When Alex Wilson saw the mural on the Muddy Creek Animal Hospital, a light bulb went off in his head. What a way to advertise his marina!     Up close, he saw the signatures of Southern High students, so he called the school to see if they would do the same for him.     Yes, said art teacher Michael Bell, who chose Cat Allen to organize a team and design the Bridge Marina mural.

If your approach to historic tourism is the closer the better, here you go, with deluxe comfort and rare opportunity.     Calvert Marine Museum is now booking both sides of the Cove Point Lighthouse Keepers’ House for seven-, four- or three-day overnight rentals.     It’s the only lighthouse in the Mid-Atlantic where you can sleep over.

Your trash isn’t going to waste. It’s keeping your lights on.     Instead of burning off the methane gas produced by decomposing waste, Millersville Landfill now converts the gas into electricity and sends it on to the national power grid, lowering the county’s carbon footprint.     The methane used to be burned off in a fiery plume.     The switch is not only green but also a revenue producer for the county.

An unfinished sailboat. Maybe some bones? That’s what the neighbors of the new Westgate Circle sculpture guessed it to be. They’re not far off.     The sculpture is five 18-foot-long curved wooden ribs lined up diagonally. It is supposed to represent a deteriorating sunken sailboat. Or the skeletal remains of a whale. It’s called Shoal.

“Books are easy for people to contribute, and we wanted to become closer not only with our patients but also our community,” said Ann-Marie Sedor of the new partnership between The Pediatric Group and the Rotary Club of Parole.     Through August, the practice is collecting books for children of all ages at its offices in Crofton, Davidsonville and Severna Park (www.pediatricgroup.com).

Calvert County is taking the lead in helping citizens and developers figure out how they’re affected by Maryland’s new law restricting residential development served by septic systems.     For the Chesapeake watershed, the Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act of 2012 helps reduce pollution and meet federal Clean Water Act limits on pollutants reaching waterways.     Closer to home, it means the geography in the watershed controls where development goes by way of what sewerage system is legal.

If you live in Anne Arundel County you’ve got a job to do.     Unless you want our quality of life, and environmental future, to go down the tubes.     On the latest green report card, Anne Arundel County leaders — the guys you voted into office in 2012 — got very bad grades.

Forty-two years in, and your life’s work earns an F.     That’s how long it’s been since Bernie Fowler took on the establishment to stand up for the Patuxent River, suing the state of Maryland and the federal government to “do what they ought to be doing: put a plan together to upgrade our river.”     You and I might find that grade on the NOAA-University of Maryland 2011 report card discouraging. Not Bernie Fowler. He’s in for the long haul.

The smell of barbecue rising from the grills of 41 competing Kansas City Barbecue Society teams drew 12,000 people to Annapolis for Parole Rotary Club’s second annual Naptown barBAYq Contest and Music Festival.

Are you still paying attention to TMDL? Or have acronyms driven you to distraction?     We’re here to tell you there’s good news about Total Maximum Daily Loads: The big top-down plan to get every state in the Bay watershed working hard on restoration is on track and now well into Phase II.