Pearl Street Parking Garage

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The distance from Framingham's Pearl Street Parking garage to the main waiting area of the MBTA train is .35 miles. Walking rapidly it takes about 6 minutes.

MBTA Parking in Framingham

In Framingham there are various choices when it comes to finding a place to park when taking the MBTA. There's a couple of things to consider. Monthly cost, and the location of the parking lot to the train station in bad weather and those days when you might be running late to catch the train.

The main MBTA parking lot, which is operated by the Central Parking, is near Howard Street and the train station. Parking is $4 a day, and you can get a monthly pass which costs $70 a month. The biggest problem with this parking lot is that it is always full. Monthly parking doesn't guaranteed you a parking space!

The Town of Framingham operates the following public parking facilities:

Pearl Street Garage - 289 parking spaces, located on Pearl Street, (across from the former Registry of Motor Vehicles). Spaces are sold by monthly permit. Rates are $65.00 per month for residents and $80.00 per month non-residents. There is an attendant on duty from 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday through Friday. This is the best option, but a long walk to the train station.

Waverly Street Commuter Lot - 65 spaces located next to Republic Plumbing, directly across the Framingham commuter rail station. Spaces are sold by monthly permit, rates are $90.00 per month. Since this is the most expensive lot there are always spaces available.

Hollis Court Lot - 89 parking spaces located near commuter rail station. Spaces are available for daily parking on first come, first serve basis. Lot is lighted at night. Rates are $4.00 per day.

Alternative Parking Lots:

Silton Glass - Parking is within easy walking distance of the Framingham MBTA Station Rates: $5 daily, $20 weekly, $50 monthly, $550 annually 612 Waverly St., Framingham, MA

Columbus Club - on Fountain Street Carl D'Aveta, president for that organization, says the club has offered parking for at least five years at $40 per month. About 20 commuters park there.

Orlando Enterprises Dumpsters and Demolition Site - on Cedar Street, is also offering discount parking for commuters. They are located right across from the Train Station. There's a sign in the window to call them about the Commuter Parking rates.

Wild Turkeys

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This year I have seen quiet a few wild turkeys in the Boston area. I don't know if it's a population explosion or something, but it seems weird to see so many wild turkeys.

I have seen them in various locations in Framingham, near Cushing Park and in Lexington near Route 2. They aren't the same turkeys because of the different size and colors.

I don't know who the known predator of Turkeys, Wolves, Foxes?  I got a feeling next year that they will be a population explosion of them.

Also in the Cushing Park area a Red Tail hawk has been flying around. Usually you'll see some crows attacking the hawk. I suspect that the crows are trying to force the hawk out of its territory.

Shutters

This weekend we put up shutters on 10 windows on our house. Here are some of the lessons that we learned:

Never move a ladder with a drill on the top.
This happened during the first widow and I ended up getting a cut on my face. Lucky for me it was a small cut since it could have been worst.

Make sure to measure all the Shutters before drilling them
We mis-calculated on the bay window and decided that larger shutters would be better. We couldn't return the other shutter since I already drill holes in them. This mistake cost us $30. Hopefully this advice will save you money!

Make sure to drill all the way in the house.
There are a couple of shutter holes that I didn't drill all the way in, and as a result the placeholder isn't all the way in.

Shop around for shutters.
Both Lowes and HomeDepothad shutters, but HomeDepot had enough supply on hand to meet our needs. Both stores had them in the Window department near the back wall.

It took about 15 minutes to do each window. Some of the windows took a little bit longer because they were high off the ground a little tricky to do. Also it was difficult to maneuver the latter around some bushes and flowers.

We found that it does take two people to put up the shutters, if you want to get it done right this isn't a one person job. Also it best to drill the hole locations in the shutters first then put the bottom of the shutter on the house. This way the second person didn't have to hold the shutter while getting saw dust in their hair.

Kiddle Carbon Monoxide Alarm

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If you have a any Carbon Monoxide Alarm, you should check the battery in it. Even if the alarm is plug in, the battery does need to be replace on a regular bases.

We have a Kiddle Carbon Monoxide Alarm, and the way that it notified us that the battery is low is that it beeps at odd times. So for no reason at all the alarm would go off. There is no indicator of why its going off, and in fact the Alarm light would go off indicating to "Move to Freash Air." It would be better to have a 'Low Battery' warning.

Replacing the battery every year will avoid any false Carbon Monoxide Alarms. We'll be updating our smoke alarm and the Carbon Monoxide Alarm at the same time next year.

Fiotec FPOS1300x-03

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We have a Fiotec FPOS1300x-03 Tempest 1/6 HP pump in our basement which we use to pump out water. We plan on getting a stump pump later this spring, this will be more of a permanent solution. We rarely get water in the basement, just when there's a lot of rain during a short amount of time, usually because the ground is too saturated.

During the rain storm this weekend, and the melting snow, the water table rose. On Sunday night at 11:45PM there was about 6 inches of water in our basement water hole. By 3:45am the amount of water rose to 9 inches. At 10 inches the basement becomes flooded.

We ran the Fiotec pump for 3 hours and got the number down to 7 inches. This means that 2,970 gallons of water was removed from the basement. The pump ran again various times throught out the day on Monday and by Tuesday morning, the water level was at 5 inches.

The pump works really well, there wasn't any problem with getting the water out. By keeping an eye on the water level and the weather, we were able to avoid a flood this weekend.

We keep a wooden ruler by the pump hole to measure the water level and constantly monitor it to make sure that the water level doesn't rise to a dangerous level. We use to mark the wooden ruler where the water would rise to, but now we record the amount on a piece of paper that is near the water hole.

Leslie Swimming Pool Supply

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Looks like Leslie Swimming Pool Supply will be opening up in Framingham on Route 9 east bound, right after the Framingham University off ramp. (769 Worcester Road, Framingham MA)

Central Pools a Spas in Natick may see a slight decline in sales as they were the single source supplier for anyone owning a Pool or Spa in Metro West.

Winter Street Bridge

The construction cost of the Winter Street Bridge over the Sudbury River is $5,551,576,85. Construction is to start in the Fall of 2012 and be completed by 2015.

The proposed project involves the replacement of two single span bridges carrying Winter Street over the Sudbury River in Framingham. The proposed bridge will be a two-span concrete structure and constructed wider to provide vehicular, bicycle and ADA accommodation. The horizontal and vertical alignments will remain essentially the same. Staged construction will be used to maintain vehicular and pedestrian traffic during construction.

About a mile down the street the Winter Street bride over the railroad track will be completed by spring 2014 at an estimated $7.1 million. Construction is schedule to start in the summer of 2011.

Breakfast in Framingham

Over the past couple of weeks, we have eaten at various breakfast places in the Framingham area. Here are four places we suggest you try:

Cafe Fresh Bagels
957 Worcester Road, Framingham MA
This is right next door to Centre Pizza. A great little Cafe that has large fresh bagels.Tip: Try a bagel sandwich at the Cafe and when your finish order some bagels for the week! They have great salt bagels!

Kugel's Deli
855 Worcester Road, Framingham MA
This is located in the Old Trolley Square Shopping Center, just off of Route 9 west bound. A great deli with a terrific breakfast selection, include really good Corn Beef Hash Browns.

Lloyd's Diner
184 Fountain Street, Framingham MA
Located near the O'Keefe Technical School this is a typical cable car type of diner. The food didn't seem that unique and they had a very basic menu, but I thought it was pretty good. They recently changed owners, so there food might have gotten better. I do remember that the service was really quick. Try to sit at the counter for the best diner experience.

Cabots
743 Washington Street, Newton MA
This is worth the drive to great breakfast place that also has great ice cream, which makes it a perfect brunch spot. They have lots of wonderful breakfast treats, their french toast is really good! Tip: Sit at the counter to watch them make the ice cream treats and get some ideas for desert while you wait for your meal!

Water Rates going up

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Sometimes it doesn't pay to conserve water. Take this example from Framingham, Mass:

This means that consumers that used less water are now going to have to pay more? Shouldn't consumer be rewarded for conserving water?