Glass Doors

The Oakland Mills home of a renowned violinist got caught in cross-fire Friday night, sending the young Russian musician scrambling to save his beloved instrument, a 1721 Grancino violin.Emil Chudnovsky, 28, said he was watching television in his first-floor apartment in the 9600 block of White Acre Road after performing at two concerts when he heard a bullet shattersliding glass doors."It sounded like a firecracker hitting the bottom of a tin barrel," he said yesterday. "I quickly realized that when the glass shattered, anyone could run in and grab my violin."

Jay Dackman's Canton home is bright, open, contemporary and directly on the waterfront at the Anchorage Marina. The three-story, six-level brick townhouse is filled with framed puzzles of Impressionist masterpieces, hung as they are completed by the 54-year-old attorney and real estate investor. In addition to the puzzles, a hobby which Dackman says relaxes him after a busy day, he revels in the whimsical collectibles placed on every wall and in most corners of his 2,000-square-foot interior.

A man brandishing a knife threatened pedestrians and authorities in the Inner Harbor yesterday before he was subdued outside the Gallery at Harborplace, police said.Two officers suffered minor injuries, including one who was hit by flying glass when a fellow officer's gunshots shattered the two outer front doors of the Gallery, at South Calvert and Pratt streets.Police said the incident began about 6 p.m. outside the World Trade Center, in the 400 block of E. Pratt St., where the unidentified man was sprayed with the chemical irritant Mace by Maryland Port Authority police officer.

A man fatally shot by a Baltimore County police officer Sunday through a closed glass storm door had charged at the officer while brandishing a large knife after his girlfriend told a 911 operator that he was "fixing to get someone hurt," authorities said. Officers had also been told that the man was suicidal and his girlfriend had told dispatchers that the "first person who comes near him will get stabbed. " "He was a very dangerous individual," said police spokeswoman Elise Armacost, who quoted from a transcript of the emergency call to blunt criticism from witnesses who called the shooting unjustified.

I like to burn my fireplace, but it cools my house more than heats it. I cannot afford a new efficient fireplace. What can I do to make my old fireplace produce some heat yet still watch the flames?In the typical home, burning a fireplace (wood or gas logs) can actually increase utility bills rather than cut them. To make the problem worse, a fireplace continues to waste energy year-round even when it is not burning.There are several simple do-it-yourself fireplace kits andimprovements to convert it from a heat waster to a heat producer.

Baltimore County police were investigating yesterday the shooting of two people Saturday night at an Owings Mills apartment complex. About 11 p.m., someone fired a handgun through a set of sliding glass doors into a unit at Watermill Apartments in the first block of Enchanted Hills Road, police said. Victor E. Pope, 45, who was sitting in the living room about 15 feet from the glass doors, was hit in the leg and chest. Daria R. Ellis, 29, was shot in the leg, police said. Ellis was in a room adjacent to the living room.

Someone broke into a Glen Burnie home Wednesday, ransacked it and took audio equipment, cameras and two shotguns, county police said.Police said they have no witnesses to the burglary, but two neighbors gave police a description of a man who may have tried to break into their homes through rear sliding glass doors.Richard Martens Jr., 46, of the 7900 block of Parke West Drive called police shortly after 1 p.m. and told them his wife had entered their home minutes earlier and found it in disarray.

Nearly 100 years ago, the garage was "invented" by turning carriage houses into places for cars instead of horses and buggies. Now technology and science have advanced the style of garage doors to their trendiest pinnacle to look like ... Carriage houses. Yes, garage-door design has come full circle. Of course the carriage-house look is only one popular style these days. You can find designs ranging from the traditional to the contemporary, made from wood, aluminum, glass, steel, even vinyl.

Jay Dackman's Canton home is bright, open, contemporary and directly on the waterfront at the Anchorage Marina. The three-story, six-level brick townhouse is filled with framed puzzles of Impressionist masterpieces, hung as they are completed by the 54-year-old attorney and real estate investor. In addition to the puzzles, a hobby which Dackman says relaxes him after a busy day, he revels in the whimsical collectibles placed on every wall and in most corners of his 2,000-square-foot interior.

Q: We'll soon be moving to a condo, and that will mean changing the style of our furnishings. The biggest problem is what to do with a fairly large living room that has sliding glass doors along its longest wall. With the exception of a 10-foot-by-12-foot corner across from the glass doors, there's no available wall space wider than four feet. How are we going to arrange our new furniture? And what sort of pieces would make the most sense in this setting?A: Because the room is fairly large, some of the furniture can be placed elsewhere than against the walls.

In the wake of the recent earthquake ("A tremor in the psyche," Aug 24), I asked people about their initial thoughts on what caused the shaking and swaying. My father thought he was having a stroke. My mother thought it was a truck rumbling by her office. Having served four years of active duty with the U.S. Navy, stationed in the Washington Navy Yard on September 11, 2001, I thought it was a terrorist attack. These generational and location oriented responses led me to my next question, which was what are you supposed to do in an earthquake and what are you supposed to do during and after an explosion.

Local motorists bored with their Mercedes, BMW or Bentley have one place to go around here where someone will listen to such troubles without judgment, without even a snicker. At Maryland's only Maserati dealer, they understand. On York Road in Timonium, of all places, across from Bagel Works and next to Timonium Animal Hospital, Jack Davis, the general manager, and salesman Alfred Ramos hear the stories of men, and even the occasional woman, in pursuit of something ... something ... else.

Nearly 100 years ago, the garage was "invented" by turning carriage houses into places for cars instead of horses and buggies. Now technology and science have advanced the style of garage doors to their trendiest pinnacle to look like ... Carriage houses. Yes, garage-door design has come full circle. Of course the carriage-house look is only one popular style these days. You can find designs ranging from the traditional to the contemporary, made from wood, aluminum, glass, steel, even vinyl.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - No moat, no battlements, no portcullis defend the house in the new Olathe, Kan., subdivision. But in lots of less-than-obvious ways, the house will be more like a castle than the average new dwelling. Features from a basement "safe room" to high-mounted floodlights are designed to thwart burglars and make the house a modern suburban stronghold. "We want people to say, `Where's the stuff at?'" said homebuilder Dave Allen, who is putting up the house along with business partner Ron Olberding in the Foxfield Village subdivision.

Having grown up in a Tudor-style rowhouse in Original Northwood, Jonathan Bandell knew the neighborhood well. Particularly a house a mere two doors from his parents - having lugged groceries there when he was a kid. So when the owner, an 88-year-old widow, decided it was time to leave her home of 50 years, she picked up the phone and called Bandell's mother, inquiring if she knew anyone who would be interested in buying the house. Of course, the buyer would have to be a good fit for the neighborhood, as well as someone devoted to taking care of the house.

Baltimore County police were investigating yesterday the shooting of two people Saturday night at an Owings Mills apartment complex. About 11 p.m., someone fired a handgun through a set of sliding glass doors into a unit at Watermill Apartments in the first block of Enchanted Hills Road, police said. Victor E. Pope, 45, who was sitting in the living room about 15 feet from the glass doors, was hit in the leg and chest. Daria R. Ellis, 29, was shot in the leg, police said. Ellis was in a room adjacent to the living room.

Q: We're unsure of what to do with a wall consisting mostly of sliding-glass panels. They open onto a terrace in the seaside condo we recently purchased. The glass doors don't reach all the way to the top of the wall, resulting in a low-ceiling look. Other than traverse curtains, which we don't like, do you have a suggestion?A: Several kinds of shades would be appropriate for a seaside setting. They could be hung from the ceiling and be adjusted to any height.But because of the expanse of the sliding doors, more than a single shade will probably be required.

County police are awaiting autopsy results to determine the exact cause of death of a 64-year-old Riva man whose car smashed into a tree yesterday in Davidsonville.Police said Robert Francis Petrillo of the 2700 block of Gingerview Lane may have had a heart attack and passed out while he was driving his 1992 Chevrolet Caprice west on Riva Road shortly before 8 a.m.Mr. Petrillo's car began weaving in the road, then drifted onto the right shoulder and hit a tree, police said. But the car was not damaged significantly and there was no evidence of any skid or scuff marks prior to the collision.

The Oakland Mills home of a renowned violinist got caught in cross-fire Friday night, sending the young Russian musician scrambling to save his beloved instrument, a 1721 Grancino violin.Emil Chudnovsky, 28, said he was watching television in his first-floor apartment in the 9600 block of White Acre Road after performing at two concerts when he heard a bullet shattersliding glass doors."It sounded like a firecracker hitting the bottom of a tin barrel," he said yesterday. "I quickly realized that when the glass shattered, anyone could run in and grab my violin."

Call it premonition. It was 1989 and John and Kathy McQueeny were building a custom home on Kent Island. The setting couldn't be more idyllic -- 24 acres accessed by a long drive winding through a wooded area and around three 1-acre ponds and then opening to spacious fields running down to water's edge.The home, a 4,500 square-foot, two-story brick traditional, sited to take maximum advantage of a panoramic view of the Chesapeake Bay, was nearly complete. All the McQueenys needed was an address.