I read this week where the state Department of Agriculture is instituting a new grant program next year that will underwrite the vaccination and sterilization of Connecticut feral cats. Hmmmm… free needles and surgery if you’re a feral cat. I predict feline domesticity will be all the rage in 2007.

Actually, being a domestic cat doesn’t protect you from needles that much. This Saturday, owners will be dragging their felines (and canines) to the low-cost rabies vaccination clinic from 1 to 3 pm at Edmond Town Hall, sponsored by the town clerk’s office. You don’t have to be a resident of Newtown to participate.

Roaming cats, feral or otherwise, aren’t the only animals we have to worry about at this time of year. This is the season when baby animals are beginning to wobble about, too. A tiny fawn held up traffic on Ashford Lane one night this week while he tried to decide if he should join his mom on one side of the road or wait for her on the other; and a Starbuck’s employee encountered — without incidence, luckily — a baby skunk out by their dumpster. Snapping turtles are on the move, too, as they seek out a nesting spot. Keep a sharp eye open.

It looks like the Labor Day Parade will have to count on local horses to haul their own weight. The Budweiser Clydesdale dray horses are already booked for the Labor Day weekend and won’t be able to squeeze Newtown into their busy schedule this year, says parade chairperson Kym Stendahl. At least now there won’t be any fussing about who follows the mammoth beasts in the parade….

Don’t forget to drop off your gently used soccer and football cleats at the Blue and Gold Stadium this Saturday between 10 am and 5 pm. NHS student Will Mahoney is kicking off his community service project, Lace ‘em Again, during the alumni lax game and hopes to collect at least 40 pair to donate to Bridgeport Youth Services. Time to clean out the closet.

Botsford Fire Chief Wayne Ciaccia tells me that what is considered obsolete firefighting gear in the United States may well be put to good service in the Third World where firefighting equipment is hard to come by. Wayne showed me a copy of an April 30 newspaper published in Guatemala entitled Nuestro Diario that bore a front-page color photo of a firefighter who was wearing a Botsford fire turnout coat and helmet while pouring water onto a furiously burning vehicle fire.

As it turns out, about a year ago, Botsford firefighters were solicited on behalf of Central American firefighters who were seeking donations of firefighting gear for their work. Botsford firefighters donated a variety of obsolete firefighting gear to an agent for the Central American firefighters, which had cost thousands of dollars when it was initially purchased, Chief Ciaccia said. Although the gear was of no use to Botsford firefighters, it has been put to good use in Guatemala.

I think all the rain this spring has fogged up the minds of a lot of people. People are losing it… well, they are losing their keys anyway. The Newtown Police Department’s Lost and Found Division is currently looking for the owners of four sets of keys found in recent weeks. They include: a set of keys with a pink flower key chain ornament that was found last week on Butterfield Road; a set of keys found May 26 on Route 25; a Yamaha key found in May at an unspecified location; a set of keys with a remote control and Jiffy Lube card attached found May 1 at a Turkey Hill Road athletic field.  You always find lost things in the last place you look, so if any of these keys are yours, call  Sergeant Darlene Froehlich at the police station at telephone 426-5841 and she’ll tell you where that place is.

If you’re looking for me, you will find me right here next week, so be sure to…

Read me again.