Patriotic DuckThe All American RunnerDuck Review
March 1, 2009
 Welcome Back
 

Welcome Back: 

Whoa, where did February go? It may only have 28 days but it felt like only three weeks! Despite the short month we did have a good time. The highlight of the month was a trip to Port Townsend, Washington with the Whidbey Island Woodworkers Guild (WIWG), www.whidbeywoodworkers.com . Twenty six of us went and visited the Edensaw wood and tool supply company that has been in business here in Washington since 1983, www.edensaw.com. They have a huge supply of over sixty species of domestic and exotic woods. We could have spent the day there looking at all the different kinds of wood but we had a second appointment at the PortTownsendWoodworkingSchool, www.ptwoodschool.com. The school was established a year ago by three partners, one of which is Jim Tolpin, a well published and wonderful woodworker. They have many great classes that Ken hopes to attend some day. The instructors are top class and a person could really learn a lot from them.
 
Back home we had a wonderful surprise. Those of you that have been receiving our newsletter for a while know that we've had an ongoing battle with the local nature and our fish pond. First the raccoons had a feed fest on our fish. We put up and electric fence which slowed them down. Next the Great Blue Heron came who we thought finished what the raccoons didn't get. Well apparently they have been so scared from that episode that they have been in hiding for almost two months. This past week approximately 35 fish reappeared and once again we have some beautiful gold fish and a few Koi.
 
With the aviary net over the pond and the electric fence surrounding it we hope that we've seen the last of the predators that love our fish, almost as much as we do ;-)

Ken and Marilyn
Wood'n Wares
 
WoodnWaresLogo

Wood'n Wares Gift Sets

How about stirring up something good for Easter? These hard maple utensils will help do the job. Bob and Jean's wonderful wooden kitchen utensils are hand made in their little wood shop in Montana.
Order a gift set for yourself. By grouping several utensils together we're able to give you a good price. Also Wood'n Wares Spoon Oil will keep those wooden utensils looking great for years to come. It also works wonderfully on butcher blocks or other wooden kitchen products.

Just go to our web site for gift sets and Spoon Oil, www.runnerduck.com/woodnwares.htm

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In This Issue
What's New
Site of the Month
Marilyn's Corner
Our Environment
The Tempos Big Band
Joke of the Month
This Months Recipe
Woodworking Project
Free Rockler Catalog
Please Donate
 
 
Wood Plans
Woodworking Tools
Rockler Specials
Rockler always has great specials, here's the latest! 

What's New?
We are off to the Kansas Music Hall of Fame, www.ksmusichalloffame.org awards where Ken will be inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame along with the rest of the "Serfs". The Serfs were a rock band back in the late 60's that had an album on Capitol records called "The Early Bird Cafe". It was a big hit in the Midwest and Northeast and now after all these years they are finally being recognized. It will be great to see some of the people Ken hasn't seen in over forty years. We'll have a full report next month.
Site Of The Month
Virgin Global Row
 
A few months ago we told you about Roz Savage, http://rozsavage.blogspot.com/, who is attempting to be the first woman to row single handed across the Pacific Ocean. Her cause to rid the oceans of plastic debris is certainly a lofty one.
 
Through her web site we discovered "Virgin Global Row". Olly Hicks is attempting to be the first person to circumnavigate Antarctica by rowing. He will be rowing solo 18,000 miles around the world in the world's most hostile marine environment. To follow Olly's adventure go to www.virginglobalrow.com, every day he posts an interesting story about the days progress or lack there of.
Marilyn's Corner
Egg Carton Tulips

Even though we had snow this past week we are thinking spring. While it will still be a while before the tulips are up these should help brighten your home.

Here is a list of the things you will need.

  • An egg carton. We used the old paper kind but you could use the foam ones that are made in nice pastel colors.
  • Green chenille.
  • Paint, if you are going to paint yours.
  • Tacky glue.
  • Scissors.
There is a lot of cutting in this project so be sure to have your parents help you so you don't cut yourself!

Cut each cup out of an egg carton. Cut it in the center between each cup.
Cut each cup into the shape of a Tulip. Use your imagination a little bit here because they will not look exactly like a Tulip.
If you are making them out of paper you will want to put at least a couple of coats of paint. The paper really soaks up the paint so it will take a little while for each coat to dry.
Poke a hole in the center of each flower.
We used a green chenille for each flower.
Poke the chenille up through the center of the flower and bend it over tight about 3/4" long to make it look like a stamen.
Glue the chenille to the bottom of the flower.

Now make up a bunch of these and give them for gifts or to decorate your room.

Remember we have all of our past projects archived on our web site at www.runnerduck.com. Just click on the Craft Egg.

Our Environment
Google Earth does it again!
 
Google Earth, http://earth.google.com/, just unveiled it's newest map showing many of the oceans surfaces. You can dive below the water and see what the marvelous terrain under sea looks like.
 
At the opening of this new program Al Gore said; "You can not only zoom into whatever part of our planet's surface you wish to examine in closer detail, you can now dive into the world's ocean that covers almost three-quarters of the planet and discover new wonders that had not been accessible in previous versions."
 
Carl Gustaf Lundin, head of the global marine program at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said; "With this, everybody can see the unbelievable beauty of our marine life and how incredibly threatened it is. We hope this major technological innovation will get the public more involved in marine conservation and encourage governments and businesses to stop driving ocean species to extinction."
 
From this we have two requests for you. 1. Go explore your world at Google Earth and take your kids with you. 2. Once you see the beauty of our oceans do something proactive to help protect them!
 
Download Google Earth and start exploring.
 
Do you have any suggestions on how to help protect our environment? Write us at kennyb@runnerduck.com


The Tempos Big Swing Band
If you are in the Seattle area and interested in hiring a great band The Tempos are ready to perform for you. Just drop a line to kennyb@runnerduck.com

The Tempos
News and CD of the Week

The Tempos CD, "Big Swing", features fourteen great swing songs from the 40's and 50's. If you love the old big band swing music we think you'll enjoy this CD. It's the kind of music that makes you just want to get up and dance, you do remember how to swing don't you?

The only place you can get this CD is from our web site. Go to www.thetempos.com and click on the "Click Here" at the top of the web page or click the album cover.


CLICK HERE
.

If you'd like to get a taste of this CD just go to The Tempos web site. When you are at the Tempos web site click on the horn valve button that says "Hear our CD". Then click on the song titles to hear a little bit of each song.

The Tempos big swing band is available for hire. If you have a special event that could use the wonderful music of a classic sixteen piece big band be sure to contact kennyb@runnerduck.com. We perform all over the Seattle area for all sorts of events.

Joke of the Month
This months joke is more of a really cute story than a joke but we think you'll like it any way.
 
Retarded Grandpa
 
After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their holiday away from school. One child wrote the following:
 
We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa.
They used to live in a big brick house but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Florida.
 
Now they live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass.
They ride around on their bicycles and wear name tags because they don't know who they are anymore.

They go to a building called a wreck center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all okay now, they do exercises there, but they don't do them very well.

There is a swimming pool too, but they all jump up and down in it with hats on.

At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man sitting in it. He watches all day so nobody can escape. Sometimes they sneak out, and go cruising in their golf carts.
 
Nobody there cooks, they just eat out. And, they eat the same thing every night --- early birds.
 
Some of the people can't get out past the man in the doll house. The ones who do get out, bring food back to the wrecked center for pot luck.

My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment and says I should work hard so I can be retarded someday too. When I earn my retardment, I want to be the man in the doll house. Then I will let people out, so they can visit their grandchildren.

 ..... PRICELESS

If you've got a funny family friendly joke send it to kennyb@runnerduck.com


This Month's Free Recipe
 
German Hot Potato Salad 
 
Here's a really yummy potato salad recipe that we think you'll enjoy.

Ingredients:
  • Six Red Potatoes
  • 6 Slices of Bacon, cut into pieces
  • 1/2 Cup Onion, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons Sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Salt
  • 1 teaspoon Flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon Pepper
  • 1/2 Cup Water
  • 3 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
Cook and dice the Potatoes.
Saute the Bacon. Remove the Bacon and spoon off all but 2 Tablespoons of fat.
Add Onions and cook.
Stir in Sugar, Salt, Flour and Pepper.
Slowly stir in the Water and Vinegar.
Cook until thick and boiling.
Stir in Potatoes and Bacon.

All that's left is to enjoy!

Every month we post a new recipe on our web page. Be sure and check out the New recipe at the RunnerDuck Kitchen Store.
Woodworking Project
 

WOOD PROJECT PLANS

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WOODWORKING PLANS
Download WOOD Store® woodworking plans directly to your computer and start building in just minutes! OR, we'll mail them to you, your choice!


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This Months Woodworking Project

Router Paddle Switch

Since we didn't have a lot of time this month I decided to share a little project that I did to make my routing operation safer. My router is mounted in the wing of my tablesaw. In order to turn it on I had to reach under the table and push the switch. If anything happened that required me to turn it off immediately there was no way.
 
I purchased a paddle On/Off switch, ROCKLER, but there was no easy way to mount it securely to my tablesaw. The beauty of a paddle switch is that you can "kick" it off with your knee if you get into trouble. Because of that I wanted it mounted securely.
 
The backing plate is from 1/2" birch plywood and I used 3/4" for the supports.
Locate the 1/2" plywood with the switch on the saw and mark the length and the bolt holes for mounting the switch.
Cut the backing plate 1 1/2" wider than the switch.
Drill the mounting holes for the switch; I drilled 1/4" holes.
 

 
Cut two 45 degree braces from 3/4" plywood.
Make the top mounting plate from 3/4" plywood, 1 1/2" wider than the backing plate and approximately 10" long.
Pre-drill and countersink all the holes.
Using a fence square up the support pieces, drill, glue and screw them onto the backing plate.
 

 
Align, drill, glue and screw the mounting plate onto the support pieces.
 

 
The completed assembly should look something like this.
 

 
Screw the mounting plate to the bottom of your table and you now will be running a much safer routing operation.

That's about it. We hope you liked this project. If you build it and your friends ask where you got such a clever idea, please tell them that you got it at RunnerDuck.com.

If any of you have wood projects to share I would be happy to put it into a format for our newsletter. Just send me an email at kennyb@runnerduck.com and lets see what we can come up with. Thank you!
Free Rockler Catalog
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     If you want to talk about something just drop us a line to kennyb@runnerduck.com any time, we like to talk about most anything. We are always looking for content for our newsletter so if you have something to add we'd love to publish it, assuming it meets our strict family oriented requirements!

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