There were a couple of moments on Sunday and Monday where I feared I would be whisked away by the wind, and deposited in a snow bank. I’m sending out a special thanks to all of the highway crew and emergency crew members who worked around the clock to keep the roads cleared of drifting snow and fallen trees during the first snowstorm of the season, and for attending to those in need under less than ideal circumstances. What would we do without them? I feel a “Good Egg” Award coming on.

You would think that the new signage recently installed near and on the Main Street flagpole would make it easy for folks to see the 100-foot-tall white metal pole in the middle of the roadway. New roadway paint was laid down earlier this month, with tapered yellow caution lines approaching the pole from Church Hill Road, Main Street, and West Street, and even a yellow ring around the flagpole. Ben Smith, who lives about 30 yards away from the flagpole, says it wasn’t enough for one of the state plows earlier this week. “It was like 2 in the morning and I heard this loud ‘Bam!’ I looked out the window and saw this big plow truck just fishtailing around the flagpole,” Ben told me Tuesday morning, of the sight he took in while watching some poor guy try to work his way around the local landmark. “It was an orange truck, so it definitely wasn’t one of the local guys,” he said.

Things were tough down south, too. Ronnie Greenman, former hometown boy, and now a resident of Florida, called Bruce Herring the other day and reported 29-degree temperatures down there. He also had a request: Could Bruce please close the door that was letting New England’s cold air travel south?

“Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…” What the heck was that, anyway? That’s what a Castle Hill couple are wondering. Driving down Castle Hill near his home (“I don’t want to be the crazy guy!”) the husband half of this duo spotted a big, yellowish flash with a long tail traveling “super quick” across the sky. “It’s hard to tell how big it really was from the distance, but I think it was definitely bigger than a regular shooting star,” he reports. Meanwhile, his wife was out with the dogs and finishing up some shoveling when she caught the tail end of the fireball, traveling from east to west. Anyone else out there catch the sky show?

Good luck and thank you, to Roy White. Roy has retired from The Newtown Bee pressroom on Commerce Road, after 20 good years of work. We wish him the best!

The Bickersons are coming! The Stray Kats Theatre Company, a not-for-profit, professional theater group being led by Newtown resident and Equity actor Kate Katcher, will present Philip Rapp’s The Bickersons as the second offering of its inaugural season. Tickets are $25 for the Friday, January 14, performance, which will begin at 7:30 pm, in Edmond Town Hall’s Alexandria Room. Kate will be joined by fellow Actors Equity Association members Patrick Kearny and Jill Gureasko of Newtown, Tom Zingarelli of New Haven, and Chilton Ryan of Weston for the performance, which will be followed by a talkback with the company and coffee and dessert by Andrea’s Pastry Shop. Tickets are available at StrayKatsTheatreCompany.org or by calling 203-514-2221.

It’s free to take a peek at our national birds from the Bald Eagle Observation Area at Shepaug Hydroelectric Dam, but reservations to do so are required. To make reservations for individuals, families, and groups, call toll-free 800-368-8954, Tuesdays through Fridays, between 9 am and 3 pm. Observation times this season will be Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, between 9 am and 1 pm, continuing to Wednesday, March 16. I’m going to leave the eagle watching to my two-footed friends; something tells me a wily cat might be considered fair game to a soaring raptor….

Speaking of raptors, I hope you were able to get to Edmond Town Hall this past Saturday, when Horizon Wings Raptor Rehabilitators brought in a program of live owls. The 10-year-old raptor rehabilitation center based in Ashford provides care and release for injured raptors of all kinds. The program birds are birds that were not able to recover to the point where they could survive in the wilderness again. Thanks to Tom Mahoney for bringing this special program into town as a prelude to one of the movies at ETH. It is always good to be reminded of our connection to nature.

A reminder this week that due to Saturday being New Year’s Day, even the pasta makers and servers at Newtown United Methodist Church will be taking a holiday break. Instead of hosting the NUMC First Saturday Pasta Dinner & Coffee House on the first Saturday of the month (and year!), NUMC will instead offer its next dinner on January 8. Dinner is served at 92 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook from 5 to 7:30 pm with donation being $9, $8 for seniors, and $3.50 for children, and these prices cover fruit cup, salad with choice of dressings, pasta with choice of sauces (meatless, mild, or spicy), garlic bread, and an array of homemade desserts. Dinner is followed at 7:45 pm by a performance of bluegrass music played by Newtown’s own Roger Sprung and friends. The entertainment donation is $4 with dinner or $5 without. This covers all coffee, soft drinks, and snacks served during the evening from 7:45 to 10:30 pm. Entry to fellowship hall is through the lower parking lot, behind the building, and plenty of parking is available. Call the church office at 203-426-9998 for additional information.

Since not everyone is a fan of The Newtown Bee Facebook page — yet — I want to share some “Good Egg” type news broadcast there recently. We asked if readers had a compliment for someone, and here are some responses:

From Kathryn Stater: “Marilyn Alexander ROCKS! This woman IS Christmas spirit ALL YEAR LONG! Love you! Love you!”

“Laura Warren is amazing,” Stephanie Welsh Schneiderman told us. “She and her Relay For Life team raise so much money every year and they have the most awesome fundraisers.”

Donna Forshaw wrote: “I second the Laura Warren comment and would add the entire Las Mamacitas team. This is a group of people who come together each year to do great things for a great cause.”

We also heard from Jen Nash Barrett: “Pam Arsenault is such a giving woman. She does so much for the children of St Rose. She is one of those people who is such a pleasure to listen to and to be in the presence of, because she has that special something exuding from her. The people of St Rose are truly blessed to have her.”

If you didn’t get to respond to that Facebook question, you can always send your nominations for the “Good Eggs” you know to me, at Nancy@thebee.com. There are many out there, I’m sure, working behind the scenes, who deserve a public thank you.

We are turning the final pages on the book that made up 2010. What will 2011 bring? No fair flipping ahead! I just hope everyone’s New Year resolution is to have the best possible year. Happy New Year!