Your hometown newspaper is celebrating an anniversary this weekend! The first edition of The Bee — as it was then called — has the publication date June 28, 1877, which means Saturday is the 148th anniversary of Newtown, Conn., having a dedicated newspaper. Last week we celebrated the ruby anniversary of Sherri and Scott Baggett, our Co-Publisher and Production Director, respectively. I’ve no idea what the traditional gift for a 148th anniversary is, however.

For about 36 hours last week it felt like “old Newtown” again, when ours was a town filled with farms and people helping each other in a pinch. Two cows escaped from their central Newtown farm on Wednesday afternoon, and it took until nearly midnight Thursday before they were corralled back home. I understand the two bovines were new to the farm, which may have explained much of their confusion and anxiety. The poor things made their way not only to the shoulder of I-84 on Wednesday, but one then got itself caught on a guardrail and then into the median, before disappearing into the woods.

It's amazing no one was injured during that trek. At least one CT State Police trooper worked with Newtown Animal Control to keep the animals — and all the drivers on the interstate — safe while the cows were moved out of that area. There were sightings for the next day and a half, with local police officers, Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters, and plenty of friends of the cows’ owners all trying to get them safely back to their new home. I hear one of the cows sauntered right up the driveway of a Parmalee Hill Road home Thursday afternoon, before disappearing again for a few hours. Sightings were reported on Currituck Road, Frontage Road, Tunnel Road, Barnabas Road, and Whitewood Road, among others — so while they didn’t know how to get back to their new home, at least our new arrivals stayed within a definite region. Fortunately this story has a happy ending. As mentioned earlier, they were finally captured and made their way back to their farm late Thursday. I guess now we know what time the cows come home.

Help for local farmers happened twice within the week, in fact. Sepe Farm lost their barn to a fire on Saturday afternoon to a fire (see related story), and Peter and Carol Sepe had friends and family members showing up to help before firefighters and other first responders were even done putting out the fire. While it was frightening for a while for all involved, the barn was lost and a few vehicles and the side of the Sepe home was damaged, but there were no injuries. All of the farm’s lambs were saved, and Carol and Peter didn’t even need to leave their home.

Through July 20, The Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Temporary Donations Pause is underway. This year’s break began June 23, and we had multiple notes in the paper and online ahead of this pause. During this annual break, the Friends do not accept any books, jigsaw puzzles, media, etc. The break allows Friends volunteers do final preparations for the upcoming book sale — this year’s will be at Reed School July 11-15. Any donations taken to the library for the Friends between now and July 20 will be discarded, and that would really be a shame. Books and the other items mentioned above can be shared and forwarded and passed on for years. The Friends Donation Window is open 48 weeks of the year. If you have something in hand and missed the window, please hang on to it just a little longer. Donations will again be welcomed starting Monday, July 21, in the permanent box in the rear parking lot of 25 Main Street or the donations room inside the building.

With the serious return of summer heat this week the library has also returned to its summer hours schedule. The building at 25 Main Street will not be open on Sundays again until after Labor Day. Other regular hours remain in effect, however: Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am-8 pm; and Friday and Saturday, 9:30 am-5 pm.

As just mentioned, we have been suffering through the first heatwave of the season this week. Bruce the Spruce was ready for it. The three-foot-tall artificial tree in our Production Department has been dressed for the season, although his mini grill has not been used this week. Even at night it’s been too hot to think about making s’mores.

As we close in on the conclusion of National Pollinator Month, it was exciting to see two cities in the Nutmeg State — both in Fairfield County — ranked among the top 10 cities that love landscaping for pollinators. LawnStarter recently looked at 11 different metrics, including pollinator-friendly policies, access to butterfly gardens and pollinator waystations, and Google searches for terms related to pollinator-friendly landscaping. After looking at 500 cities, Seattle was at the top of the list nationally, followed by Atlanta, New York, Baltimore, Santa Barbara, Boston, and then Stamford. Yay! Thousand Oaks, California was eighth on the list, followed at #9 by Norwalk. Tacoma, Wash., rounded out the country’s top ten list.

Seattle, Atlanta and Baltimore scored so well thanks to policies protecting pollinators, urban gardens and others spaces dedicated to pollinators, and high local interest in pollinator-friendly landscaping. You know what though? Connecticut was one of two states — the other being Maryland — to ban neurotoxic pesticides, a/k/a neonicotinoids, back in 2016.

Remembering that the survey looked at cities, let’s also be proud of the following: New Haven, which was #12 across the country; Bridgeport, 30; Danbury, 57; Hartford, 60; and Waterbury, 95. I know Newtown would have done extremely well if smaller municipalities were considered. National Pollinator Month raises awareness about the vital role of pollinators including bees, butterflies and birds in the ecosystem. Thanks to local groups like Newtown Conservation Commission and Protect Our Pollinators, I feel like the importance of and how to attract pollinators has been on the local radar for years.

We’re also nearly at the end of Dog License Month in Newtown. As much as I joke about goofy and dopey dogs, I do love most of them. If you live in town and have any canine family members, please make sure they’re protected and properly registered. If your dog gets away from home and someone else finds them, you’ll want to make sure they know how to find their way back to you, right? If you haven’t already done so, go visit my friends at the Office of the Town Clerk, within Newtown Municipal Center, to take care of that annual task before Monday.

In addition to having another year of comfort knowing your dog will find its way home if it goes missing, each dog registered this month will be entered into a drawing for the Newtown #1 dog license. I don’t need a tag to know I’m top of the heap at 5 Church Hill Road. I do need to know, however, that you’ll be back here again next week, when it will be time to … read me again.