At the top of the news this week is a field report from Vanilla, the White Queen Cat of Parmalee Hill Swamp, on one of my favorite topics – mice.

 Dear Top of the Mountain Cat,

My stewards returned from Sunday’s Jacques Thibaud Trio concert at Edmund Town Hall with a garbled report of a mouse running about the stage during the first movement of the Beethoven. They weren’t clear on where it came from, where it went or even its color, though they did agree it enlivened the performance considerably. I gathered that the Thibaud’s claim to fame is their custom of performing without sheet music, relying instead upon their memories – the sort of stunt that my late mother, Skunk Cat, referred to as a parlor trick. According to my stewards, the musicians spent too much energy memorizing and not enough communicating, which reminded me of the way an amateur hunter will chase behind a squirrel instead of placing herself ahead of the squirrel at what will soon be its final destination. But I digress.

Mice running around on stage in front of our cultured citizens made it sound like the Town Hall cat had fallen down on the job, which surprised me as she is no slouch in the mouse department. There had to be more to the story. So Monday night, when a northwest wind froze a nice crust on the snow, I walked into town and called on her. She was not pleased to see me; I have a reputation for being more aggressive than I am truly in my heart, although I must admit that I am quite large and don’t lose arguments. But I put her at ease and discovered that the mouse was not local. It had arrived with the musicians. Its name was Harold, it was gray-brown in color and very fat, and when the Town Hall cat approached it for lunch the cellist shooed her away with his bow. So it wasn’t her fault that it ran out on stage. Here’s my best guess. I thought about it all the way home. Harold works for the trio. On the rare occasion one of the musicians gets lost without his sheet music, Harold scurries out to squeak them their next note.

Warm wishes,

Vanilla

In other news from the town hall, Executive Assistant Jan Andras of the first selectman’s office is recovering this week after living through something we all dread… the crashing of our hard drive. Fortunately, Kevin Koschel, the town’s tech guy/DJ, managed to get her hard drive back up and running. However, all Jan’s information on the town budget was lost so there will be no taxes this year, I guess.

Passersby might have wondered why a huge order of flowers was being delivered to the first selectman’s office this week. No, it wasn’t Herb Rosenthal’s birthday. The flowers were fundraising bouquets that had been ordered by staff members from the Edmond Town Hall offices to benefit the American Heart Association.

Vern Knapp celebrated her 88th birthday on February 24 with family members from all over the United States arriving to keep her busy all weekend. As always, the focus was on great desserts – mostly chocolate! Among those attending was Karen Lyons, who now lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. Karen, who grew up in Newtown, says the first two times she went online to read The Bee, she read something about her grandparents and her father in The Way We Were – a real treat.

There are posters around town announcing the American Red Cross blood drive that will be held on Monday from 8:30 am to 6:45 pm. But because of a last-minute glitch, the location has been changed. The blood drive will be held at the United Methodist Church in Sandy Hook.

Marie Sturdevant, who now works at The Homesteads assisted-living facility, spotted a fox outside her window late last week. The animal appeared sick as it walked around aimlessly. Fearing the worst, she called the police, who responded to the scene only to discover that the fox was not rabid. “It was just a mangy-looking fox,” Marie said.

In another example of just how small this world can be, Cathy Mazzariello and her husband, Rick, report they ran into Newtown High School teachers Chuck and Karen Mann at a tiny pizza joint in San Diego last week. Chuck, an NHS history teacher, and Karen, the NHS library director, were on vacation with their son Jeffrey, a junior at Pomperaug High in Southbury. Cathy is a fifth grade teacher at Sandy Hook School.

Walt Pachniuk was still a little sore earlier this week after a weekend of snowmobile riding in Vermont. Walt joined fellow Newtown residents Pete Wilson and Larry Edwards on what turned out to be an 85-mile trek through the hills and forests of the Green Mountain State. Walt compared his first-ever experience on a snowmobile to the mechanical bull. “You’ve got to hold on for dear life,” he said.

The Newtown High School boys’ basketball team competed in the semifinals of the SWC postseason tournament Tuesday afternoon at Masuk in Monroe. It was nice to see many players from the girls’ basketball team as well as a large contingent of football players (although there was a relatively light showing of the student body). I even spotted Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed in the crowd. Sadly, though, the NHS cheerleading squad was not on hand. A few years back, the school made an unprecedented decision not to send the cheerleaders to the away games. Apparently, that goes for exciting semifinal games, as well. Immaculate’s cheerleaders were there in full force.

Speaking of the NHS basketball, faithful fans Bruce Martin and Lin Hertberg headed down to Saturday’s quarterfinal game at Bunnell High in Stratford, but somehow found themselves in Milford. No worries, these two Newtown residents quickly righted themselves and still arrived before tip off.

The clock in the town clerk’s office is covered over these days due to the simple fact that it does not work. It’s stuck on about 6 o’clock and the town clerk staff was getting sick of attorneys at midday asking, “is that the right time?”

That reminds me of the Yogi Berra story, when someone asked the baseball legend what time it was. “You mean right now?” Yogi asked in all sincerity.

Well, right now, it’s time for me to go, but I’ll be back, so be sure to…

Read me again.