Newtown’s all-purpose building on Riverside Road, which houses the Newtown Senior Center, Children’s Adventure Center, and consultation rooms of the Visiting Nurse Association, is getting a fresh look with new siding.

Speaking of the Newtown Senior Center, there have been some staffing changes there. Martha Brennan of the assessor’s office has taken over as the Senior Center assistant to replace Debbie Kenyon and Pat Babbage will start offering exercise classes on November 15.

Marilyn Alexander celebrated her birthday by working at the polls this past Tuesday at Newtown Middle School. She had a nice surprise from husband Paul, as he delivered some beautiful red roses to her. She kept the vase of flowers on the table beside her as she helped validate each voter’s registration. Paul scored points, as he was lights out in the early morning as Marilyn left at 5:15 am to staff her post at the voting poles. He was able to buy roses with all of his Bee’s Buck winnings over the past months.

When I went to the town land use agency offices in Canaan House at Fairfield Hills this week, I wondered who that was sitting at secretary Angelica Miller’s desk. The woman had a reddish brown pageboy style haircut. On closer inspection, I saw that it was Angelica herself — but wearing a wig. To celebrate her 29th birthday on November 1, Angelica had donned the wig. She said she would be returning to her dark curly hairstyle the following day.

If you had trouble locating an issue of Time magazine at Borders Books in Danbury this week, I might be able to help you. Kristen Angell just can’t give up on her Yankees. The die-hard New York fan was at Borders Books earlier this week and tells me she had a little fun with one of the magazine displays. The new issue of Time magazine features Red Sox catcher Jason Veritek mid-jump into pitcher Keith Foulke after the final play of last week’s World Series Game 4. Kristen wasn’t too happy to see an entire display devoted to that particular baseball team, so she took it upon herself to turn as many of the magazines around as she could while walking past the stand.

Anita Maestas, the just-retired office manager for Antiques And The Arts Weekly, stopped by the office this week. She said she’s still getting up at the same time she had been getting up for work for the last 33 years — 4:30 am — but she did take her time getting to the polls on Tuesday. She was sorry she missed seeing how many people were waiting for the doors to open in her district in Southbury, but was pleased nevertheless that her voting process was relatively quick once she did go to vote “a little while later.” We almost didn’t recognize her when she came in. After seeing Anita in office attire for the last three decades, it was nice to see her in sunglasses, a pullover, and soft corduroys.

After wearing this tuxedo to work all these years, I wonder if maybe I’m due for a change in attire. To find out, you’re going to have to…

Read me again.