Becky Cairns

Our thoughts turn to fuzzy varmints and spring as Groundhog Day approaches, but there's also the notion of second chances lurking in the shadows.

We can't help it. Ever since the 1993 "Groundhog Day" film etched Bill Murray's anguish of living the same day over and over again in our brains, that idea is inevitably linked to the yearly appearance of weathercaster Punxsutawney Phil.

And we naturally wonder, what if we could have a do-over? A real chance at redoing an event or decision in our lives -- perhaps for a different outcome, or maybe just for the simple joy of reliving it?

From mending broken friendships to staying out of debt, nine Top of Utah residents shared the things they'd most like to do over.

SOUTH OGDEN -- Wow, get a load of who's hanging out in Paul Turley's basement.

Hello, Mr. Presley, and you, too, Thomas Jefferson. Pleased to make your acquaintance Princess Jasmine, Captain Jack Sparrow and Dino the dinosaur.

Celebrities, cartoon characters and historical figures alike have taken up residence in one room of this South Ogden house -- and they're PEZ dispensers, every one.

You could drive to San Francisco to find out more about PEZ -- or you could just take off for humble Erda, Utah.

The International PEZ Museum of Erda is located just north of Tooele in Brent Beazer's home, where dispensers galore line the walls of an office/exercise room.

Oh Christmas house, oh Christmas house,

How lovely are your lights.

In red and green and blue and orange,

Twinkling through the nights.

* * * *

It's a lovely holiday image, isn't it? Or does this revised carol sound more like your perfect holiday nightmare?

Yank down that multicolored mess of electrification, you cry. String up clear lights instead, strand after strand of pure whiteness shining along the eaves.

What's a missile doing in the middle of Santa's North Pole home?

To a state where quilting is as common as red punch and butter mints at a wedding reception comes Jennifer Chiaverini and her new novel "The Wedding Quilt."

In its pages we meet Caroline McClure, about to be married and dreaming of a made-with-love wedding quilt to celebrate her big day. How -- or if -- Caroline's wish comes true unfolds in this 18th book of Chiaverini's popular Elm Creek Quilts series.

As sure as pumpkins are turning orange and leaves are fading to gold, the shrieks and screams pierce the autumn air.

Can you hear them, rattling out of the dark and vacant building sitting just off the busy highway? Or listen -- what's that unearthly noise, drifting out of the shadows of the murky swamp?

Sounds like another haunting season is under way in the Top of Utah -- monsters and zombies are back on the prowl after months of rest in their cobwebbed hideaways.

The scares are out there for 2011 in a myriad of forms, from indoor and outdoor haunted attractions to the puzzling -- and spooky -- configurations of numerous corn mazes.

We caught up with three local haunters for a peek at the season ahead: Andy Wilson and Sean Murray are newcomers to the Top of Utah, opening the Carnival of Chaos on Riverdale Road; Bill McCalmant manages the Haunted Hollow, a long-standing West Haven attraction getting back in action after floodwaters hit earlier this year.