If you’re looking for Newtown resident Victor Scalora this weekend, he’ll be over in Woodbury participating with The Second Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery Reenactment group’s Civil War event. Victor and his fellow history buffs will be at Three Acres Park, on Judson Avenue, Saturday and Sunday, August 15–16, presenting reenactments across more than 75 acres. Spectators can visit and speak with soldiers from both the Union and Confederate armies as well as the civilians in the town of Unity as they prepare for the impending battle. The battles reenactments have several features not usually found at events, including trenches, pyrotechnics, and scripted battle scenarios. Famous personalities scheduled to appear during the weekend include President Lincoln, General Grant, General Lee, and Connecticut’s own Harriet Beecher Stowe. Ongoing educational presentations will take place throughout the site as well. Admission is $8 adults, $6 students and seniors, $4 for ages 5–10, and free ages 4 and under. Gates open daily at 8:30 am, and battles are scheduled for 2:30 Saturday afternoon and 1:30 on Sunday. For more information visit the event website WoodburyBattle.com.

Driving from her home in Sandy Hook to Bethel Cinema Friday night, our education reporter Eliza Hallabeck spotted five separate groups of deer near or in the road. Now my cat instincts may stop me from trying to cross a busy street, but I thought I would take a moment to remind you that not all animals possess the knowledge not to leap out in front of a moving vehicle. Keep your eyes open, because not all animals are also blessed with my nine lives... which number am I on again?

Good news for anyone who walks up at Fairfield Hills: bag dispensers for collecting dog “waste” have been put in place. I noticed one at the end of the on-campus cul-de-sac when I was picking my way along the path yesterday. Okay, dog owners: don’t forget to use them. A clean path is a happy path.

Mocha owner Rob Kaiser is serving up a little something extra at his Glen Road coffeehouse these days. Realizing that the java joint ends up with a wealth of coffee grinds every day, he is inviting the compost hungry to bring a bucket and take away some of the nitrogen rich, pH balanced “black gold.”  Coffee grinds act as a natural pest deterrent, says Rob, and make a nice, moist mulch to keep garden plants happy. It’s a great way to help the green community, enhance your garden soil, and it helps out Mocha by reducing the waste generated. Bring a bucket, and don’t forget to take away a cup of delicious coffee, too.

All this talk of waste reminds me that AT&T still hasn’t got the message that Newtowners are tired of receiving the useless tomes dumped in the driveways this time each year. The bins at the phone company’s Queen Street location are flowing over, once again, with phone books that have never even been removed from the bright orange plastic bags in which they arrive. It’s a waste of paper and a waste of everyone’s time. AT&T, can you hear me now?

Superintendent Janet Robinson has announced that 28 teachers and administrators have signed up to travel to China in April 2010, to teach in the Liaocheng Middle School #3. The school is Newtown High School’s sister school in China. All of the educators are paying their own ways and are traveling during the April break. It’s clear to me that there are a lot of instructors eager to learn about other cultures, and who better than teachers to share what they will learn?

If you think you have stars in your eyes the next few nights, you aren’t imagining. The Perseid Meteor Showers, viewable since July 17, reached their peak of 80 to 100 meteors on Wednesday night, and will be continuing through August 22. That’s a lot of wishes to make on shooting stars.

Responding to the public’s desire for a more centrally located farmers’ market and similar outdoor activities, the Newtown Board of Burgesses voted Tuesday night to allow a seasonal farmers’ market, and outdoor art or antique shows, by permit, on the grounds of Edmond Town Hall. The Sandy Hook Organic Farmers’ Market had attempted earlier this summer to utilize space on the grounds of Lexington Gardens on Church Hill Road in order to provide a more convenient venue for shoppers, but town and borough ordinances do not allow for mixed use of commercial property. I’m hoping by the end of the month local artisans will take the Borough up on this opportunity and I can spend the lovely end of summer months browsing handcrafted goods and dreaming up recipes to use the fresh harvest of local farmers. Surely someone will have a nice, big bunch of catmint for sale.

Along with those recipes, I’ll be dreaming up next week’s column, so make sure to… Read me again.