What's New This Week? It's just amazing to me how little fanfare there is these days for significant achievements. You win the Super Bowl and they tear your town apart. You win the World Cup in soccer and the whole world, well maybe except the United States, goes nuts. You become the first person on earth to fly single handedly around the world in a hot air balloon and, yawn, we move on to the World Series.
      This past week Steve Fossett became the first person since man first took to the air in hot air balloons hundreds of years ago to circumnavigate the globe. It took him six tries over six years and millions of dollars to achieve it. We think a little fanfare is in order! Ever hear about the Wright brothers? How about Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic ocean? Maybe man walking on the moon? Cool! This is Steve Fossett's greatest achievement to day. Why do I say to date? Well considering that he holds world records in ballooning, sailing and flying airplanes. He also swam the English Channel in 1985, placed 47th in the Iditarod, Alaska dog sled race in 1992 and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in 1996. I don't think he's done yet but what an impressive guy.

     We love museums, museums of all kinds. When we were in Washington DC a couple of years ago we went to a couple of the Smithsonian museums and just loved them. When we went to the ocean last year we stopped by the Cranberry Museum and had a great time. With us both being sort of crippled up this summer it's been tough trying to get out to a museum. Well we found a site that helps relieve that need.
      Janet Webb from Taos, New Mexico has put together a great web site that will take you to hundreds of museums all over the world. We got hung up following links from this site for hours. Some of the sites are just stores associated with the museum and others have full tours and a lot of neat interactive stuff.
      Check out Museum Stores Online at www.musee.com and be prepared to spend some quality time.

We are always looking for new and interesting sites. If you know of a site that you think our readers would like please share it with us and our readers. Let us know and we'll share your favorite with everyone else. The Internet is growing every day and we can't check all those great sites out by ourselves so please share your favorites with us.

Straw Flyer

     These little flyers are really simple to make but lots of fun to fly.
Here's what you'll need:

• A straw
• An 8 1/2" X 11" sheet of paper
• Scissors
• Clear tape

Cut a strip of paper 1" wide and 7" long.
Cut a second strip of paper 3/4" wide and 6" long.
If you want to get fancy you can add designs to each piece of paper.
Put a small piece of tape on one end of each piece of paper and tape one piece near one end of the straw and the other piece near the other end. Make sure they line up with each other.
With another piece of tape connect the ends of each piece of paper together, each forming a loop.

Throw your straw flyer with the small loop forward. You have to give it a pretty good toss to make it go.
Just for fun we made one with a bending straw and by gently moving the end of the straw back and forth, up and down we can change how our flyer goes.

If you have a kids project that would be suitable for our newsletter we'd love to share it with our readers. Just contact marilyn@runnerduck.com and we'll do the rest.

Remember we have all of our past kids projects archived on our web site at www.runnerduck.com/kids_corner.htm.

      This is so cool, I wish I had one as a kid. It's time to get out doors and start doing some work. How about helping our dad with this great John Deere Loader. Once your child owns their very own pedal chain drive construction tractor, they'll be the envy of the neighborhood. Now your 3-6 year old can pedal and maneuver their very own tractor with a real heavy-duty front loader that scoops, carries and dumps. Your child will improve eye-hand coordination and learn to judge distance as they scoop and dump their load from the driver’s seat. You can order the John Deere Loader from the RunnerDuck toy store at www.vstore.com/cgi-bin/pagegen/bcentral-vstore/runnerducktoys.

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The Tempos News and CD of the Week

     The Tempos are playing at the Woodland Park Zoo this Saturday but don't expect to see us in any of the cages. It's a private wedding and unless you are an invited guest you probably won't get to hear us. If you have a special event that could use the wonderful music of a classic big band be sure to contact The Tempos at thetempos@runnerduck.com.

      Another wonderful musician has passed away. Ray Brown died in his sleep last Tuesday at the age of 75. Ray is one of the best bass players to ever walk the earth. He has played with all the greats and performed all over the world. He was married to Ella Fitzgerald who passed away a few years ago. Ray started playing in 1945 when he was 19 years old. He helped form the music style known as be-bop. He will be missed but his music will live on forever.
      I think it's almost impossible to recommend one CD over another that Ray Brown has recorded. We chose "Ultimate Ray Brown" because it gives a pretty good cross section of his music. It features music that was recorded between 1956 and 1965. It has some of the greatest names in music on it as well as Ray. We have "Ultimate Ray Brown" this week for only $10.99 at www.runnerduckmusic.bcentral-vstore.com

Click HERE for "Ultimate Ray Brown", our featured CD of the week.

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Joke of the Week

Sorry blonds but here's another "Blond Joke" thanks to Amber H.

A blonde finds herself in dire trouble. Her business has gone bust and she's in serious financial straits. She's so desperate that she decides to ask God for help. She begins to pray... "God, please help me. I've lost my business and if I don't get some money, I'm going to lose my house as well. Please let me win the lotto."
Lotto night comes, and somebody else wins it.
She again prays... "God, please let me win the lotto! I've lost my business, my house and I'm going to lose my car as well."
Lotto night comes and again, somebody else wins it.
Once again, she prays... "My God, why have you forsaken me? I've lost my business, my house, and my car. My children are starving. I don't often ask you for help, and I have always been a good servant to you.
PLEASE just let me win the lotto this one time so I can get my life back in order."
Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light as the heavens open and the blonde is confronted by the voice of God Himself...
"Sweetheart, work with Me on this........... "Buy a ticket."

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The RunnerDuck Goodies Store

     We have a new polo shirt at the RunnerDuck Goodies Store for you to check out. There are lots of other nice RunnerDuck items also.

   THIS WEEKS FREE RECIPE

Cherry Cobbler

• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Heaping Tablespoon Flour
• 2 Cups Cherry Juice
• 2 Cups Cherries


• 1/4 teaspoon Almond Extract
• A pinch of Salt
• Bisquick biscuit mix.

Combine Sugar, Flour and Cherry Juice, stirring constantly until thickened.
Add Cherries, Almond Extract and Salt.
Pour in the bottom of a 9" X 13" greased pan and drop 12 *biscuits on top.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes.
*Use the recipe for shortcake from the Bisquick box.

You can serve it hot or cold it's great either way.

Remember, if you have a recipe you'd like to share please send it to marilyn@runnerduck.com.

     Every month we post a new recipe on our web page. Be sure and check out our NEW July recipe next Monday at the RunnerDuck Kitchen Store. We'd be happy to post your favorite recipe there or in our newsletter and give you credit. Just drop a line to marilyn@runnerduck.com

      This week's cookbook recommendation seems rather appropriate since we are here in the Northwest and our recipe this week is a cobbler. "Dungeness Crabs and Blackberry Cobblers" by Janie Hibler is a very nice recipe book featuring Northwest favorites. Northwest cooks have made the most of the incredible bounty of a vastly diverse terrain, ocean, mountains, fertile valleys, and desert. Cooking teacher and food writer Janie Hibler weaves the strand of local culinary history into this collection of 220 delectable recipes, blending the old with the new.
      You can find "Dungeness Crabs and Blackberry Cobblers" by Janie Hibler at the RunnerDuck Cookbook Store this week for $3.01 off the regular price.

The RunnerDuck web site is hosted by

Toy Boat

     Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat! How'd you do? This week we have a wood project for the kids that will need an adult's assistance. We made these toy paddlewheel boats as kids and played with them in the big pond we had at the back of our property. You can have that same kind of fun with this easy to build paddlewheel boat. Make these with your friends and have boat races.
We suggest that you get some help from an adult with this project since it uses power tools although they can be built with hand tools.

Here's what you'll need:

• Some scrap 3/4" wood
• Some scrap 1/4" wood
• Rubber Bands
• Carpenters Glue
• Paint

      There are many different ways to make these little boats. Use scrap material and let that help set the size of your boat.
First you need to cut the hull of your boat. We used 3/4" fir and made it 3 1/2" wide and 8" long.
Cut a point on the front of your boat.
Cut a notch in the back for the paddlewheel. Leave enough wood on the sides of the cutout to support your rubber band. Make the cut-out 1/2" longer than it is wide.

Click on the picture for a bigger view.
Make your paddlewheel out of 1/4" plywood or what ever thin wood you might have.
Cut two square pieces about 1/4" narrower all around than the cutout in the back of your boat.
Cut a notch in the center of each piece as thick as the wood and 1/2 the width of the paddle.

Put glue on the two paddle pieces and slide them together.
Sand and paint your boat to make it look really neat.
Put a rubber band over the paddlewheel and over the sides of the cutout.
Wind it up, put it in water and watch it go. You may have to do some adjusting of the paddlewheel from side to side to make your boat go straight or in a circle.

If you think you have built an especially cool boat send us a picture and we'll post it in our newsletter.

     We are always looking for new projects to feature in our newsletter. If you have a project that you would like to share please drop us a line and we'll help get it published in the RunnerDuck review. We are looking for woodworking, gardening, crafts and kids projects so send us your thoughts at projects@runnerduck.com.

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CONSERVATION TIP

      One of our most important resources is water and there are a lot of ways we can waste and abuse it. If we have lots of water but it's unusable to all the things that live on the planet then that's really bad. There are a number of things we can do to help protect our water besides just conserving it. When you need to dispose of something hazardous don't just throw it into your trash. Things like unused paint and household chemicals should be disposed of at a hazardous waste center. Many communities have sites or events to collect these materials. Rather than throw them into your regular trash collect them in a safe location in your garage and then take them to a hazard waste center all at one time.

If you have a conservation tip please send it to conservation@runnerduck.com and we'll post it in our newsletter.

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Until Next Time...

     We hope you didn't burn anything down or blow any fingers off yesterday. One of our local newscasters said that summer in Seattle officially starts July 12th. After a cloudy, rainy, 62 degree Fourth of July we think he may be right. Have a great summer!

     If you want to talk about something just drop us a line any time, we like to talk about most anything.

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The DuckMaster

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