Why is Toby Smiling?
Maggie Sansone, Celtic musician and owner of Maggie’s Music record label, took this photo of her 10-year-old Labrador retriever, Toby, lounging in a field of black-eyed Susans, Maryland’s state flower.
Toby is smiling, having survived a near-death experience. Last February, for the first time in her dog life, she stopped eating!
She had a cancerous tumor on her spleen, which had ruptured, causing internal bleeding. She was rushed to the AAEC emergency vet hospital in Annapolis and after major surgery, two blood transfusions, the removal of her spleen and four days in the hospital, she was released with a dire prediction - three months to live.
Here she is six months later as happy as a lark and still with us!
The How-To Cowboy's™
How to Name Your Rock Band
1. What was your first pet’s name?
Example: Squeaky
2. What was the name of the first street you lived on? Example: Fry
3. You got it! Squeaky Fry! Backwards works sometimes, too.
4. Imagine the radio annnoucer: “Put your hands together and give it up for that new international sensation, Squeaky Fry.”
5. Now you need to name your first song. What’s your favorite color?
Example: Red.
6. What’s your favorite food?
Example: French Fries.
7. Announcer: “For the tenth straight week, the undisputed number one song in America, Red French Fries by Squeaky Fry. Yaaaaaaaaaay!”
8. Good. But now you need a name for the lead singer.
9. What was the name of the first movie you ever saw?
Example: Bambi.
10. What is your favoriite toothpaste? Mouthwash?
Example: Colgate. Scope.
11. Announcer: “Here she is, America’s newest songbird, Bambi Scope and her band Squeaky Fry!”
12. Now to name the first album, the first CD.
13. What is your favorite fruit? Favorite vegetable?
Example: Banana. String Beans.
14. Jay Leno: “And now, fresh from their first European tour, playing their hit, Red French Fries, from their platinum CD, Banana String Beans, it’s Bambi Scope and her band Squ-eeeea-kky Fryyyyyy!”
Take on the How-To Ranch Hand Challenge:
Send a unique How-To trick to IM Press, Box 5346, Takoma Park, MD 20913 with step-by-step instructions and, if accepted, you will see your trick published in this space, and receive a LITTLE NED STORIES book and a $10 check.
You can meet the How-To Cowboy at the Solomons Island Seafood Festival; September 1-2 and don't forget to visit The How-To Cowboy, aka Edward Allan Faine at his website: http://www.takoma.com/ned/home.htm
Kids Calander
Air Art Fun - Sept. 1 & 2 (2pm)–Discover Air Art and you’ll paint brilliant colors with BLO pens. Zany Brainy at Annapolis Harbour Center: 410/266-1447.
Burgers Galore - Mon. Sept. 3 (10:30am)–Join a pretend cookout with burgers built from Dream Dough. Zany Brainy, Annapolis Harbour Center: 410/662-1447.
Girl Scout Night - Sept. 5 & Sept. 13 (7pm)–Calvert countians find out everything you ever wanted to know about becoming a Girl Scout, scout leader or volunteer. Ask all the burning scouting questions that have been plaguing you, like, “What are the new cookie flavors this year?” Sept. 5 @ Windy Hill Middle School; Sept. 13 @ Huntingtown Elementary, Plum Point Elementary, and Southern Middle School: 301/893-1819.
Grasshoppin’ Gravity - Fri, Sept. 7 (5pm)–Hunt for grasshoppers, crickets, spiders and other field creatures. Get up close to these acrobatic insects and learn what makes them hop. Kinder Farm Park. rsvp: 410/222-6115.
Babysitting Class - Sun, Sept. 9 (2-5:30pm)–Get your training here: get schooled on handling tantrums and baths, bedtime and dinnertime. Practice safety skills, learn about advertising and marketing, and find out how to have fun while you’re working. Ages 13 and up. $30 w/discounts. YWCA, Arnold: rsvp: 410/626-7800.
