If you are like me, and can’t keep track of when your books are due at the C.H. Booth Library, you’ll like libraryelf.com. Our local library is affiliated with the private service that lets you register for e-mail notification of overdue books and alerts to let you know when your items on hold have arrived, and alerts from multiple libraries, as well. It’s a great way to track your library account and will cut down on paper use and library costs for mailing out those overdue book notices. All you need to log on is your library card bar code number. I’m looking forward to avoiding those embarrassing notices that come in the mail.

I suppose the newest display on the main floor at the library must be mentioned, as well, although I shudder a bit at bringing it up. Along with a collection of the many fiction and nonfiction books on the canine persuasion, photos contributed by C.H. Booth Library employees depicting their own pooches are on display. It might be fun to take a walk through the library and see if it is true that pets resemble their owners. But be careful which pair you match up; you don’t want to be barking up the wrong tree.

And although we felines don’t stoop to fetching balls and barking at strangers, we set aside our differences with the canines and enjoyed an afternoon at the Responsible Dog Ownership And Adoption Day at the Mt Pleasant Hospital For Animals last Sunday where residents could learn more about being responsible owners, and possibly adopt a shelter dog or cat.

I ran into a special visitor there, too. Pom Pom (now going by Po) the Pomeranian wore his light-blue summer sweater to the event, and as the unofficial Canine Advocates of Newtown mascot, he greeted the many children who tentatively poked their hands into kittens’ cages or pulled their parents along to pet a dog. Po was discovered in the Exit 9 commuter lot last year with severe burns to his back and was cared for at the Mt Pleasant Hospital for Animals before being placed in a private home. I was purring with happiness, though, to see the Animal Center of Newtown representatives collecting forms from residents filling out paperwork with the hope of bringing home a small, warm, meowing bundle in the coming days.

With fall on the way and school in session, germ season is upon us. The September issue of Discover magazine offers 20 lesser-known facts about hygiene. For instance, I found it particularly fascinating that a “seventh grader in Florida won her school science fair by proving there are more bacteria in ice machines at fast-food restaurants than in toilet bowl water.” Which just proves to me that pets really are more intelligent than their owners…

The Bee dogs are feeling a little nervous around the men’s room at The Newtown Bee office this week, though. But the guys who work here are feeling pretty flush. A high-tech, auto-flush urinal has been installed in the men’s room, meaning no excuses for a less than fresh restroom.

Feeling reenergized by the cooler days? If you’re quick, you can still register for the Sunday, September 16, MS Bike Tour “Down To the Sound” at msswct.org. The 12-, 30- or 60-mile bike rides through Fairfield County support multiple sclerosis research and client services. Registration at the Sherwood Island State Park Pavilion in Westport is at 8 am, Sunday morning. There is a fee of $75 to take part in the ride. It’s a great way to enjoy the early fall scenery and support a good cause.

Here’s another date to mark on the calendar. Newtown resident Bruce Degen, the illustrator of The Magic School Bus series of books, will be joining more than 60 other children’s book authors and illustrators for a daylong event in Tarrytown, N.Y. The event will take place at Washington Irving’s Sunnyside on Sunday, September 23, from 11 am until 5 pm. In addition to author appearances, costumed characters like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George, Biscuit, and Liz, will be roaming the grounds. The creators and stars of the legendary children’s television show The Magic Garden, Carole Demas and Paula Janis, will be performing from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. Food will be available for picnickers. Admission to Sunnyside is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and students ages 18–25 with ID, $6 for ages 5–17, and free for ages 4 and under and HHV members. Tours of Irving’s house are included in the price of admission. For information call 914-591-8763 or visit HudsonValley.org. Sunnyside is at 89 West Sunnyside Lane in Tarrytown, one mile south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, off Route 9.

Maureen Colbert Wilhelm tells me that William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty and Superior Cleaners are partnering to sponsor a coat drive Monday, October 1, through Sunday, October 21. The drop off place is the Newtown office of William Pitt Sotheby’s at 13 Church Hill Road, from 9 am to 5:30 pm, every day of the week. I’m planning to keep my own fur coat close by for the colder days ahead, but what a great opportunity to empty out the hall closet of all those outgrown outerwear articles. All sizes are welcome, Maureen says, and they hope to get plenty of men’s, women’s, and children’s coats in good condition. Coats that need a little TLC before going on to their new homes will be cared for by Superior Cleaners, who is donating their services. The coats will first benefit Newtown Social Services groups as needed, and then be distributed to the various agencies the United Way of Greater Danbury.

Maureen has generously volunteered to pick up coats from people’s homes if they are unable to get to the office. How much easier does it get to do a good deed? Call Maureen at 270-6004, extension 334, for pickup.

Even if you don’t call Maureen for coat pickup, I hope you will pick up next week’s copy of The Bee and… Read me again.