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  May 16, 1999 - Issue 33 - Philadelphia Edition
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Springtime Chores

With all the great weather and sunshine, Spring brings with it , all the outdoor clean up chores. So far, we've "limed" the grass to sweeten it, started to paint some of the fence by the pool, trimmed back some of hedges and all the other ordinary tasks. The Handyman has found something new this year. At the Weston house, there's a "fitted pool cover". a Meyco Cover, that is fitted and held in place over the winter by a series of metal springs.

Well, this year Paul noticed that about a dozen of these springs were either broken or deformed. This deformation of shaped has been caused by the pressure of hundreds of pounds of snow that sit on the cover in the winter and pull down on the cover and springs. This pool cover cost a couple of thousand dollars! What to do? The Handyman went to Central Pool Company in Framingham where he had the cover custom made more than five years ago and purchased the spare springs. Seems that this is a common problem that all Meyco Cover owners encounter. Getting the deformed springs off the pool is a real problem as the tool used to remove them can't fit into the deformed shape... the tool is circular and the deformed spring heads are now oval. A couple of hours of twisting and pulling and all the springs are up. Add $60 in parts and the cover is as good as new. The Handyman does it again!

Bump in the Road...

Well, the Bau's of Weston have been waiting nearly a year to get cable TV installed into their house. They've been pickie because they didn't want overhead wires running from the street to the house. All the utilities currently servicing their residence are underground. When the town water was being hooked up from the street to the house, the Handyman Paul laid the cable TV line in the trench from the street to the house.

A month later, Media One, our cable TV provider for Weston, took the wire on the street, next to the water connection and ran it parallel to the street, under our driveway and brought it to the telephone which had a cable "tap".

Fnally, a month later again, the Media One crew came to hook up the "tap" and install the wires in the house. But alas, because we have a finished basement, and because the cable company does not "fsh" wires, the only thing they would do was run the wires outside the house, and then enter the house at the rooms you wanted service in. We thought the idea of have orange or thick black wire running around or strung around our front door or all the want around the house to the back was pretty bad. So we opted to have them drop the wire inside the house and we'll hire an electrician to "fish" the wires inside the house. Oh well, with a little more patience, we'll soon have cable TV!

Taiwan Restaurant

Boston's Chinatown has a new restaurant, the Taiwan. The Weston Food Critic ate there with a party of four last week and found a couple of the dishes outstanding and a couple of the dishes just ordinary. The decor was slightly above the standards of most Chinatown restaurants ( try and figure that one out readers!)

The best dish we discovered was the Shiu lung bao ( Shanghai style meat dumplings) which are one of our favorates. They are close but not as good as those served in Joe's Shanghai in NYC. However, they are the best Shiu lung bao the Weston Food Critic has found in the Boston area. The second dish that was outstanding was the crispy fried doh-fu.... yummy! Lunch for 4 before tip was $27.00

Recommendation: The Shiu Lung Bao are more than sufficient to make a visit to the Taiwan worthwhile. Give it a try.

Save Money

Each year Paul has had the pool company open and close his swimming pool with a "full openning" or "full closing". As Paul is retired he has more time and hense was thinking of doing the whole job himself. Not quite sure that he knows how to start up the whole operation by himself, the plan for 1999's summer is this. Paul will remove, clean and put away the Meyco pool cover himself and get the pool company to do a "partial openning", sans cover. He'll also pay close attention and see if next year he can do the whole job by himself. FYI, a partial openning costs $165 whereas a full openning costs $245.

After retiring, you'll find the Handyman doing a lot of chores he used to pay others to do for him.

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In other news
Norwell
Paul visited his old boss, Bob Delahunt who lives in Norwell, Ma... and after a buffet lunch at a Chinese restautant, they went out to walk off the calories in a large wooded town park. At the far end of the park, they came upon a narrow canal which is very deep. Turns out this is the North River.

In colonial days, many of the clipper ships were built in Norwell, launched into the North River, and then guided to the Atlantic Ocean. The clipper sailing ships brought a lot of wealth to New England from the Orient.

Ron Kicks the Habit
Ron has gone on a "quit smoking" campaign using the nicotene patches and his own determination. It's tough for him and most others to stop smoking, but he's trying. After improving his fitness at the Wellesley Athletic Club and loosing more than 35 pounds, why not "go all the way"!

Good Luck Ron!

Pool Prep.
Rachel read in pool and spa that owners should clear the pool water of algae before starting up the pumps and filters. In late April, the pool water is still clear, and one can see the leaves on the bottom. By late May, when we normally open the pool, the water is opaque green and full of visible algae. Well, the Handyman tried an experiment and dropped a bottle of "shock" into the pool in late April to see if this will keep the water clear for a month. We'll let you readers know in an upcoming issue.

BabyGap Outlet
Can you believe it? Grandma Rachel has located and shopped a BabyGap Factory Oulet in Watertown, Ma. Yup, I guess Mr. Cutie Pie will be receiving more outfits to wear.

For Grandpa Paul's May visit, he will carry a couple of new outfits from Grandma who really misses Anthony and is thinking about him all the time. We really like the quality of the BabyGap clothing, but they are expensive and the outlet prices make them much better buys.