Primer

Home Tip-- Warm Colors-- If you repaint your cast-iron radiators, use an oil primer and a dark oil enamel. Darker colors mean more efficient heating.

Here's a good project for an early spring weekend: Fix up the furniture. The lawn, patio and porch furniture, that is: wood, vinyl, iron or aluminum. Heaven knows it needs some help. It has a habit of getting dirty, rotting out or losing paint.Start with vinyl. It's the be-all and end-all of patio chairs: good-looking, easily maintained and unbreakable. Almost.But it does get dirty, including scrape marks and smudge marks. Best treatment is cleaning with a heavy-duty detergent and water, or maybe sprinkle a bit of scouring powder on a wet sponge and rub clean, then rinse.

POLICE LOG* Lisbon: 16200 block of Frederick Road: Two motorcycles were stolen between Friday and Tuesday. One is described as a black 1960 Royal Enfield Constellation with a gray primer gas tank and a bright blue faring that looks like an old Buick front end with the words "Bristol Aircraft Limited." The other is described as a 1968 BSA A-65S motorcycle with a red gas tank.

Baffled by the names of some Japanese foods? Here's a primer (find them in specialty shops or produce markets): * Sushi nori is a vegetable, made from nori seaweed that has been dried and pressed into paper-thin sheets. * Wasabi, a fiery-tasting condiment similar to horseradish, is available in powdered or paste form. * Daikon is a mild-tasting, giant white radish. -- Cole's Cooking A to Z

Bruce Bolt, 75, an earthquake expert at the University of California, Berkeley, died Thursday of pancreatic cancer. Director of the university's Seismographic Stations for 28 years, he traveled the world to investigate major earthquakes, served on panels and commissions, and wrote two books, Earthquakes: A Primer and Inside the Earth: Evidence from Earthquakes. Dr. Bolt, a Berkeley professor emeritus of earth and planetary science, was known for linking engineering and seismology, key to designing buildings that can withstand shaking.

Mitchell back as Primer winnerTexturizer gives trainer fifth victory in StakesAfter a 12-year absence, a horse trained by H. Steward Mitchell returned to the winner's circle yesterday in the Primer Stakes.It was the fifth time in 17 runnings that a Mitchell runner has won the race, which jokingly has been referred to as the H. Steward Mitchell Stakes.In the late 1970s, the Bowie-based trainer won consecutive runnings of the race with Iron Derby, Iron Streak and Rare Wind, horses he had purchased in the Florida 2-year-old Sales.

Probably by now you know the worst . . . all the places where the gutter gave up, the flashing froze and cracked, the ice backed up under the shingles, the water got inside and ran down the walls or made a blotch on the ceiling.This terrible winter certainly took a toll on our houses. We got a letter from some folks who had water dripping out of a doorknob, and Randy's seen a house where water blew through the center of a second-floor double French-style door, staining the carpet there, and then ran down the inside surface, damaging drywall around a door on the floor below.

LAUREL -- Coin Collector romped to an 11-length victory in the $31,925 Primer Breeders' Cup Stakes, the first stakes race in Maryland this year for 2-year-old colts and geldings, yesterday at Laurel Race Course.Coin Collector, ridden by Joe Rocco, shook off Apparitiontofollow entering the stretch and completed 5 1/2 furlongs in 1 minute, 3 4/5 seconds, two-fifths of a second off the track record.Hippomenes rallied to finish second, edging Apparitiontofollow by a nose.

When it comes to painting, especially exterior painting, don't think of it as applying a great swatch of color to a surface.Think of it as preparing the surface to accept an "overcoat" that will protect it from the elements.In fact, 50 percent of your total painting time should involve surface preparation, according to Larry Horton, store manager at Budeke's Paints in Fells Point. You have to have a "nice, tight, clean" surface before you do anything else, Mr. Horton says."You can spend $100 for a gallon of paint, and if you don't do the proper preparation, you might as well just spend $5," Mr. Horton says.

Paint seems like one of the simpler elements in a house, but when it doesn't stick, it can be one of the more complicated things to fix.Case in point: A reader in Shaker Heights, Ohio, who had trouble getting touch-up paint to adhere to worn places on her metal kitchen cabinets wants to know how to refinish them completely.It can be done, but it's not a job for the faint of heart.The secret to successful painting, no matter what the surface, is good preparation. The surface must be thoroughly clean.