Hello Everyone, it's Fran: November sure is a busy month. Election results are not yet in, as I write, but we need to look ahead to Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. Before church on Sunday, our friend Karen got the church bells ringing, a chance for us all to stop and be thankful for our blessings and spiritual help during these trying times of terrible western fires and southern hurricanes, Covid-19 issues, and closer to our hearts, the shock and loss of Wes Wallgren and Derrick Hanslmaier. My mind keeps thinking of that old song: “How Far Is Heaven”.

Pet Owners Beware: At this time of year with the fall colors so vibrant we start to feel evening temperatures drop. Cool nights send rodents indoors looking for warm shelter, understandably. Some people may find it convenient to put out poison bait traps to kill the rodents. This brings me to a sad reality. Secondary poisoning.

My daughter and her husband live in rural farm country. They have pets. Mugoo, her very healthy, beautiful, 12 year old cat was a hunter and caught many a mouse. One recent evening he came into the house as usual to eat and take a nap on mom's lap. When he woke he proceeded to run frantically through the house, jumping at the windows, hiding under the couch, crying and wailing at the door.

His eyes were wide open with fear. Realizing Mugoo was in distress, my daughter tried to calm him but he fought, uncharacteristically scratching his way out of her arms. She gave him a blessing and let him out the door. He never returned.

My daughter found Mugoo lying in the pasture a few days later. Without testing, but judging symptoms only, the vets educated guess as to what happened to Mugoo was secondary poison.

My daughter never uses rodent poison or any kind of poison. She hates to kill anything. So where did the cat find poison? If you or anyone in your neighborhood uses poison and a rodent eats the bait and lives long enough to make it to the outdoors a cat may eat the rodent thereby ingesting poison as well.

If you must rid your house of rodents I suggest using the battery operated “Victor” mousetrap box available for purchase at Liberty Agway or Liberty Trading Post. The mouse enters the box to eat the peanut butter, is zapped and dies quickly. No springs, no guts, no blood, no suffering and no reloading. Just open the lid, dispose of the critter, close the lid and set it back out.

Mugoo is buried under the apple tree with his furry siblings. He was a great cat and family member. He was faithful and loved. Poisoning is a horrible death for any living thing whether pet or pest. Don't use.

Unite For Liberty: John Liddle had organized this meeting months back, and it all went on hold when Covid-19 happened. He will soon get the group to restart efforts by contacting downtown building owners to get an understanding of where the downtown is headed both in terms of storefronts and upper level housing. This sounds to me to be a great, over-due and exciting effort. Also being addressed are possible tenants for the Spanish Castle on Chestnut St, and the old BOCES ( Cablevision) on Lake St.

Parksville: A lot of buzz as NYC folks look to put down roots in this stream-side hamlet with such possibilities right off the highway. The owners of what was once the pharmacy are planning to refurbish the building and put in a business. That is great news.

Speaking of Veterans Day, Parksville has a well-maintained little memorial park with posted names of local veterans on Main Street. I asked who does the beautiful work and was told it is a group effort by Boy Scouts & Cub Scouts. Valerie Dobell said “the boys and I”...members of S.C. Long Beards and Donna and Butch Kortright are involved. Two of my brother-in-laws are posted. I lived through the horrible world war, so can never forget.

Liberty Veteran's Memorial: The Kelly/Ratner Families have a great tribute by the traffic circle, on South Main St. in Liberty. Patrick Kelly who does mason work built a beautiful stone base for flowers and flag posts dedicated to our veterans. It is in a perfect location as we come into the village. God bless our Veterans…Souls of departed and those retired like my Navy man. A special thank-you to all our young active military ready to keep us safe. Every Sunday at Mass the names of our young military men and women that are submitted by families are read and prayed for. One is our grandson, Capt. Andrew Gieger now stationed in California.

Stay Safe: Enjoy the great days ahead as we prepare for Thanksgiving which may be very different this year. Hopefully families can keep their traditional gatherings.

God Bless the USA.