What's New This Week?   The Crocus are blooming and the trees are budding all over the place, spring must be on the way! At least that's the way it is here in Western Washington. Some of you are not as fortunate as of yet. With things starting to grow we are turning out thoughts to the great out doors. Gardening season will soon be upon us and all the wonderful fruits that it has to bear. We are always looking for projects that we can share with our readers. If you have an idea for something that would make your outdoor gardening and yard care simpler let us know and we'll try to come up with something.

Secondly there is a really nasty email that contains a pop-up. You can also get this pop-up when you are surfing the web. When the pop-up opens it installs a small program on your computer that will dial your phone, through your modem, to call a 900 number. These 900 numbers charge $7.00 or more per minute while you are on line. If you get this pop-up unplug your phone line form your computer immediately! Unfortunately we have not seen this so don't know exactly what the pop-up looks like. Apparently it asks you to install a small program so that should be a clue, Don't Do It!! If you do get it you should run Spybot Search and Destroy to clean all spyware and auto-dialers from your computer, it's a free program. I would suggest going to Spybot and downloading a copy right now and check your computer. It's a good program to have and run every now and then.

     Do you like using different fonts in your Word documents? How about "Dings"? What are "Dings"? They are characters that show up in your document when you hit a particular key. An example would be if you selected Wingdings as the font in Word and hit the letter "Z" you would get .
This site has a whole bunch of different "Dings" as well as some really outrageous fonts. You just download the font to your computer (remember where you saved it). Go to your start button and select "Control Panel". In control panel double click "Fonts". Under File select "Install New Font". Point to the location and where you stored the file and select OK. The next time you go to use Word or any other program that uses fonts you will see the new font as a choice. Just click on it and type away.
To get these spiffy fonts and dings go to www.houseoflime.com. They ask for a donation which is always a nice gesture if you download them and use them. Just a buck or two really helps these programmers out.

Ribbon Rose Garden

     Here's a pretty spring like project to go with the blooming crocus. This rose garden was made by Marilyn's mom a number of years ago and it brings joy every time we bring it out. We think that this makes a wonderful gift. Since this project uses a hot melt glue gun please supervise your children when making it.

Here's what you'll need:

Cinnamon Sticks
Green Moss
Mini Ribbon Roses
4 small 1/2" diameter Magnets
Hot Melt Glue and Gun
Cardboard 3" X 4"

Cut the cardboard to size, 3" X 4".
Make a border around the cardboard by gluing the Cinnamon Sticks around the edges on top of the cardboard.
Glue the Green Moss to fill in the center between the Cinnamon Sticks.
Glue rows of Mini Ribbon Roses on top of the Moss.
Glue the magnets on the back. You should use at least 4 since it is a little heavy.

That's it! These look great on the refrigerator or sitting on a table. If you are going to only use it on a table or shelf then leave the magnets off.

     We hope you enjoy Marilyn's Corner and look forward to all the fun things she brings you each week. 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@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 is adding to their repertoire in preparation for their summer concerts. If you have a town in the Seattle area that has outdoor concerts in the summer you might just give The Tempos a look. We've been entertaining the good folks of the Seattle area for over 40 years. Just click on the link below to find out more.

     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 thetempos@runnerduck.com. We perform all over the Seattle area for all sorts of events.

Album Pick of the Week

"Chez Toots" Toots Thielemans

A lot of times I get my inspiration for a recommendation from the radio where I've heard an artist I haven't heard in a while. This is one of my all time favorite artists and I keep forgetting to mention him. Toots Thielemans is a wonderful harmonica player that has performed and recorded with just about anyone you can think of in the jazz world. This week we are recommending one of his all time best CD's. It was recorded in 1998 and is standing the test of time.

(CLICK)

Remember, we have a link on our web site, www.runnerduck.com, to our ever popular Grammy® Shopper site. If you haven't been there yet just click HERE to see all the 2003 Grammy® winners complete with links to purchase any one of them.

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. Don't know what this is all about? Check out our little tutorial HERE!

      Do you like to have the TV on for background noise while you work around the house? Shame on you, that really wastes a lot of energy. While TV's are a lot better than they use to be they still use quite a bit of electricity, at least compared to a small radio. Many radios have TV stations available on them. Just turn on the radio and leave the TV for when you actually have time to sit down and watch it.

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

The RunnerDuck web site is hosted by

   THIS WEEK'S FREE RECIPE

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 the February recipe 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.

Be sure and visit the RunnerDuck Cookbook Store for other great savings on cookbooks and cooking supplies.

Garden Tool Organizer

We're starting to focus on projects that will get you ready for spring. Of course gardening is one of the things we get most excited about. If your garden tools are anything like ours then you will spend some time digging them out from behind other tools. We've designed this organizer to hold your long handled tools to make them easy to find.

Here's what you'll need:

• (4) 2" X 4" X 8' Cedar
• (3) 1" X 4" X 8' Cedar
• 3' X 3' X 1/2" Plywood
• Deck screws
• Glue
• Stain/finish

Here's an exploded view of this project. Click on the picture for a bigger view.

We're going to take a couple of weeks to build this project. Not because it's so difficult but because I'm running way behind and don't have it done yet :-)

Cut four 2" X 4" pieces 24" long and miter 45 degrees on each end.
Cut four 2" X 4" pieces 36" long for the legs.
Cut four 1" X 4" pieces 24" long and miter 45 degrees on each end.
Cut four 2" X 4" pieces 2" long, these will be to support the bottom.
Glue and screw the top frame together. Make sure it is square by measuring from corner to corner across the middle. The two dimensions should be exactly the same.
Glue and screw the bottom frame together.
Attach the legs to the top frame using glue and screws with the top of the legs 3/4" (the thickness of the 1" X 4"'s) down from the top.
Glue and screw the bottom frame so that the bottom of the frame is 3" up from the bottom. This will give a little space for cleaning dirt out between the frame and the plywood.
Glue and screw the 2" 2" X 4" supports to the bottom inside edge of the legs.
Carefully measure and cut the plywood to fit in the bottom.
Glue and screw the bottom into place.

That's all we have time for this week. Next week we'll do the difficult part of building the two grids.

That's it! Everyone will wonder where you got such a cleaver idea. Be sure and tell them that it came from RunnerDuck :-)

Download, Build and Brew!

Here's a nice free little gift from the fine folks at Rockler, a Coffee Mill Plan. Just click on the picture above to download your free plan. Shop at Rockler for Great Tool Prices/Great Selection!

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 projects@runnerduck.com .

Wayne, The Tempos piano player, is feeling better and has started to share some more of his jokes. This one is pretty cute.

An elderly woman from Brooklyn decided to prepare her will and make her final requests. She told her rabbi she had two final requests. First, she wanted to be cremated, and second, she wanted her ashes scattered over Bloomingdales.

"Bloomingdales!" the rabbi exclaimed. "Why Bloomingdales?"

"Then I'll be sure my daughters visit me twice a week.

duckmaster@runnerduck.com

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