Conversations in the car with the kids this afternoon:

My daughter decided to buy lunch today, something which she generally does a couple times a month. The school lunch menu said rotini. At school, they were told the menu had changed and they could, instead, have “breakfast for lunch,” which could be a corn muffin, a bowl of oatmeal or a bowl of cereal.

“They only had yucky cereal, like Lucky Charms and Cookie Crisp and Cocoa Puffs,” she said.

Luckily, she goes to Grafton Elementary School, where they also have the option of having salad for lunch. She loves salad, so she didn’t have to call home and beg me to bring her a sandwich.

The School Committee talked at the last meeting about the school lunch program and the drop in kids buying lunches (especially after trying out that prepared meal program at North and South, which went over like a lead balloon). This, really, is why she doesn’t buy lunch more often — she doesn’t like a lot of the choices and, when she does, the menu is changed that day and she’s offered cereal instead. This isn’t the first time it’s happened.

This conversation occurred as we were driving up to the middle school to pick up my son.

SON (hops in the car): Guess what I learned in history club today? There were DEVIL WORSHIPERS  in Grafton!

Here’s the recap, as told to me by the 7th grader: His teacher, “sometime in the 60s, or maybe the 70s or the 80s” was in the woods near Grafton State Hospital “after it was closed” when they ran into “a group of men all in black robes doing weird rituals.” It ended up getting reported to the police “or maybe it was the FBI” and “they set up a sting operation and caught them.”

When I noted that devil worshiping isn’t illegal, he said they had “all kinds of vile rituals,” but he was kind of vague on the details.

Anyone ever hear about devil worship in Grafton? And does it have anything to do with my favorite creepy stone tower?

And finally! The seventh grader just had to show me this YouTube video, which one of his teachers pulled up in class today:

P.S. I just noticed: It’s snowing on Greater Grafton again! Must be December…

I’m going to state right here that I am not at all sorry for the photo that accompanies this post.

This is Taja, a white Bengal tiger from Southwick’s Zoo, who apparently heard from her pal Kya that THE place to get spayed is the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, right here in Grafton.

I did not post this picture with my story at GraftonTimes.com, because I had a wealth of pictures to choose from and this really didn’t make the cut. But oh my god, look at that kitty tongue. She’d sandpaper your whole face with that one.

Probably right before tearing your whole face off with your teeth because, hello, she’s a tiger. And she’d probably purr while doing it. Sweet, sweet tiger kitty.

Oh, and if you click that link, right up there? The story has video.

So on the last day of November, the UPS truck gave to me — a Christmas present in a puddle…

Darn. That didn’t rhyme AT ALL.

But it’s almost a cliche that, at this time of year, the normal UPS delivery just gets weird. The rest of the year, it goes something like this: I hear the doorbell ring and find a package (or packages) on my front steps, which are covered with a portico to keep the rain off guests and the occasional package. Every once in a while, I actually interact with the delivery driver (they usually warp speed from the steps to the truck) and say thank you.

Come the holiday season, all bets are off. I find packages everywhere. Sometimes, they’re hanging out on the sidewalk. Sometimes, they’re stashed in the corner where the garage door meets the house.

Or, like today, I find them in a puddle, right in front of the garage door (wrapped in a giant plastic bag, it must be noted, that was also full of water).  As I’m backing my car out. Luckily, I missed the package, which was small and flat enough to easily fit in the front door, which is where they delivered an almost identically sized package just last week.

C’mon, guys. I’m home. Can’t you just ring the bell? After all, at this time of year, I’m frequently baking cookies — and I’ll give you one…

If you’ve been wondering why I suddenly went silent last week, it has nothing to do with turkey. Last week was crazy. We hired two new reporters, one for Northbridge and one for — wait for it — Millbury.

That’s right. As of right now, I’m editing three hyperlocal news sites. Not bad for a chick who was laid off a year ago and thought she’d left journalism, eh?

Today was the official launch date for TheDailyMillbury.com. It looks similar to its siblings, GraftonTimes.com and NorthbridgeTimes.com but its mantra, of course, is Millbury, Millbury, Millbury.

Its new writer, I’m happy to say, is Charlene Arsenault, who wrote for Worcester Magazine up until last year. I think she actually was laid off around the same time I was. It’s nice to actually be in the position to re-employ journalists who have absolutely no business being without a job.

So! Three news sites in one year, and we only started at the end of March. Who knows what’s in store for 2010?

What did you do this morning? I spent my time touring the Grafton & Upton Railroad with Lt. Gov. Tim Murray. Story’s already up at GraftonTimes.com (with, yes, many more pictures for the rail fans), because that’s just how we roll around here.

Tim was back to his usual self today, so I’m going to consider the other day an aberration. But who isn’t going to be in a good mood after a morning of playing with trains? I know, I know, local economy, better for the environment than trucks, but still — don’t they look like they’ve just made a whole bunch of boyhood dreams come true by getting up on that train? Even I was a little heady taking pictures of it, and I raised a truck boy, not a train kid…

It was an odd thing for me to cover in a way that had nothing to do with the event. First, the press guy for owner Jon Delli Priscoli is my old pal Doug Pizzi, who I’ve quoted on and off over the years as he’s done press for a whole slew of people. We first met back when I was covering Marlborough, ’round about 1995. Second, my competition on the story was my former intern, Krista Perry, who now works for the Milford Daily News and Martin Luttrell from the Telegram & Gazette who, oh, around 1987 worked in the Milford bureau of the Middlesex News where I was an intern (Marty once taught me an unforgettable lesson in how to maximize gory details when he edited a story I wrote about a man who squeezed a puppy to death).  It was kind of nice to catch up with my old lives…

The following is possibly one of the odder things I’ve received from a school principal, courtesy of the Grafton Middle School email list:

Today we became aware of something called “Kick a ginger day”.
What this means is “Kick a red head day”.  And unfortunately there
were some students who thought it would be OK to participate in this
very inappropriate activity.  We became aware through students letting
teachers know and teachers letting administration know.  I wanted to
let you, as parents know about this, for a number of reasons.  First
this is a teachable moment.  Please ask your child about this, have a
family discussion about how wrong this is.  Talk with your child about
how it is never all right to treat someone in a negative way because
of the color of their hair, color of their eyes, or the color of their
skin, or any other characteristic.  Secondly Mrs. Sauter and I were
very clear to all three grade levels during lunch about the
inappropriateness of this activity and that students who participate
in this activity would be subject to very severe consequences.  And
finally, if you become aware of any information regarding situations
that occurred here to please contact me as soon as possible.  It is
important to address each instance of this behavior to ensure it does
not happen again.

I immediately, of course, launched into “teachable moment” form and marched in to confront my middle schooler.

“Tell me about ‘kick a ginger day.’”

“I had NOTHING to do with it.”

“So what happened?”

“A bunch of people sent around texts saying it was National Kick a Ginger Day. I didn’t get one. Apparently there were other days when it was hug a brunette day or something.”

“Do you know anyone with red hair who got kicked?”

“A couple people. One guy came to school with shin guards.”

“Did you kick anyone?”

“No way, mom. That’s stupid.”

Poor Mr. Lind. I can only imagine the expression on his face when he heard what the kids were up to. I think if I was a middle school principal, I’d spend a good part of my day huddled in the office alternately laughing hysterically or screaming in frustration.

Oh, and it’s apparently based on “South Park.” Here’s a YouTube video from 2008, when Canadian kids celebrated “Kick a Ginger Day.”

I have images, courtesy of SMMA, the project architects, of all the site plans and schematic designs, in a gallery on GraftonTimes.com. They’re all clickable so you can make ‘em bigger to peer at details. It’s better, of course, to actually look at the things at a public meeting, where there are generally architects to actually explain things, but this will have to suffice as the next best thing.

I was surprised, at the last meeting, to hear both School Building Committee members and the Grafton Education Alliance note that they are still talking to people who have absolutely no idea that the high school is NOT a done deal… and then there was a complaint that people just aren’t able to get information about the project.

Hello? Where are they looking? Clearly, it’s not GraftonTimes.com, where I’ve been writing about it constantly. Why aren’t they going to meetings, or calling town officials or doing something besides saying “huh, I’d sure like to know more about that.”

So, let’s recap:

• There is a 900-student high school proposed for Providence Road, between the current GHS and the Municipal Center.
• We do not have a project cost at the current time, but the figure they threw out for construction costs back in August was over $63 million.
• The school still requires a 2/3 vote from Town Meeting, which will likely be held in January. Building the school will require a Prop. 2 1/2 override or debt exclusion.
• A townwide ballot vote is required after that. That will be a simple majority vote.
• The new school, as opposed to an addition/renovation, will solve space issues systemwide. Grades 9-12 will go to the new high school, Grades 7-8 move to the old high school, Grades 5-6 go to Grafton Middle School and the remaining grades will be redistributed in the three elementary schools.
• I’m not going to get more specific about the elementary grades because there are a lot of variables, among them full-day kindergarten, which Grafton does not currently have.
• How is this going to affect your property tax bill? Figures are not yet available.

The Grafton Education Alliance has a FAQ on their website and is hosting neighborhood meetings to discuss the new school.

Questions! When you have them, ask them instead of complaining you have no idea what’s going on!

Maybe Lt. Gov. Tim Murray isn’t a morning person. Or maybe someone carrying a reporter’s notebook was seen kicking his puppy. But yikes, the man seemed a bit bitter this morning at the otherwise cheery Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony.

I was there, of course, for the Grafton angles (yay award winners Ken Crater and Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine!) and the breakfast (which also served as the previous night’s dinner thanks to my Tuesday load of dance class and Board of Selectmen). Murray was the keynote speaker.

I usually find the former Worcester mayor all gung-ho when he speaks locally but he seemed to be on a bit of a tirade against the media always focusing on the negative. Which, sheesh, I don’t take especially personally, given my role as the hyper-local reporterbabe who rarely ventures outside of Grafton’s borders — but how often can you really start a sentence with “and you didn’t hear about this in the media, but…”

I’m not quite sure at what he expected to get out of it. Sympathy? A crowd ready to attack the nearest person with a notebook? A vow to swear off newspapers?

I wasn’t the only one looking a bit perplexed, although I’m sure more than a few people were thinking “Media? Like newspapers? I don’t read a newspaper. I don’t watch TV news. Should I be Googling this?”

Why so glum, Tim?

Want to take a look at what the new Grafton High School will look like?

There are other drawings, and a site layout, and a story about what’s coming up next for the proposed school over at the subscription-free GraftonTimes.com.

The most interesting bit of information for me tonight (technically last night, but I still haven’t gone to bed yet) was a date: Jan. 25. That’s the possible date for the Town Meeting that is the first step toward making this building a reality. Then we’d have a follow-up ballot vote, which would be around Feb. 15. Tim made a comment about the potential for a second ballot vote if it doesn’t pass the first time around and… ack, don’t even want to think about it!

Of course, my dad could tell you chapter and verse about school building votes gone horribly wrong. I was supposed to attend “Bellingham Middle School,” a building that was actually approved but then was overturned by, if I remember correctly, a last-minute amendment at Town Meeting. I’m a little vague on the specifics, outside of the outstanding artwork I created for Bellingham’s SOS (Save Our School) campaign.

For the record, can we please not use “SOS” in whatever campaign ends up getting launched for a new high school? Merci!

Apparently not satisfied with the success of the Grafton Farmers Market, our friend Michael is at it again — he’s now plotting to set up a Grafton Community Garden.

What’s a community garden? Basically, it’s land divided up into plots for residents to try their hand at gardening.  If you don’t have the yard space or desire to dig up your lawn, it would provide a place for you to plant your veggies or flowers or whatever (no, nothing illegal). Gardening skills are not required and I imagine there will be some kind of educational component involved.

There will be a preliminary meeting on Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m. in Conference Room B of the Municipal Center. For more information, contact  Michael at urban_michael2002@yahoo.com. Or ask questions here, rumor is he reads this site…