You just think the mystery man is reading his paper..... but he sees all!

The latest news.....

• Bill W.'s wife is back in the hospital. Please keep them in your prayers.


• The scouts' spaghetti dinner seemed to be a success! Saw Dana, Gladys and Jack, and the Fosters there. I left before I heard who won the services of the 4 handymen in the auction.


• Congratulations to Allison on her new job at BWI! Hopefully we will see more of her now that she is working nearby again.


• Somehow our family has lost the canister from our Dyson vacuum. This means that when you turn it on, the vacuum simply sprays the dust and dirt around the room. As Bill T. commented, "Vacuuming sucks". Awaiting the replacement part.....


• Blog readers in Stockholm,Sweden; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Perth, Australia; New Delhi, India; Tirane, Albania; Quebec, Canada; Ottawa, Canada; Boise, ID; Marquette, MI; Portland, OR; Colorado springs, CO; and Miami, FL.


• Where is John with Sam's canine greeters, Bosco and Sugar? Hope all is well.

Blue Ribbons on Frederick Road

Bill T. asked me about all of the blue ribbons turning up recently. For more information, go to Craig's blog at http://whatsgoingoncatonsville.blogspot.com/.

You may have noticed the dozens of Baby Blue Ribbons that are tied to the fronts of businesses along Frederick Rd. and homes throughout the surrounding community. These purpose of these ribbons, is to call attention to and show support for a wonderful family that lives here in Catonsville and comfort them during this terrible time.

Scott and Amy Morses' four month old son, Jeremy, was hospitalized on 4/1/08. While in the ER to treat dehydration, Jeremy went into cardiac arrest and was placed on life support.

Please see www.morselawmd.com/Jeremy.html for permanent postings of information and events about Jeremy, like the upcoming blood drives, donation information, etc.

A Message from Scott & Amy:

What began as a visit to alleviate dehydration and to rule out any complications as a precaution, quickly changed to our worst nightmare. Jeremy went into cardiac arrest for one hour and was placed on an ECMO machine for life support. Looking back we are thankful to have had the insight to bring him to Hopkins where he has received the best care in the world. Jeremy has been held in the palm of the Lord's hand, he has the best medical team, and the love and support of so many. Jeremy has survived the first 48 hours post cardiac arrest and as of now we have been asked to take it one minute, one hour, one challenge at a time. Anything can happen, but we choose to remain hopeful that he WILL survive. Please pray for our son and share our story with as many people as you can. We know the Lord will hear our prayers. We know that Jeremy's life is in his hands.

JEREMY'S PAGE

This is a temporary page dedicated to my critically ill son, Jeremy Morse, with information about contacts and events.
For more information about Jeremy, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/jeremymorse.

We are incredibly appreciative and thankful of all of the love, care, support, and encouragement of family, friends, and strangers, who are supporting us through this very difficult time!

Cinco de Mayo

Operation Welcome Home

(Submitted by Glenn)

Check their website for pictures and updates at http://www.operationwelcomehomemd.org/

May 3, 2008
OWH Friends: We hope you are enjoying the beautiful Spring weather. You will find below the May 2008 schedule for Operation Welcome Home. For those who attended events in April, there was a pattern of flights coming in an hour or two early. We adjusted the time of arrival for volunteers, but often, the troops were walking through the doors just as volunteers were arriving. The most important thing is that the soldiers got home safely, but we do not want you to miss out on any of the excitement. If you plan to attend an event, please be sure to check the OWH hotline (410-630-1555) to see if the time of arrival has changed. We monitor the flights and will post updates on the hotline. May 17th is Armed Forces Day, and we plan to have an event that day. What a perfect day to turn out and show our respect and appreciation for our heroes! Bring your family, a friend, or a neighbor. Let’s make this a big event! Thank you again for all of your hard work. Operation Welcome Home is all about our troops, but we could not do this without the volunteers who show up at the airport. We look forward to seeing you at one of the events in May!
Very truly yours,
John Flynn and Kathy Thorp Co-Chairmen

Tuesday, May 6 - 4:00 p.m. - Ken and Lisa Funk
Tuesday, May 13 - 3:15 p.m. - Duke and Jean Case
Saturday, May 17 (Armed Forces Day) - 9:45 a.m. - John Flynn and Kathy Thorp
Wednesday, May 21 - 12:45 p.m. - Bob and Arlise Cianelli
Saturday, May 31 - 6:45 p.m. - Bill and Debby Poteet

From a soldier “I just want to also say that moment will stick with me for the rest of my life. I had not felt such a sense of pride and glorious moment since becoming a Navy Chief 3 years ago. Becoming a Chief and graduating boot camp are the only 2 times before this that I had felt such pride. Of course there have been several proud and wonderful moments throughout my 16 year career, but this will definitely stick with me. The homecomings to family and friends are always so very special and proud moments and are often unmatched and I rank this WELCOME HOME as that kind of special. I was so excited and for lack of a better word shocked that so many strangers would come out and welcome us home and show their support it literally brought tears to my eyes when I was telling my wife and mom about it over the phone that night as I had to wait there in Baltimore one more day before returning home. You all made this a very special and unforgettable Homecoming. Please pass to all your friends my appreciation. Your dedication and taking time from your lives to spend time with us on this day and countless others shows such a great and deep appreciation. Please continue in this effort and continue to keep the men and women who serve in your thoughts and prayers until everyone comes home. Thank you so much!!”

Don't forget, spaghetti dinner at St. John's Sunday night, May 4 (see earlier post)

This beautiful photo was taken yesterday in Tokyo. The fields are planted with different colored phlox as far as the eye can see.

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FYI: STROKE IDENTIFICATION

Here's your Sam's public service announcement. Maybe one of us could save a life, it could happen!

STROKE:
Remember the 1st Three Letters.... S.T.R.

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little
fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call
paramedics) .....she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of
food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying
herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed
away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke,perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this.
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke
victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...
totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized,
diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours,
which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps,
STR . Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to
identify. Unfortunately,the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke
victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to
recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke
by asking three simple questions,

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.

T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today)

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the
person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes
to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks,
call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

Happy May Day

Birthdays and Caches

Happy Birthday to Harold's Mom, Ann, on the 29th and our Las Vegas friend, Tom, on May 1!

A joyful Doug celebrates with a treat from Andrea. April 30th is the big day! So far, gift suggestions have included a pair of pants, a compact mirror, shoes, a ten-pack of reading glasses, a new wallet, a pocket knife, and a rocking chair.

Found this MICRO cache in the Patapsco Valley State Park on Sunday.

OK, folks, it there is good weather on Saturday morning, please join me for some local geocaching after breakfast. It shouldn't take too long.There are three caches hidden within a few blocks of Sam's. Wear comfortable shoes; all of these are close to the road. Now I found the tiny container above after hiking 1 1/2 miles into the woods......but the one hidden by Friendly's eludes me. So Max and Zack, I need your expert help!

If the Chairs Are Rocking, Don't Come Knocking

• Doug came in and we sang an early happy birthday to him. He had a surprise party last night at Nick's Seafood. One of his gifts was a book called "Sex After Fifty"; Doug said all of its pages were blank.
  
  
• When Jack heard the word sex, he looked up and said "What?". Gladys said that at their age, now they sit in their rocking chairs on the front porch and just reminisce about sex. Don said now that he knows this, he'll check to see how fast they are rocking when he drives by their house. Bill decided that he needs to go buy some rocking chairs for his house. Jack offered his chairs to anyone who wishes to come and rock with them! Jean remarked that Don's legs were bouncing too close to her throughout this conversation......Don said all the talk about rocking chair sex had him excited. Sue thought that maybe Gladys should put out rocking chairs on the parade route this year instead of folding chairs. Gladys reported that she always sits with Phil Schubert at the parade, not Jack! We all decided that we will never look at rocking chairs in the same way.

• Glenn heard about the silent auction for the services for four men for four hours. Said he would like to get in touch with his feminine side, so he plans to bid on this item too.

Guess Who's Turning 50 on April 30th?

If you see Doug, wish him the Big 5-0! Group gift of cutlery, anyone?

Bill's Excellent Adventure

• Bill T. has lived to tell the tale of his weekend stay at the Bavarian Inn. (The Inn was reportedly lovely, and Bill raved about the curried chicken salad on the Sunday buffet). However, he went canoeing, sharing the canoe with his son's father-n-law. (The mothers-in-law got to gamble at Charlestown instead). Everything was going well until the wind picked up, sending waves into the canoe. Bill said it looked like the river was flowing upstream! His rowing partner took a faceful of water and had to stop rowing, which brought the canoe around. Bill knew they were going to capsize. It was scary because he couldn't touch bottom, and his life preserver didn't have the bottom strap to prevent it from floating in his face. So Bill was trying to hold onto the canoe, keep breathing with the life preserver around his face and neck, and make it to shore. He became calm once his feet could touch the bottom. They got to shore, called the canoe rental folks for a ride and called it a day. Bill said when the canoe folks came to paddle home, the wind had died down and the river was smooth again. What's with these trips that suddenly make you face life and death? Glad you are OK!

• New blog readers in: Lisbon, Portugal; Warsaw, Poland; Liverpool, England; Paris, France; Bangkok, Thailand; Rome, Italy; Naples, Italy; Salisbury, MD; Hartford, CN; Fresno, CA; Littleton, CO; Harrisburg, PA; Boise, ID; Princeton, NJ; Fallstown, MD; Plainfield, IL; Ft. Drum, NY; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Dublin, Ireland; Nashport, OH; Stillwater, MN; Kemp Mill, MD; Pasadena, MD; and the District of Columbia. It doesn't matter how you land on the blog or how long you linger....I count your pin in the map! Isn't it curious how many people stumble across our blog? Imagine how many visitors we might get if I wrote anything of importance! (And no, Glenn, I am not going to write about politics, still think you should write a political blog)

Spaghetti Dinner May 4th

Jeff will serve spaghetti instead of pancakes

• There will be a spaghetti dinner on Sunday, May 4th, from 4 to 8 pm at St. John's Church at the intersection of Wilkens Avenue and S. Rolling Road. The cost is $5 per person, $15 per family. The event includes a silent auction. One of the items up for grabs is to have four men at your disposal. Jeff will be one of the men; Jean and Gladys plan to win this and have two men apiece! Jeff must mean it when he said he would do anything for the Scouts!

• This morning it seemed as if the gang were divided into two tables. Doug said there was a line drawn down the middle that couldn't be crossed. Luckily, my side had restroom access!

• Bill W's wife, Barbara, remains in intensive care. Please keep her in your thoughts. We found out that the Hershey man, while still hospitalized, is also hanging in there. In a really strange twist of fate, when Harold returned to work there was a proposal for him to consult with the Derry Fire Department, which serves the town of Hershey, PA. The proposal was written before our eventful evening. Weird, huh?

• I will be at Sam's tomorrow between 8-9 if anyone has old electonics, computers, etc. to recycle. I am taking them to Towson for another Scout troop fundraiser.

• Five Oaks Community sale is also tomorrow morning, tables are $20.

• Have a great weekend!

Dolly Parton's Backwoods Barbie Concert and The Meaning of Life

Scent of cherry blossoms in 75 degree weather

Tulips everywhere

At the Hershey Gardens

Tulips at the Hershey Hotel

Did you ever have a 24-hour period that had such emotion packed into it that it seemed so much more than a single day? Well, yesterday was such a day. Harold and I were looking forward to an overnight trip to Hershey to see Dolly Parton perform. The trip was rescheduled from March 4th, our actual anniversary, after Dolly injured her back.

Anyway, Harold had a liver biopsy last week to check his liver status since it has been five years since he was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis. We got the news that the preliminary findings were good, no additional damage to his liver. Yeah!

Then Harold went to the dermatologist yesterday morning to have a wart removed from his arm. Surprise! The doctor felt certain it was actually squamous cell carcinoma, although biopsy results are needed to confirm the diagnosis. The lesion was as large as a dime and the doctor removed it, hopefully all of it. Harold has to return in three weeks to have several other suspicious lesions removed from his hands. The cancer is probably the result of sun exposure with his fair skin combined with his compromised immune system. If the cancer was caught early enough and it hasn't spread, the prognosis is excellent. It is curable in 90-95 % of all cases. Still, any cancer is always scary.

So off to Hershey we went....it was truly a magnificant spring day. We had a lovely meal at the cafe in the Hershey Hotel, a nap, then off to the Hershey Theater to see Dolly. The show was sold out, and there was a long line of people waiting to enter. Harold got in line and I went ahead to get the tickets at the will-call window. Didn't get too far when I saw a man light a cigarette, inhale, and fall over backward. When I saw his eyes roll back, I ran back 20 yards to get Harold. By the time we got back to the man, he was still lying there and no one was actually helping. So Harold started CPR. It was only 5-6 minutes until the ambulance arrived, but it seemed much longer. When the EMT's arrived, they used the defibrillator once and the man regained consciousness. He asked Harold what had happened, then said he thought he would get up and go home. Harold told him he would need to get checked out at the hospital first. Luckily the excellent Hershey Medical Center was only a few miles away. My lasting image was of the trash left on the pavement from the emergency treatment, along with the man's cigarettes and lighter. We never learned his name, but we hope he continues to do well - and maybe gives up smoking. Two and a half years ago, a stranger performed CPR on my Dad and saved his life. Hopefully, Harold paid the favor forward in Hershey.

Finally we are at the concert, and Dolly announced that the man was OK. Good news! She put on a great show, sang for over 2 hours, and played about 15 different instruments. She has also written several thousand songs in her lifetime. Dolly told some good jokes. She thanked us for spending money to come see her, because she needed the cash. Said it takes a lot of money to look that cheap. Dolly said that she injured her back after sleeping on her stomach on a memory-foam mattress. Her husband rolled into the hole she left, and she hurt herself pulling him out! Lastly, she said someone asked her if she would ever run for President. She declined on the basis that there have already been too many boobs in the White House.

So it was a very eventful day, the kind that reminds you to make the most of every day you are given. Having the opportunity to help save someone else's life forces you to stop taking your own blessings for granted.

How The Germans Handle Speeders

Our friend, Tom, in Las Vegas, submitted this video called German ingenuity.

Earth Day 2008

I went to Home Depot after work. Our old lawn mower is broken, the grass is higher than an elephant's eye, so I decided to buy an electric mower in the spirit of Earth Day. While I was looking at mowers, someone crashed their cart into mine on purpose. Of course it was Don, no doubt dreaming of power tools, diggers and earth movers. Don said an electric mower is an old lady mower, I guess the shoe fits. It is quiet and it starts every time with the push of a switch. Anyway, the mower works great, just as long as I don't run over the electric cord! I don't know what Don bought.....he was looking to repair a swing set.

Bill W's wife, Barbara, is back in the ICU. Please keep them in your thoughts.

Check Out Hampden, Hon

Baltimore's own John Waters opens his second musical, Cry-Baby, on Broadway this week. In honor of all things Baltimore, we visited Hampden this weekend. If you haven't been lately, it's full of hometown kitsch and curiosities.

Beautiful spring blossoms

Earth Day is tomorrow, so think green

Does your bank have a flower arbor?

Crab magnets,"Holy" water bottles, make-up and more

Eat at the Cafe Hon

Where else can you buy shoes AND chocolate?

Reminder: Community Yard Sale Saturday

There will be a community yard sale sponsored by Five Oaks Swim Club on Saturday, April 26th. Table space goes for $20. Don has posted a flyer on Sam's bulletin board for more info.

Reminder: This Saturday Recycle Electronics

I don't know about the rest of you, but we have more than one old computer and stereo stored in the basement. I am so glad to have an opportunity to get rid of them safely and with a tax deduction to boot! Thanks to Pat R. fo finding this info for us. I'll be at Sam's from 8-9 am on Saturday if you want to drive out your electronics for you.

Date: Saturday, April 26, 2008
Location: Immaculate Conception Parish
Organizer: Immaculate Conception Parish, Boy Scout Troop 750, CDM Inc.
Contact name: Mike Fannon
Contact email: mike@cdmecycling.com
Contact address: 200 Ware AvenueTowson, MD 21204 http://www.immaculateconception.net/parish/directions.htm

Description: ONE DAY ONLY (Rain or shine)
This event will be hosted by Immaculate Conception Parish at 200 Ware Avenue in Towson, MD 21204
Boy Scout Troop 750 is organizing and operating this event.
Computer Donation Management (CDM) is the licensed Maryland recycling company performing the electronics reuse/recycling work. (website is at www.cdmecycling.com )

Background: computers contain hazardous but valuable materials and should be donated for reuse, dropped off at the county landfill or a recycling company, or picked up as a special bulk item with a waste hauler for a fee.

Cost: CPU's, speakers, fax machines, scanners, printers, keyboards, stereos, cell phones, mice & microwaves accepted free of charge!

$10 contribution for monitors requested; Sorry, no TVs are accepted during these collections.
The event supports a youth service project/fund raiser; tax deductible donation receipts provided.

Tax Donation: all donations support a non-profit youth service project and fund raiser.
Donation receipts will be provided for tax deduction purposes. (consult an accountant for more info)Additional information can be provided by sending an email to mike@cdmecycling.com or by calling 410-525-1400.

Directions to Immaculate Conception parish can be found at the following website: http://www.immaculateconception.net/parish/directions.htm

Memory and Disposal: erasure of data prior to donation will provide additional peace of mind, but all hard drives are either erased in compliance with the Dept of Defense 5220.22-M disk sanitizing standard or are physically destroyed during recycling operations. Collected materials are handled in an environmentally and socially responsible manner with virtually no material being land filled.

Please try to dispose of your packaging and cardboard with your normal recycling pickup program as much as possible. Thank You!

Free Movies and TV Online

Dorothy, Sue and Debbie on spring break

Alicia recommends these two sites for viewing free

TV shows and movies on your computer.

www.hulu.com - All sorts of tv and movies. Shows are directly played on hulu.

www.veoh.com- Mainly tv shows but quite a selection also all free. Shows are linked to where they may be found on the web