My brother, John Gait, of Bensalem, Pa., was in town for a visit and my wife, Jennie, and I took him to the Howard County Fair. He had never been to a county fair before so we thought it would be a good experience for him.

We toured the animal barns, looking at the cows, steers, pigs, goats and lambs and ending with the chicken/rabbit barn. We also looked at a couple of the craft barns where 4-H kids (and adults) had their things on display.

One display that caught my eye was a large wooden Peterbuilt tractor pulling a low-boy trailer on which was a wooden Caterpillar bulldozer. I was entranced. This was not the typical wooden toy. These pieces looked like the real thing.

The builder, Ron Clements, of Highland Road, even had the correct color for the brake air lines that connected the tractor to the low-boy trailer. The bulldozer was an absolute work of art. Even the treads worked. Each tread piece was handmade.

One of the attendants tapped me on the shoulder and pointed me toward the "champion" piece -- a bucket loader with working treads. Clements came over and explained his modifications to the toy. "See this knuckle here?" he said. "I modified the plans so that there was a lot more rotation of the bucket." He added a "hydraulic" cylinder that allowed the plunger to travel up and down, letting the bucket scoop and dump.

"I spent about three months working on the loader," Clements said. "Now, that's not full time. I just work on it after dinner in the evening. I set a goal for that night and that's what I try to get done."

I'm sure that his "toys" were quite a hit with the "boys." They were with me.

While we were at the fair we ran into two former co-workers — Dave Karson, of Baltimore, and Christine Estacion, of Columbia. I hadn't seen either of them in quite a while and it was nice to catch up on things. Karson was there "doing" the fair while Estacion was sitting in one of the barns as an attendant.

One of the Reservoir graduating seniors from the class of 2008 is getting ready to leave and start her college career. Her name is Morgan Dice and she lives with her mom and dad, Molly and Rob Dice, and three brothers, Alex, Cameron and Taylor, in a house off Lime Kiln Road.

Morgan did well at Reservoir, graduating near the top of her class. For her junior and senior years, she had the honor of being "Concert Mistress" for the Reservoir High School Orchestra. This is a very important position -- she sets the pace and tempo and is the leader of the orchestra.

In addition to this, she was first chair violin, for which she is definitely gifted. Her dad Rob wrote in an e-mail that she applied to and auditioned for eight different schools of music.

Morgan initially intended to major in performance, but settled on music education instead. Of the schools to which she applied, Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, accepted her for performance and the University of Hartford accepted her for music education. She has decided to attend the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford.

During her senior year, she did an independent study class with Colin O'Bryan, the orchestra director and studied why elementary students might not continue with music into high school, especially those playing violin.

Rob Dice said that he thought her conclusions were inconclusive. In addition to the violin, Morgan plays the flute, piccolo, bass drum and snare drum; the last three instruments she played in the marching band.

In a couple weeks, Morgan will start the next phase of her life and that means changes at home, too. Her brothers are excited that big sister is heading off to college; that means, more room for them! Isn't that typical of boys?

Mom and dad will also be adjusting to Morgan's adventure. So, I plan to write an occasional update about Morgan's great adventure.

Mt. Zion United Methodist Church is having a Community Ministries Fair Sept. 5-7. September 5 is "50s night" where you'll rock and roll to the beat of the Retro Rockets. Stop by and dress the part!

The community fair and cook-out part will be Sept. 6 starting around 5 p.m. Many activities and several area groups will be attending. Then, the ministry fair and family picnic takes place Sept. 7 commencing following the 10:30 a.m. service.

For more information, you can call the church office at 301-854-2324 or go to their Web site www.MtZionUMCHighland.com.

Please take a minute to look at my blog. You can see it, along with blogs of the other columnists, at www.explorehoward.com and let me know what you think. Thanks.

Well, that's all for this week. Look after your neighbors. Remember our troops who are serving in harm's way. And their families. Commit a random act of kindness.

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