Greetings From the Front Lawn

There are endless reasons to communicate.

On a recent morning, Coolahan drove to a yellow house on a quiet circle of well-clipped hedges and kids on bikes in the Howard County community of Woodstock. Neighbors had chipped in to put up "A Hero's Welcome for Dave Lee" card. Lee was returning to his wife and three girls after more than a year of Army duty in Afghanistan.

Coolahan has 16 cards for a multiplex of occasions, from team wins to bridal showers. Each is personalized with a banner, and the yard is dotted with "props" -- mini signs, such as stars, graduation caps or hearts. Yard Cards cost $60 for 24 hours and $10 for each extra day.

"Most are happy occasions," says Coolahan. " 'Get Well Soon' is the saddest I get." If you inquire about the gravestones, she explains those are "tombstone add-ons" to sprinkle around the "R.I.P. Here Lie the Years Gone By" birthday card.

A similar national chain, Stork News, was born in 1984. Local franchisee Jinean L. Carter delivers eight-foot fiberglass storks in Washington and Prince George's County ($69 for five days, plus delivery). You keep the plastic bundle that has your newborn's name, date of birth and weight on it.

For Kathleen and Steve Lawrence of Northwest Washington, the arrival of second son Henry Robert Conrad Lawrence earlier this year was marked with the rental of a stork for the front of the family's 1926 bungalow.

"The funny thing was that our 2-year-old was fixated on the name Robert for his new brother," says Kathleen Lawrence. "He told everyone at school. We couldn't figure out how to break it to him that Robert wasn't going to be the name. So we told him that the stork delivered the statue with the name Henry preselected."

All this public celebration is not without pitfalls. Often, the cards have to be installed under cover of darkness so they can surprise the recipient. One child cried miserably when Coolahan took away her giant turquoise "Hip Hippo-Ray" hippopotamus birthday card.

Then there was the woman who did not appreciate the six-foot 40th-birthday card sent by her husband. It was called "Out to Pasture" and featured a chubby black-and-white cow.

"I guess she was not happy about turning 40," Coolahan says. "She asked us to come and remove it right away."