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Reader Exchange

Readers look for help making music

Here's what you're looking for.

By LINDA D. COLE and INGRID L. KOHLER
Published April 15, 2006

Happy Ides of April and a delightful Income Tax Day to all. The fact that this year procrastinators have extra time to prepare their returns should itself make this a beautiful Saturday. But don't celebrate your break too long.

Today's first letter prompts us to repeat some other advice we occasionally share with our readers: NEVER MOVE. True, staying in one place can be inconvenient at times, but at least you will never experience the trauma associated with losing prized possessions en route from one place to another.

The staff distilled this wisdom after reading numerous letters from readers who have lost household goods, musical instruments, wooden legs, family photos, crafting supplies, valuable antiques and even small children and pets during disastrous attempts to relocate.

Just look at what happened to St. Petersburg's Bob Small. During his recent move, his keyboard made the transit to his new abode in fine shape, but dozens of chord organ music books were lost. Bob, fortunately, has been able to replace several of the books, but he has not found much variety in the supply of chord organ books available.

If you have books you no longer use, or you can point Bob toward a source where a greater selection can be found, he hopes you'll give him a call at 727 541-2818. He'll gladly pick them up.

Tom Vici of Spring Hill is betting that among our talented retired readers resides one who knows how to repair old electromechanical pinball machines. If you qualify and want to try your hand at helping Tom, please call (352) 346-0049.

Linda Steenberge of Largo needs help for her literate teddy bear. This teddy lives at her house, and when Linda's grandchildren visit, he reads to them, sort of. Actually, when his paw is pressed, he recites the contents of a storybook made expressly for him; the child being "read" to follows along in the book during the bear's recitation.

The problem Linda is coping with is that Teddy has only one book, whereas he has the potential to read an entire series, which is titled Baby Bear's Read Along. Kids love to hear their favorite stories over and over, but this is getting ridiculous. Linda has tried to locate the other books through the Internet, but with no luck.

Linda has provided a few clues for Teddy book trackers: The books were published in 1998 by Tormont Publications, 338 Saint Antoine St. E, Montreal. Linda doesn't specify the bear's specific heritage in her e-mail, but the message's subject line says "read along care bear books," which may add useful information.

Should you have these books and your children rarely read them anymore, please call Linda at (727) 391-4400 or e-mail linda.steenberge@ earthlink.net.

Terry in Palm Harbor would like to trade a Berlitz French Language Think and Talk Method course for either a Berlitz Spanish or Chinese course of comparable caliber. Hers comes with seven cassette tapes, two workbooks and an English/French dictionary, all in a hard plastic case. Terry may be reached at (727) 787-4279.

Bonnie Michaels of Gulfport is smack dab in the middle of writing her life story for her sons, but some worries have arisen that chunks of her history will have to be bypassed.

That's because the monitor for her word processor conked out, threatening to sabotage the project. Like most writers, Bonnie has definite preferences in the way she composes, and the word processor suits her style just fine. She has no interest in learning to use a computer instead.

If you have an extra 9 Pin for a Smith Corona word processor or, failing that, a word processor that you don't use since you bought your computer, Bonnie will appreciate your calling (727) 384-3193.

Noww hit that income tax return!

Send requests to Reader Exchange, Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg 33731 or e-mail cole@sptimes.com Requests will be accepted only by mail or e-mail. This is an exchange column, so we will not run items that are for sale. Readers must agree to publication of phone numbers, including area code. ON THE WEB: An interactive version of Reader Exchange is available at itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified April 15, 2006, 06:24:39]