What's New?   For Christmas Ken's brother Ron got him a radio controlled electric model airplane. He's been wanting one and Ron is a big RC flying nut. He has about seven airplanes in varying sizes all the way from small electric's to large four cycle gas planes. He thought it would be fun to share the sickness ;-)

They put the plane together over the Christmas break but the weather in Western Washington has not been kind. These small electric airplanes, called Park Flyers, don't fly well in the wind. Anything above about three miles per hour and they can be a handful especially when you are just learning to fly. We did manage to get out long enough for Ken to stuff it into the ground and break the prop. After a quick fix at home we took it out again and actually made a take off, circled around a few times and the most important part made a landing!

On the PT Cruiser front we pretty much have the exterior looking the way we want it. The last addition was the white wall tires which are pretty cool. Here's a picture of it the way it stands. If you see it driving down the road be sure to give a big wave, it really makes Ken feel good!

You'll find that if you make every attempt to keep your batteries warm you'll get a lot longer usable life out of them and not miss that perfect snap shot of uncle Barry with his head in the snow and his butt in the air!

Have you played at all with Google Maps or Google Earth? Talk about fun! Many of you probably use Map Quest or Maps.com to find locations or directions but you might want to consider Google Maps as an alternative. When you go to Google Maps you get a map of the United States and Canada and there is a box at the top. You can enter the address you are looking for or you can enter your location, the word "to" (no quotes) and the address where you want to go. A map will pop up with the route and a box with directions. It's simple and works great! Just go to http://maps.google.com/ and start traveling.

If you want to be a little more adventurous you can go to Google Earth and download the 11.5 Meg file. It's recommended that you have a broadband connection such as DSL or Cable. The instructions for using the program are on the Google Earth site and are really quite simple. Once you've installed the program and launched it you can type in an address and get a satellite image of that location. When we zoomed in our address we can see the path, pond and waterwheel in our back yard. Now that's pretty amazing. You can also tilt and rotate the image to get looks at it from different angles. You'll find Google Earth at http://earth.google.com/. Load it up and visit some of the places in the world you've always wanted to see up close and personal.

Marble Refrigerator Magnets

This project came to us in the form of a Christmas present from Ken's daughter Jenni. She had seen this somewhere and went out and got the pieces to make these cute refrigerator magnetics.

Here's what you'll need:

• Clear Marbles that are flat on one side
• Small round magnets
• White glue
• Permanent adhesive
• Small pictures or printed letters

Using one of the marbles place it over pictures to find ones that will work. Or print out letters on your printer that will fit behind the marble.
Cut them out to fit the back of the marble.
Glue the pictures to the back of the magnet with a small amount of white glue. Let dry.
Glue a magnet to the back of the picture using a permanent adhesive. Let dry.

That's all there is to it. If you use letters you can spell out different words on the refrigerator. You can also use this idea to ornament other things in your house and use bigger flat sided marbles to make drawer pulls, pins, pendants, hair clips, etc.

Have fun with it and thanks Jenni for the neat idea!

     We hope you enjoy Marilyn's Corner and look forward to all the fun things she brings you each month. If you have a fun project that would be suitable for our newsletter we'd love to share it with our readers. Just contact marilyn at runnerduck.com and we'll do the rest.

Remember we have all of our past projects archived on our web site at www.runnerduck.com. Just click on the Projects or Kids Only Eggs.

The Tempos big swing band want to wish you a very happy New Year and look forward to entertaining you throughout 2006. We have finished up the mix on our new CD, "Big Swing", and are working on the graphics and printing. We hope to have some CD available for your purchase in the near future.

In the mean time check out The Tempos music from our "Swing Set" CD on line! That's right, you can listen to The Tempos anytime just by going to their web site. The music files are MP3's and some are as large as 9 MEG but we think they are well worth the download. If you like traditional old swing music then you will probably enjoy our CD. Just go to www.runnerduck.com/tempos_cd.htm and click on any song title.

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.

Album Pick of the Week

"The Legendary Lou Rawls"
By Lou Rawls

As many of you may have heard by now Lou Rawls lost his battle with cancer yesterday and died at the age of 72. He leaves behind a lifetime of wonderful music and movies. He first came onto the music scene is 1962 and never looked back. Today we seem to have so many singers that all sound the same but Lou Rawls was one of a kind. We will never forget him and his smooth jazzy style will be with us forever.

This CD is made up of some of his most famous hits. I'm sure you all remember Tobacco Road and Willow Weep For me and my favorite God Bless The Child. They are all here to help make the memory last.

CLICK!

Be sure and visit the RunnerDuck Music Store for great savings on just about anything.

Our gas fireplace insert fan motor went out a few weeks ago and boy did we see a difference in our gas bill. We have about a three thousand square foot house and the way we heat it is with our gas fireplace insert. Of course that does not heat the whole house but it heats the main portion that we spend most of our time in. We close off the rooms that we rarely use and we keep the thermostat turned down to about 63 degrees F during the day. We keep it closer to 58 at night. We turn off the fireplace at night and use a blanket and comforter on the bed. In the morning the furnace comes on for a little bit to take the chill off and we fire up the fireplace again.

If you have a way to heat just the area that you are mostly in and keep the furnace turned down for the rest of the house you'll will see a dramatic savings as we do. Of course sweaters and sweatshirt's are a good hedge against the lower temperatures also.

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

RSS News Feeder One of the best ways to get our newsletter is to have it delivered to your door step. Actually it would be delivered to your desktop! Highlight the XML link (right click and drag over it), select Copy and paste it into your newsreader. Or just paste http://www.runnerduck.com/runnerduck.xml into your newsreader. A good free news reader is Awasu and you can download it at www.awasu.com. Don't know what this is all about? Check out our little tutorial HERE! JOKE OF THE MONTH Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A cell phone on a bench rings and a man engages the hands free speaker-function and begins to talk. Everyone else in the room stops to listen. MAN: "Hello" WOMAN: "Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?" MAN: "Yes" WOMAN: "I am at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's only $1,000. Is it OK if I buy it?" MAN: "Sure, ..go ahead if you like it that much." WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new 2006 models. I saw one I really liked" MAN: "How much?" WOMAN: "$90,000" MAN: "OK, but for that price I want it with all the options." WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing. The house I wanted last year is back on the market. They're asking $950,000" MAN: "Well, then go ahead and give them an offer of $900,000. They will probably take it. If not, we can go the extra 50 thousand. If it's really a pretty good price." WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you so much!!" MAN: "Bye! I love you, too." The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are staring at him in astonishment, mouths agape..... He smiles and asks: "Anyone know who this phone belongs to?...."

   THIS WEEK'S FREE RECIPE

Remember, if you have a recipe you'd like to share please send it to marilyn at runnerduck.com. We'd be happy to post your favorite recipe on our Kitchen site or in our newsletter and give you credit.

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

(CLICK)

For more really creative and fast appetizers check out . A reader for Natick, Maine reviewed this cookbook and wrote, "I love this book! Not only are the recipes easy and quick, but finding the ingredients will be no problem, (if you don't already have them in your fridge or pantry). The ideas are fresh and simple. I often found myself saying, "Now why didn't I think of that?" The point being that I didn't.
I brought the sun-dried tomato and kalamata olive spread (served on toasted whole wheat pita wedges) to a party. They were a huge hit! I only got one bite before they disappeared.
If you want to serve delicious appetizers that are fast and easy to make, this is the "cookbook" for you."

The RunnerDuck web site is hosted by

If you are looking for a great web hosting service with fantastic support check out www.fastwirenetwork.com. If you mention that you heard about them from RunnerDuck you will get a "Duck Deal". Just ask about your Duck Deal when you sign up.

---

WOOD PROJECT PLANS

DOWNLOADABLE & MAIL-DIRECT
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!

CLICK!

---

PROJECTS

Drill Press Table/Fence

I've seen lots of fancy drill press tables for large drill presses but never anything for the small bench top presses. I decided to take it upon myself to design and build my own. It looks very similar to the big ones and I've used some of ideas that looked like they would fit a small table. I use it on my 9" Delta,

so your dimensions may be a little different. The result have been a table/fence that fits good and works good.

Here's what you'll need:
24" X 16" X 3/4" plywood
16" X 1" X 1/2" plywood
T-Track Kit

4' T-Track Kit

Mark the center of the table on the back 16" side. Mark 1" in and drill a 2" hole. This will be to clear around the post of the drill press.
Cut straight in to the edges of the hole.

Mark the centers of the T-slots 3 1/2" in from each side.
Use an Incra Bend Rule to mark 3/8" on each side of the center line around the edge.

INCRA Precision Bend Rules

Set your dado to 1/2" deep. To make setting the height easy I use a Combination Square and Height Gage.

12" Combination Square Hi-Gage Square Attachment

Set the height gage to the T-track and then transfer that setting to the dado blade.

To see the rest of the instructions for this project go to www.runnerduck.com/drill_press_table.htm.

---

FirstName: LastName: AddressLine 1: AddressLine 2: City: State: ZipCode: Country: United States Other countries..." E-mail: I'd like to receive the free "Log-On" e-mail newsletter.

If you have a project that you would like to share please send us an email 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 kennyb@runnerduck.com.

---

Tell A Friend About The "Duck" One of the best ways we build our reader base is by good people like you telling your friends about "The "Duck". If you know someone that you think would like our newsletter just Send This Newsletter To a Friend Privacy Statement: This information does not go to anyone but the person you entered above. We do not collect any information from this form.

---

     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!

All rights reserved, RunnerDuck Productions,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
RunnerDuck and its logos are property of
RunnerDuck Productions.
All other logos are property of the individual companies.
We can be contacted at kennyb@runnerduck.com.

Past RunnerDuck Review Newsletters