A neat trick for the arms of your chaise lounge

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There's nothing quite like relaxing on a warm day in a chaise lounge. Here at The Tropical Paradise, the olive tree gives some nice dappled shade from about ten a.m. on. And so one of my favorite things is to just lounge around and listen to an audio book (that's my iPod and mini speaker on the table).

But even with the dappled shade, the aluminum arms of the chaise lounge would get painfully hot. I was trying to drape a towel over them, which kind'a worked, but today I am trying another trick, which is using a ordinary *pool noodle* over the arms. So far (and it's only be a few hours), I like it. Here's what you do:

• Get a narrow pool noodle. I found this one at Lowe's, and the color complimented the color of my beach towel. Most of the colors are pretty obnoxious, so try to find one that won't offend you too much. This teal-colored one amazed me at how well it blended in.

• Cut the noodle in half and slit one side. I'm a graphic designer, so I have an obsessive way about doing this kind of stuff. I took the noodle into the garage, measured it so that I could cut it in half with a coping saw, then, using a straight edge (T-square), I ran a utility knife along one edge, then refined the cut so that it went all of the way through one side.

• Install. You just push it onto the arms. I have found that it holds very tightly.

The noodle doesn't interfere with the tilting of the back, and the foamy feel is kind of nice. I'm experimenting mostly, but this looks like it's gonna work. OK, gotta go try it now now, talk to you later.

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