All the snow this week was an unwelcome sight for the growing legions of people who think spring should arrive on January 15. Apparently there is also a rather large flock of robins in town who mistakenly thought that spring actually did arrive on January 15.

Turley Burns was startled when she saw the robins — as many as 50 — nesting in the trees in the backyard of her house on Lovells Lane last weekend. With the stormy winter weather, she thought they would be “dead in heaps on the snow” but they spent the days dive-bombing for berries on her bushes. “They’re pretty plucky,” she said.

If you’re heading over to Canaan House to do business with the Newtown Board of Education, any of the land use or planning departments, or for an appointment at the Health District offices or Kevin’s Community Center, it will be a lonely visit. As of this week, all town offices on the Fairfield Hills campus are relocating to new quarters at the Kendro Laboratory Products facility on Peck’s Lane. If you did go to Canaan House by mistake, I suggest returning to Route 25 or Main Street South to get down to Peck’s Lane. You might be tempted to get there by taking a shortcut via Mile Hill Road South, but it’s a winding and sometimes hazardous path, so shortcut with extreme care!

Apparently Selectman Bill Brimmer was feeling a little breeze last Saturday night during the heaviest part of the snowstorm, but he couldn’t figure out exactly where the draft was coming from. But the next morning when he went to start his car, he discovered he left his garage door open all night after returning from a run to the grocery store. Fortunately, thanks to being downwind of the storm, he didn’t need the Highway Department to plow his car out of the garage and there were no indoor moguls to be found.

Possibly some of our longtime Bee readers will remember the name of Ben Lochridge, better known to me and the family as Uncle Ben. He lived in Southport, was a real Teddy bear, and sadly passed away January 11. Uncle Ben was a power, working for 35 years at CBS with the likes of Arthur Godfrey, but is best remembered by his many friends for renaming the ordinary drink of vodka on the rocks. To this day we toast our good times with him with our Crystal Yum Yums.

Although a bit tardy, the Newtown High School Class of 1994 is planning to hold its ten-year reunion on Saturday, March 5, at the Stone Barn on Route 110 in Monroe from 7 to 11 pm. Reservations are needed by February 13. For more information and reservations contact Elizabeth Perrone at  liz@perronegray.com  or 860-664-4232.

I am sorry to report that Buster, who was crowned “King” in The Bee’s 1994 King and Queen Dog Contest, died last Sunday. The ever-faithful Bassett hound lived on Little Brook Lane and belonged to Buddy Holland. You can see what a fine King Buster was.

It seems blue blood ran in the Holland pet family. Buddy’s sister, Robin, owned a miniature poodle named Amiee who was named the town’s Queen Dog in 1981. Both Buster and Amiee will long be remembered on Little Brook Lane and throughout the realm.

Pat Denlinger stopped by The Bee office to drop off a birth announcement for her newest grandchild, Peter Michael Savinelli, who was born last month at Bridgeport Hospital. Pat says that is her 12th grandchild and she is now tied with Marilyn Alexander, who also has 12.  That’s a lot to fit around the table at Thanksgiving, she admits, and not to mention buying gifts for at Christmas.

Joanna Lestic, a typesetter at The Bee, spent Tuesday in the delivery room at New Milford Hospital where she helped with the actual delivery of her third grandchild, Trenton Ross. The baby weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and is the first child for Deanna and Craig Ross, who live in Brookfield.

Newtown resident Mary Mitchell will be at Danbury Library this weekend for a book signing event. Her newest book, The Remarkable Huntingtons: Chronicle of a Marriage, will be celebrated with a reading and autograph session on Sunday, January 30, from 2 to 3 pm. The library is at 170 Main Street, at the corner of West.

Janis Gibson, the Bee’s copyeditor, thought it was a little odd that she arrived at work Tuesday morning and found four cases of soda waiting at her desk for her. She hadn’t ordered the soda, and no one knew when or how it had arrived. A few hours later, however, the soda made sense… when a delivery man arrived from Pizza Palace with ten large pizzas, also with Janis’s name on them. It turns out one of her friends was surprising her with lunch for her birthday. Lots of lunch — so Janis and most of the employees at The Bee had soda and pizza for lunch on Tuesday.

Mike and Arlene Neiman love cats. They had three, two of which lived well into their 20s. So when the Neimans found themselves catless last year, they started looking for another to fill the empty spot. Enter Aretmus, aka Vincent (for Vincent Van Gogh.) Artemus lost the tops of his ears to frostbite before being rescued on Eden Hill Road in Newtown last month. He was at Danbury Animal Welfare for a few weeks before going to live with the Neimans, where he has made himself completely at home. “He doesn’t miss a trick,” Mike says.

Speaking of cats, Mario Pizighelli spotted a bobcat walking across his lawn on Botsford Hill Road on the morning of January 20, adding to the many bobcat sightings around town. It’s funny how one cat can get around so much… wait a minute, that’s what they say about me!

I’ll be around again next week, so be sure to…

Read me again.