Fire hydrants are the latest foray into public art at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons. Also the most practical, satisfying the Calvert County Commissioners’ desire for fresh paint on county hydrants.     You, by yourself or with a team, are invited “to submit designs and compete for the privilege — and fun — of painting a fire hydrant in the Solomons-Dowell community,” says Garden director Stacey Hann-Ruff.

Editor’s note: This story is true. The author goes nameless to protect the innocent.

On a recent blustery day, a thunderous crack and immediate darkness in the kitchen alerted me to a wayward limb obstructing the power lines.     Dangling from our power lines and blocking our road was the top half of a neighbor’s pine tree.     We should call someone, the gathering of alarmed neighbors agreed.     Who do you call when a tree takes a swan dive onto a public road?

On a recent trip down to my pier, I found a gaggle of interlopers monopolizing the planks and moorings. Geese. Loud, messy and surprisingly aggressive long-necked Canadas were using my pier like a roadside rest area.     I was happy they’d be on their way north in a few weeks.

Who’s The Man? He’s the guy Ted Kramer hired to draw attention to his business. The Man has been sitting, standing, lying and climbing onto the roof at ATW Hardware & Supplies on Pike Ridge Road in Edgewater for six years. So it’s a good thing The Man is made of chicken wire and foam rather than flesh and blood. In 2005, Kramer decided something was missing in his then 16-year-old business.

Maryland’s appliance rebate program, begun on April 22, will last only until the $5.4 million runs out.