By Mindy Rowlands

200-3997

morrillnews@gmail.com

Rabies clinic

Don’t forget that there will be a rabies clinic at the Morrill Fire Department Nov. 17 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. The cost will be $10 per animal.

Open house

Simmons and Daughter's Sugar Shack will be having their second annual Christmas open house at their home at 261 Weymouth Rd. on Nov. 17 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. There will be maple syrup and other maple-related items for sale.

New website

I’m pleased to announce that the town of Morrill’s website will soon be receiving some wonderful new improvements. It should be much easier to navigate, and you will also be finding some great new additions. You will eventually be able to access all the new town tax maps, the commitment book, a calendar of town events, Selectmen and Road Commission meeting minutes, and at some point you’ll even be able to see the town reports. You will also find the latest information on the office hours of all the town personnel and job descriptions for each. Be sure to keep checking the website for the new updates. In the meantime, you can access the current version of the website at www.morrillme.org.

Belfast football

I want to send out a very special congratulations to the Belfast football team for their great football season. Coming back to beat Leavitt was an excellent demonstration of skill and teamwork. We always seem to have a lot of Morrill boys representing our town on the football team and this year’s team was no exception. Congratulations to Rory Ambrose, Alec Young, Corey Doolan, Kameron Culbertson, Wyatt Roberts and Tyler LePlante. I apologize if I’ve missed anyone.

Elections

My first presidential election as town clerk is behind me. I think it’s safe to say that it was a long, busy day. The day started with a wonderful surprise from Carol Larrabee, who stopped by to drop off a delicious breakfast frittata. It was so thoughtful of her, and we certainly enjoyed it! Thank you so much, Carol. We have to thank Corey Reynolds, too, who had to pinch-hit in the Morrill General kitchen and make all the cinnamon rolls I had ordered. I heard that Corey had to throw the first batch away, but the second batch was great, so thank you! I also want to say thank you to the Weymouth School students who made some wonderful posters for us on Election Day. They were a perfect addition to our polling place. I will be sending some photos for the students to see of our Election Day.

I want to make sure to especially thank all the people who worked at the elections. Christine Cox and Jean Whitcomb (who have been ballot clerks for more years than I’m probably supposed to say) always put in a long day and keep a smile on their faces the entire time. We also have a wonderful group of people who come in to count ballots after the polls close. For this election, most of them were there counting for three hours or more. So thank you to Anna Wood-Cox, Jane Grant, Rob Thomas, Janie Smith, Joyce Scott, Lori Littlefield, Tonya Ballard, Sue Thompson and Sue Young. You guys manage to make an otherwise unpleasant task enjoyable.

I also want to say a special thank-you to Maria Scott and Marcia O’Jala, who had to put in even more hours helping me finish up the final paperwork and getting everything packed up and moved back to the Town Office. After entering election results into the computer system and faxing the results to all the newspapers and other media sites, Marcia and I got home around 1:30 a.m. By 1, though, Marcia was trying to tell me something like “I’m putting the faxes in the back of this folder,” and it came out more like, “I’m footing the paxes in the flack of this boulder.” This, of course, combined with being tired, made us laugh and giggle uncontrollably. We finally made it home after a 17-1/2-hour day; unfortunately, though, my night was a short one. My boys are early risers and the recent time change has had them waking up even earlier than usual, so, I was only able to get three hours' sleep before my youngest was up and going.

Winter's arrival

Two rusty red leaves hang from the maples outside the living room window. They stand out sharply in contrast to the newly fallen snow. Like me, they are not quite willing to admit defeat and accept that winter is here. Unlike me, though, they have the luxury of reveling in their denial for now. I, on the other hand, have been forced by my sons to dig out the winter coats, snow boots and what my oldest sons calls the “lumberjacks” (a.k.a. ski pants). The boys awoke with great excitement this morning at the sight of the first winter’s snow, and have convinced me to declare a homeschool “snow delay.” So, this morning, two happy boys, glowing like beacons in their florescent orange vests and hats, are slipping, sliding and rolling around in their winter woolies under the maple trees and I am smiling contentedly from inside my warm house while I tip my hat and concede defeat to winter.