Attic

Flying squirrels are in our attic. I'm exhausted because they start making a racket at 2 a.m.! What can we do? They stored acorns all over. Will they eat my telephone and electrical wiring? Flying squirrels are nifty animals. You or a wildlife control service need to install a one-way opening where they are getting in, so that the squirrels can exit but cannot re-enter. If there are multiple entrances, find and plug or screen all except one with heavy gauge screening such as hardware cloth.

Bay Theatre Company in Annapolis caps its 2012-2013 season with Arthur Miller's "The Price," a play that may be among the lesser-known of his works but nonetheless strikes a nerve with contemporary audiences. Miller's rarely staged, insightful play examines two estranged brothers meeting after 16 years to sell off the household contents of their dead parents, long stored in the attic of a Manhattan brownstone that is now scheduled for demolition. Bay Theatre dubs the work "Miller's last play of note" — it came two decades after his 1947 "All My Sons" and 1949 "Death of a Salesman" — yet its subject, family dynamics, is timeless.

The Smithsonian Institution is known as America's attic. The Lacrosse Foundation could be called lacrosse's attic.Its Lacrosse Hall of Fame Museum, located in its headquarters on the Johns Hopkins University campus, has memorabilia ranging from 200-year-old Indian sticks and balls to jerseys of last year's college, club and junior champions."

Flying squirrels are in our attic. I'm exhausted because they start making a racket at 2 a.m.! What can we do? They stored acorns all over. Will they eat my telephone and electrical wiring? Flying squirrels are nifty animals. You or a wildlife control service need to install a one-way opening where they are getting in, so that the squirrels can exit but cannot re-enter. If there are multiple entrances, find and plug or screen all except one with heavy gauge screening such as hardware cloth.

SYKESVILLE — The Sykesville Gate House Museum of History is hosting a free summer family series on select Sunday afternoons on the museum grounds, 7283 Cooper Drive, Sykesville. The free hour-long programs held began last weekend, and the next will be held July 8, 2-3 p.m., wit the title, "A Confederate Soldier's Story. Visitors will hear about the Civil War from ""Sergeant Smith," a reenactor portraying a soldier with the Confederate Army. The presentation will offer an interactive discussion on uniform, weapons and what it was like serving in General Robert E. Lee's army.

Sykesville's Gate House Museum of History has always highlighted the community past, but these days visitors entering the small museum can almost feel a sense of renewal and vitality as well. The atmosphere is almost as if someone came along and — at least figuratively — cleared away the dust, clutter and cobwebs. Visitors are greeted by a new display called "Making Tracks: A Chronological History of Sykesville," which includes pictures and spiffy graphics and takes up an entire wall.

MARDELA SPRINGS -- It all started with a small stack of 140-year-old ledgers in the attic.Thomas B. Taylor recorded the sales at his village store from 1847 to 1877 -- recording in his flowing copperplate who bought cheese at 14 cents a pound, coffee at 12.5 cents a pound and cotton handkerchiefs at 12.5 cents each. The ledgers lay untouched for more than a century, until Salisbury residents Howard and Louise Adkins bought the old store building."When we bought this place in 1979, all this stuff was up in the attic and it had been up there since he put it there," Mr. Adkins said.

Q: We want to convert an attic into a large dressing room and bath with an adjacent play area for our children. Because of the roof line, much of the space is broken up by recessed, dormer-style windows and a sloping ceiling. How should we handle these odd configurations?A: Judging by the frequency with which I'm asked such questions, it seems as though every attic in America is being remodeled. I've therefore become something of an expert in how to make good use of strangely proportioned spaces.

Two men armed with a revolver broke into an Eastport home early yesterday and locked themselves in the attic during a two-hour standoff with police.Annapolis police surrounded the house in the 1300 block of Colony Drive shortly after midnight after receiving several emergency calls from neighbors who reported hearing screaming and gunshots.The homeowner, William Cook Sr., met police in the yard and told them that two men carrying a gun broke in and threatened his family, police said.When the officers identified themselves, Cook's 17-year-old daughter, Tawana, ran screaming out the front door, while the two suspects drew back from the windows, police said.

A man who broke into an Annapolis home in April in search of a safe and found himself cornered by police in an attic admitted his role in the botched robbery attempt yesterday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.Charles Ford, 21, of the 1100 block of Madison St., Annapolis, yesterday pleaded guilty to burglary, attempted armed robbery and illegal use of a handgun in the April 2 robbery attempt.Police said that Ford and Michael A. White, 21, of the 8500 block of Pioneer Drive in Severn, forced their way into the home of William Cook Sr. of the 1300 block of Colony Drive shortly after midnight.

St. Mary of the Mills' Christmas bazaar is Saturday, Nov. 3, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 114 St. Mary's Place. Shop at Granny's Attic from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Highlights include Kelley's Jellies and home-baked goods table. Enter a raffle or auction or participate in children's activities. Start off at the Christmas Cafe for a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage and more, and take a break for lunch with chicken wings, salad, nuggets, hot dogs and other foods. For information, call 301-725-3080.

Sykesville's Gate House Museum of History has always highlighted the community past, but these days visitors entering the small museum can almost feel a sense of renewal and vitality as well. The atmosphere is almost as if someone came along and — at least figuratively — cleared away the dust, clutter and cobwebs. Visitors are greeted by a new display called "Making Tracks: A Chronological History of Sykesville," which includes pictures and spiffy graphics and takes up an entire wall.

Et cetera Rare trading cards found on attic to be on display at Convention Center Approximately 700 trading cards from the 1910 era, many in pristine condition, found in an Ohio attic will be on public display for the first time when the 33rd annual National Sports Collectors Convention returns to the Baltimore Convention Center from next Wednesday to Aug. 5. In addition to the 800 exhibitors, 85 high-profile athletes will be signing autographs....

SYKESVILLE — The Sykesville Gate House Museum of History is hosting a free summer family series on select Sunday afternoons on the museum grounds, 7283 Cooper Drive, Sykesville. The free hour-long programs held began last weekend, and the next will be held July 8, 2-3 p.m., wit the title, "A Confederate Soldier's Story. Visitors will hear about the Civil War from ""Sergeant Smith," a reenactor portraying a soldier with the Confederate Army. The presentation will offer an interactive discussion on uniform, weapons and what it was like serving in General Robert E. Lee's army.

Two alleged copper thieves were arrested at Spring Grove Hospital Center on Tuesday, one after hiding for hours in the attic of an abandoned building on the Catonsville campus while police surrounded him. Dennis W. Dyer, 43, of the 8100 block of Mild Haven Road in Dundalk, climbed out of a porthole in the roof of the psychiatric hospital's Hamilton Building, which was closed and condemned in 1974, and handed himself over to state police troopers...

Turkey supper and bazaar - Sat., Oct. 1, bazaar 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. and family-style turkey supper with trimmings, 3-8 p.m., Liberty Grove United Methodist Church, near intersection of Route 198 and Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville. Bazaar: country store and bakery, attic treasures and boutique. Dinner: adults and carry-out $9, children ages 6-12 $4 and ages 5 and under free. 301-384-0444.

Every now and then nature conspires to rivet homeowners' attention on a particular maintenance problem. Heavy rains direct concern to wet basements, and this year, heavy snows, followed by thaws, followed by more snow, and so on, have people everywhere worrying about ice dams.When the syndrome was at its worst, we wrote about retrofit solutions for ice damming -- rubberized shields that cover the roof edges, heating coils that keep the ice melting. However, there's another solution to what's become a big problem in the region, said Rudy Fischer, president of Homes by Fischer, in Glen Arm."

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. -- The two children -- a 15-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother -- were caught in a local supermarket last Friday night stuffing bagels, bologna, crackers and candy into book bags and taken, terrified, to the police department on shoplifting charges."

Do those pewter candlesticks your grandmother left you date to the Civil War? Could the French armoire you nabbed cheap at the flea market be worth big bucks? If the history and mystery of antique furniture, art and such fill you with giddy delight and eBay dreams — you're not alone. Viewers across Maryland are tuning into "Chesapeake Collectibles," the new Maryland Public Television series that spotlights antiques and the often fascinating stories behind them. "Antiques are plentiful in Maryland because of the state's Colonial history," says Ken Day, the show's executive producer.

Crews shoveled charred debris and soaked piles of ashes Tuesday afternoon from a pair of historic Mt. Vernon buildings that were badly damaged in a five-alarm fire, the city's second in fewer than 12 hours. Owners of three restaurants in the brick buildings in the 800 block of North Charles Street said that they could be closed for months for repairs, following the blaze that burned for more than four hours. Several streets around Mount Vernon Place remained blocked off, a sign that the afternoon commute could be slowed for the second day in a row. A massive fire Monday afternoon in The Block, the city's red-light district, slowed traffic to a crawl.