Well, experts say the threat of Lyme disease will be worse than ever this year, but I know something that they don’t: if you walk through a field, you are far more likely to encounter a boisterous soccer parent that a Lyme disease-bearing tick.

At least that was the case this past weekend, as thousands of parents and players poured over 13 athletic fields throughout Newtown for the annual Memorial Day Weekend Kickoff Soccer Tournament. Close to 100 teams from Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts competed in the three-day event. While many teams made good with their regular coaches, more than a few seemed to enlist a legion of parental instructors who fanned out along the sidelines shouting strategic instructions to players. It seemed to me that they were shouting mostly at their own children.

Still, amid this intense familial fanfare, some teams managed to forget what sport they were supposed to be playing. While waiting for their chance to take to the fields over at Fairfield Hills, one team was spotted getting up a makeshift game of volleyball. When you have as many people peppering soccer pitches as you did this weekend, I guess there are worse ways to kill time.

One thing’s for sure: I’m not going to have much time to kill this Saturday – not when I have a race to run. In the year since the last Rooster Run it seems that my paws have grown enough to make my old pair of running sneakers fit more snuggly than they should. Alas, I’ll have a new pair ready to go at 8:30 am, when the 26th annual Rooster Run will get underway at the middle school. Even though the course will take runners up through Fairfield Hills, I plan to take a bit of a detour in order to jog by St Rose.

The St Rose Family Safety Fair is scheduled to start Saturday morning at 11 am, and should run to 3 pm. There will be plenty of free information about water safety, swimming pool safety, poison information, bike inspections, a car seat safety clinic, and home safety information from area agencies and businesses. Plus, a representatives from Newtown’s volunteer fire departments, police department, ambulance corps, and underwater search and rescue will be on hand to give live demonstrations, if the weather cooperates.

After all this Saturday exercise, I’ll be hungry. Luckily the Methodist Church in Sandy Hook is holding its monthly pasta dinner, followed by a “coffee house’’ complete with java, dessert, and live music.

It seems one is never at a loss for things to do in Newtown.

However, if you find yourself stuck for a way to spend a quiet late afternoon, as the sun slips behind its salmon-colored shades, how about a meal at The Pleasance? The park at 1 Main Street has two new tables in its gazebo. They are a little larger and a little sturdier than the table they replace. So let the al fresco dining begin!

This deer was spotted at dusk on Tuesday in a pasture near Point O’ Rocks Road having just such a meal. Of course seating was limited, but the dining room offered ample space and a large supply of buttercups. The drone of passing cars did not deter this (sprightly) fawn, who managed to get into the cordoned-off field, but he had a tougher time escaping. He pawed around the perimeter, looking for an easy exit, but it was some time before he popped out and padded down the dirt road.

From deer we move to birds, of which Mike and Mary Kelly were hoping to see plenty this past weekend. We’re talking birds of the baseball variety. Mike and Mary purchased Baltimore Orioles tickets several months ago for this past weekend in the hopes that they would finally get to see a game at Camden yards, the Orioles’ gorgeous ballpark. Along with their son Pat and his girlfriend, Jen, the couple drove down to Baltimore this weekend. But wouldn’t you know it – the game was postponed due to rain.

Legislative Council member Donald Studley’s luck this past week wasn’t much better. Don is usually quite attentive at meetings. However, he seemed more focused this week on an irritating fly that was buzzing around the Town Hall South conference room Tuesday night. Don kept trying to catch it, but alas, the fly eluded him.

If you’ve been driving around Hawleyville lately, you’ve probably noticed a large stack of aqua blue pipe piled up on the corner of Mt Pleasant and Hawleyville roads. The large diameter water pipe is waiting to be installed to extend public water 10,000 feet from Blackman Road out to the Homesteads at Newtown, an elderly housing complex now under construction on Mt Pleasant Road.

Brian Silverlieb of the Mount Pleasant Hospital for Animals was spotted on the steps of Edmond Town Hall this week with his beloved dog, Alex. Both were on hand to promote Newtown’s annual rabies clinic in the Edmond Town Hall gymnasium Saturday, June 10. Alex, a lovable Shetland Sheep Dog, has been posing for publicity pictures since he was a puppy back in the early 90s.

 The police station got some needed repairs this Wednesday, as workers were busy replacing some light fixtures in the station’s holding cells damaged by prisoners who have been unhappy about their forced stays in the small rooms. Workers installed some new heavy-duty fluorescent fixtures that should cast a harsh light on crime for the next several years.

With college and high school graduations starting to sprout up all around, it is certainly a time of year when we think a lot about education. Just ask police patrol officer Robert Koetsch, who is continuing pursuing his law degree while serving as a town policeman. Officer Koetsch expects to complete his studies in December when he is scheduled to receive a Juris Doctor degree.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal’s pain is finally over. After suffering for nearly a week, Herb finally had a tooth pulled Tuesday. He says that his mouth still hurts, but not as much as before the tooth was extracted.

With Herb out of his misery, I’ll do the same for this column. But remember, it’s never painful to…

Read me again.