Roost

The Village RoostWhere: Cross Keys Inn, Village of Cross KeysHours: Breakfast served 7 a.m.-11 a.m. weekdays, 7 a.m.-noon weekendsCredit cards accepted: Major credit cardsFeatures: Power breakfastNon-smoking section? YesCall: (410) 435-0101Prices: $2-$9.95*** People have been power breakfasting at the Cross Keys Inn's Village Roost for as long as I can remember. The location is convenient -- right off the Jones Falls Expressway -- and you never have to worry about parking. Seats are comfortable, the service is good, the dining rooms are reasonably quiet, and the tables are large enough to spread out your papers for a working breakfast.

Ravens Roost 88 thanks the generous donors who supported our bull and oyster roast fundraiser Sept. 24, including Captain Defense in full uniform and the Ravens Marching Band. Ace Automotive, Bare Bones, Bertamini's Hair Salon, Café D'Roma, Candlelight Inn, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Catonsville Hair Co., and Diamondback Tavern. Dusenberg's American Grill, Edible Arrangements, Fine Wine and Spirits, Grilled Cheese and Co., Hilton Flower Shop, Lyndwood Square Wine and Spirits, Mars Supermarkets and Mike's Pizza House.

ONE OF THE entrances to Annapolis has been under surveillance for several months now by a squadron of vultures hovering and hanging around Aris T. Allen Boulevard. We can only speculate what their presence between Route 2 and Chinquapin Round Road symbolizes. We can guess where the hot air they thrive on comes from, Annapolis being a capital city with not one, but three, governments. Glenn Therres, a biologist with the Department of Natural Resources who specializes in endangered species and nongame wildlife, said they can be one of two types of birds, the turkey vulture or the black vulture.

After eight heats and a total of 80 contestants, Raven Roost 68's annual Crab Derby finally had its winner. The winning crab was "jockeyed" by Peggy Stankiewicz, the wife of the organization's president, Wayne. The Aug. 20 event, held at Johnson's Highland Inn, raised $700 for the local roost's charity fund, said Wayne Stankiewicz. During the event, which the roost has hosted for approximately seven years, the group also collected school supplies to donate to Baltimore Highlands Elementary School.

Quietly and without public notice, a serious but, in the end, failing effort was made to influence Frank Perdue to accept a lead role in applying for ownership of an expansion pro football team in Baltimore. He has, however, reluctantly decided against becoming an entrant in the chase.Perdue can now be identified as the previously "unnamed" chief investor who was invited to head what is known as the Maryland NFL Expansion Group Ltd., which included five prominent Baltimoreans. The Perdue name and financial standing would have been a momentous boost for the city's chances in fulfilling a desire to gain one of the two new franchises to be awarded next year by the National Football League.

Tomorrow, a fine madness will begin in 12 Maryland counties, as several thousand fully camouflaged hunters slip into the woods in the dark to await first light some 30 minutes before sunrise.Stealth is the method to this madness, for most hunters will agree that, in spring, the bearded turkey plays a game that is tough to beat.Patience and camouflage are essential for the hunter, who must trick a wild turkey in close enough to determine whether it is bearded before even considering a shot.

The airplane hanging over my head makes me uneasy, but the regulars at The Roost restaurant in St. Mary's County don't seem to notice it. People in this part of Southern Maryland are used to sharing the landscape with planes.I notice the roar of Navy jets streaking through the skies as soon as I drive toward Lexington Park on my gustatory tour of the state. It is not surprising that a model of a V-22 Osprey plane looms over my head in The Roost's bar.Ever since The Roost opened 52 years ago, it has been a favorite eating spot and watering hole for Navy pilots.

Nathan Roost scored four goals as Australia clinched a spot in the World Games semifinals, rolling past England, 11-6, yesterday at Homewood Field. Australia (2-2) ended a two-game skid and will play Canada in tomorrow's semifinals.The English (0-4) got within 4-3 just 3 1/2 minutes into the third, but Australia answered with a run four minutes later. Roost capped that four-goal spurt with a left-handed underhand shot to put Australia ahead 8-3 with a minute left in the third.Australia dominated on ground balls (31-16)

You didn't come to The Roost for its ambience. The carryout on Reisterstown Road in Northwest Baltimore still had the same shabby hut-shaped building from its days as a burger joint in the 1970s. The staff was a little surly, the neighborhood not the plushest and the wait for food almost always long. What you did come for were the fish sandwiches, fried golden brown and served on white bread with a little hot sauce. Or the fish dinner with two sides. The fish was so popular that just about everyone knew the carryout not as "The Roost," but simply as "Lake Trout."

First the Redskins move to Laurel. Then Congress.Zhirinovsky is Milosevic writ large, speaking of chickens come home to roost.Hooray! We have a trade deal! And it will be weeks before anyone reads the 550 pages to find out what's wrong with it.Coppin State for the Big East!

I want to thank Ravens Roost 97 for their wonderful help in raising money on my brother John Schneider's behalf ("Ravens Roost members rally for former member," Arbutus Times, June 8). They were thorough in contacting friends and businesses to contribute to this fundraiser. I particularly want to thank Rod Shuh, who was my first contact when I knew John was in financial trouble. Rod had asked me in the summer of 2009 after John's first medical crisis, a stroke, if we needed a fundraiser.

Back in 1967, Dick Watts, a widower with two young sons, was renting the carriage house on the large estate of Philip Poe, a descendant cousin of Edgar Allan Poe. He was comfortable living down the hill from the manor house, which backs up to Roland Run in Ruxton. "He used to walk along the property, and one day he said to me, 'This is where you want to raise your boys,'" remembers Dick Watts, 82, who at the time was a coach and director of the athletic department at UMBC. "He said it would be $30,000 to buy it and he took $150 down and financed the rest at 5 percent!"

When the Ravens host the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, Ray Mattern will do something he does just twice a year: root against the hometown team. That's because Mattern, who serves as sergeant-at-arms for Ravens Roost 71 in Middle River, actually grew up a Steelers' fan. On typical Sundays he wears a Joe Flacco jersey, and he once had his beard painted purple. But when kickoff rolls around, he'll be serving up chicken at a Royal Farms store, where he works as an assistant manager, wearing a Ben Roethlisberger jersey beneath his work shirt.

Visitors to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore have often had to search a towering white oak to spot the zoo's two prized African leopards, Amari and Hobbes, which frequently scaled the trunk and took to the branches. The cats would each perch on a sturdy limb that gave the best view of a boardwalk filled with people and the neighboring enclosure co-habited by zebras, ostriches and two white rhinos. It was as close to living in the wild as two cats could get. But by the end of Saturday, only a stump will remain of their favorite spot.

Sure, it's a miracle of nature, an echo of a time in America, ornithologists say, when flocks of hundreds of millions of birds could darken the sky for hours as they passed over. But when thousands of crows choose your trees and your neighborhood for a winter roost, the "miracle" can mean raucous evenings and a messy walk to the car the next morning. "It's fascinating in a way, and problematic in another way," admitted Vicki Hoagland, of the Original Northwood section of Baltimore.

The bird is back. Or, rather, a new and improved fiberglass pink flamingo has come to roost on the fire escape above Hampden's Cafe Hon, replacing the chicken-wire-and-bedsheets bird that was shooed away by a city code inspector last month. After a compromise was worked out with City Hall, an $800 "minor privilege" fee imposed to allow the bird to stay perched over the city sidewalk was cut in half. Cafe owner Denise Whitney then ordered up a new bird. She unveiled it Wednesday night with music, searchlights and another bit of only-in-Baltimore marketing genius.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Nathan Roost scored a career-high six goals and had one assist to lead unranked Hobart to a 19-12 upset of No. 13 Army yesterday at the Carrier Dome.The result marked only the second time in the past five years that the Statesmen have won their season opener.Roost scored three goals in the first quarter as Hobart went ahead 5-2. Leading 10-7 at halftime, Hobart (1-0) pulled away by scoring seven straight goals on just 10 shots in the opening 13 minutes of the third quarter.

25 years ago:The birds are gone from Manchester's Christmas Tree Park, but nobody is sure for just how long, including the "expert," Nelson F. Swink Jr. of the Wildlife Services Division in Annapolis. The town turned to Mr. Swink earlier this year for help in getting rid of the hundreds of starlings and blackbirds that had come to the park to roost for the second straight year. He believes the winter roost is on the way. If they do arrive, he is prepared to come to Manchester and bring a variety of noisemakers with him which he hopes will make life so miserable for the birds that they will decide to leave.