Garden Hose

An Anne Arundel County police officer and several residents of a neighborhood south of Annapolis apparently saved a man's life when they sprayed water into his burning car, where he was trapped after driving through several back yards, fire officials said yesterday . John Salvail, 56, of Annapolis, who suffered first- and second-degree burns to his legs, arms and back, was in critical condition last night at Washington Hospital Center, hospital officials...

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blakekeeps throwing this Baltimore Grand Prix event against the wall until it sticks ("New Grand Prix team announced," May 11). Like the long-defunct Baltimore Claws and the Baltimore Skipjacks, perhaps the race just not meant to become a Charm City sporting fixture. But don't let my anti-Grand Prix opinion (shared by many others) hinder your efforts. You just keep trying to pass that watermelon through the garden hose, Madame Mayor. Patrick R. Lynch, Nottingham

A Manchester volunteer firefighter, who was close to a burning house when he heard the alarm, held the fire at bay with a garden hose until reinforcements arrived yesterday."

A pair of Chesapeake Bay Foundation employees left Annapolis Saturday morning on a 1,300-mile journey through the six states in the bay's watershed — by bicycle. John Rodenhausen and Beth McGee will attempt to ride through the 64,000-square-mile watershed, which stretches to Cooperstown, N.Y., and as far west as the Shenandoah Valley, to raise money for the Bay Foundation. They will spend their first night in southern Pennsylvania, pedal to New York and circle back through western Pennsylvania, then to Virginia and return via the Eastern Shore over the next three weeks.

WASHING windows the usual way, with ladders, rags and buckets, is not my idea of recreation. But squirting them with water from a hose is. You get to pretend you're a fireman, drilling your target with a stream of water.Now thanks to a window- washing gizmo that you hook to your garden hose, you can spray your residence under the guise of performing a household chore.The gizmo is called Windex Outdoor. It is a jug of cleaning solution that attaches to a garden hose.We have some windows on the second floor of our house which, I suspect, haven't seen soap since some time after the Civil War, when the house was built.

A Ford Taurus was set on fire about midnight yesterday in Westminster. A neighbor who spotted the flames helped to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose, the state fire marshal's office said. The fire caused about $1,000 damage to the exterior of the 1997 Taurus, owned by Absolute Relocation Service Inc. It was parked in the first block of Glen Oak Court, according to investigators. Anyone with information is asked to call the state fire marshal's office at 410-875-5450 or the Arson Hotline at 800-492-7529.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blakekeeps throwing this Baltimore Grand Prix event against the wall until it sticks ("New Grand Prix team announced," May 11). Like the long-defunct Baltimore Claws and the Baltimore Skipjacks, perhaps the race just not meant to become a Charm City sporting fixture. But don't let my anti-Grand Prix opinion (shared by many others) hinder your efforts. You just keep trying to pass that watermelon through the garden hose, Madame Mayor. Patrick R. Lynch, Nottingham

Around the house* When eating steamed crabs or barbecued chicken, keep a supply of baby wipes nearby to clean hands.* Store coffee beans in an air-tight container in the freezer up to three months. Refrigerated beans can be stored from three to four weeks.* Paint ends of curtain rods with colorless nail polish. This will avoid snagging sheer curtains when threading them onto the rods.* Clean high chair. Take outside and wash off food spots with soapy sponge; rinse with garden hose.In the yard* Make a quick sand box for your toddler.

Lightning caused a fire that forced an Eldersburg family of four out of its home early Sunday, Deputy State Fire Marshal Allen Ward said yesterday.The fire, which was discovered shortly before 6 a.m., apparently started in the basement of the home after a severe thunderstorm passed through southern Carroll.Kenneth and Nancy Wanzer and their sons, Bradley, 16, and Douglas, 14, of the 5400 block of Emerald Drive, were awakened by frequent lightning about 5:35 a.m., Mr. Ward said.The family checked for a possible lightning strike and, finding none, returned to bed.Soon, the family again was awakened by a loud explosion in the basement of the house near the edge of Liberty Reservoir, found smoke coming from the laundry and workshop area and fled outside.

Thick, choking smoke from an apartment fire at a North Baltimore seniors high-rise complex yesterday left one person dead and 13 injured and drove dozens of other elderly people out of their homes and into chilly weather, authorities said. The three-alarm fire was reported about 11:30 a.m. at the Lakeview Towers, a twin-tower complex at 717 and 727 Druid Park Lake Drive, across from Druid Lake. The injured were taken to four hospitals for burns and smoke inhalation, Fire Department spokesman Mike Maybin said.

Children are not the only ones getting toys this Christmas. At the National Aquarium in Baltimore, a room normally used to hold classes for visitors was turned yesterday into a version of Santa's workshop, in which staff members and volunteers - a few in elves' hats - made dozens of toys and gadgets to keep the aquarium's tenants occupied, focused and happy. "We'll make toys or objects for the animals that stimulate some of their natural foraging behavior," said Crystal Mumaw, a marine mammal trainer, as festive antlers bobbed on her head.

IT WAS A hose-down day, one of the sultry sort that typify summer in Maryland. To reward myself for my sweaty garden labors, I treated myself to a shot of hose water. First, I let the stream of cold water wash my neck and face. Then, in a ritual that has been a part of my summers since I was a boy, I took a long sloppy drink of water gushing from the end of the hose. Later, when I researched hoses, I learned this could be considered mildly risky behavior. There could have been some chance that water standing in the hose contained potentially unhealthy levels of lead and other chemicals that leached through the walls of the hose.

AROUND HERE, March is a "tweener," a month that falls between real winter and authentic spring. In March, you are not sure whether you should haul the garden hose and trowel into the back yard, or stay holed up inside the house, planning and pining. Over the span of a few days, you often end up doing both. Last week's unusually warm weather had winter-weary masses streaming into the sunshine, peeling off clothes, pretending it was May. Next week, reports warn, there is a chance of snow showers.

FRENCHTOWN -- You live here on purpose. You might arrive in Frenchtown by accident or invitation, but you stay for a reason. Watermen, boat captains, maybe a writer, maybe an artist, live in homes straight out of a fish-and-stream novel or midlife-crisis dream. Something in your personality (what could it be?) fits the place. Or maybe you just like the way you feel on Tangier Sound. You feel you can -- what? Fish? Garden? Write? Paint? Be yourself? Chris Clarke lives in Frenchtown with his wife, Iris.

Thick, choking smoke from an apartment fire at a North Baltimore seniors high-rise complex yesterday left one person dead and 13 injured and drove dozens of other elderly people out of their homes and into chilly weather, authorities said. The three-alarm fire was reported about 11:30 a.m. at the Lakeview Towers, a twin-tower complex at 717 and 727 Druid Park Lake Drive, across from Druid Lake. The injured were taken to four hospitals for burns and smoke inhalation, Fire Department spokesman Mike Maybin said.

An Anne Arundel County police officer and several residents of a neighborhood south of Annapolis apparently saved a man's life when they sprayed water into his burning car, where he was trapped after driving through several back yards, fire officials said yesterday . John Salvail, 56, of Annapolis, who suffered first- and second-degree burns to his legs, arms and back, was in critical condition last night at Washington Hospital Center, hospital officials...

Two elderly residents of a West Baltimore rowhouse died yesterday evening in an intense fire that consumed the interior of their home in the 2500 block of W. Fayette St. as a neighbor tried to fight the flames with a garden hose.A third resident, an elderly woman who suffered smoke inhalation, was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.The identities of the house's occupants were not released.Battalion Chief Hector L. Torres, a Fire Department spokesman, said the two-story brick house was filled with flames when firefighters arrived at 7: 17 p.m. The flames leaped out of the second-floor windows and jumped to the adjoining house to the east.

As you are probably aware, South Florida recently experienced a bad hurricane. So today, as a South Florida homeowner, I want to review some of the lessons I learned from this experience -- lessons that I believe can be useful not only in hurricanes, but in other natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and children's birthday parties.The most important precaution, for a homeowner facing a natural disaster, is:1. Sell your house before the natural disaster occurs.Trust me, this simple step will save you a lot of trouble.

A Silver Spring pest control firm was charged yesterday with a felony violation of the federal Clean Water Act in connection with a pesticide spill in Rock Creek that killed up to 150,000 fish last year. Pied Piper Pest Control Inc. was charged after an investigation into a May 17, 2000, spill of cypermethrin -- a pesticide used to kill termites and other insects -- from a company truck into a parking lot, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Along with the company, criminal investigators with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency charged the firm's owner, Martin Ira Rhode, 47, of Brookeville, Montgomery County, and an employee, Charles Lewis Thomas III, 49, of Berwyn Heights, Prince George's County, with misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act. According to court papers, the pesticide was spilled as a worker replaced a pump on a truck.

A Ford Taurus was set on fire about midnight yesterday in Westminster. A neighbor who spotted the flames helped to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose, the state fire marshal's office said. The fire caused about $1,000 damage to the exterior of the 1997 Taurus, owned by Absolute Relocation Service Inc. It was parked in the first block of Glen Oak Court, according to investigators. Anyone with information is asked to call the state fire marshal's office at 410-875-5450 or the Arson Hotline at 800-492-7529.