What's New This Week? For my birthday last Tuesday I (Ken) got a Villain IV twin motor off-shore racing boat manufactured by Traxxas. No, not a real off-shore racer but a 31" radio controlled speed boat. I've been wanting an RC boat for a long time and this year Marilyn surprised me with this really slick one. It came fully assembled with a transmitter and everything except the batteries and battery charger. She got me some high powered batteries and a dual charger so I can charge both batteries at the same time.
It will be a real learning experience to get control of it, especially at high speeds. They advertise that it will do around 20 MPH right out of the box. I've just finished putting all the decals on and should be giving it a shakedown cruse this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some neat pictures for you next week, with the deck side up!
My brother Ron has just gotten into flying RC planes in the past month. He is still learning to fly but has not tackled the landings or take-offs yet. He did land his plane in a tall tree a week or so ago so I guess he still has a way to go. The nice thing about the boat is I should not have that problem, no trees ;-)

     The fair season is upon us. Yesterday the Evergreen State Fair started in Monroe, Washington and the third largest fair in the country, The Western Washington Fair, starts in Puyallup, Washington. These are great events to go to whether you have never been or have been going all your life. There are lots to see and do. We especially like to try and time our visit to coincide with the displaying of Runner Ducks. If you are going to be in the Washington State area over the next few weeks we'd highly recommend going to one of these fairs.
You can get the entire agenda at their web sites including all the fantastic entertainment that will be performing. For the Evergreen State Fair go to www.evergreenfair.org and if you want to "Do The Puyallup" go to www.thefair.com/page.asp?view=23. If you aren't going to be in our fair state then check out the fairs close to your home. No matter where they are you'll have a blast!

Card Note Pads

     There are about a bazillion things that you can make out of greeting cards and we think that this use is particularly cool. They'll be great to make with school coming up soon. Make several and give them to your friends.

• Greeting Cards
• Yarn
• Hole Punch
• 3" X 5" Note Pads

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 have taken a little vacation but are ramping back up for the fall and winter season. If you have an event that requires the music of a really great big band be sure and check out The Tempos. This sixteen piece band will make any event something really special to remember.

     Don't forget that The Tempos big swing band is available for hire. If you have a special event that could use the wonderful music of a classic big band be sure to contact thetempos@runnerduck.com.

      As many of you know by now we love all types of music. We often feature big band swing because that's the music that I play as a drummer but classical has always been a favorite. Yo-Yo Ma is today's premier musician performing with many of the worlds great orchestras. This CD, "Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet", really caught our attention and we believe you'll love it too.
Jean Vignes, from Santa Barbara wrote this about Silk Road Journeys, "One of the most exquisite, haunting, creative and sumptuous works of musical art to be produced in my lifetime. I cannot play this CD as 'background' music; it captures 100 percent of my heart and mind each time I play it. It is breathtaking and disturbing and almost heartbreakingly beautiful."

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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.

      We got a good response to our request for conservation tips. We'd like to get more so if you have one please send it to conservation@runnerduck.com.

The first suggestion we got was from Otto. He writes, "Have you ever had a perfectly good umbrella, especially the larger golf sized ones, ruined because the tips on the end of the rods break leaving you with a partially deployed bumber chute? The fabric is fine but you end up trashing an otherwise perfectly good umbrella.
The solution that I've come up with cost pennies and works fine. Go to the sporting goods department of your favorite store and ask for arrow knocks. These are the little plastic (or composite) tips that are on the 'non-pointy' end of the arrow that the line from the bow fits in. Remove the broken fabric holder from the end of the umbrella rod and EPOXY the arrow knock in place. I use 5-minute epoxy as is sets up fairly quick and is not a brittle. You may have to shave one of the tines on the arrow knock to the correct size to have the loop of thread from the umbrella skirt fit over it. Ta Da permanent fix, bumber chute back in service.
You may want to try and match the color of your existing tips (black probably). My first repair job was with florescent green and I still take some ribbing about it.

Thanks Otto for the great tip.

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

Jesus and "The Redneck" from Roger H. An Irishman in a wheel chair entered a restaurant one afternoon and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee. The Irishman looked across the restaurant and asked, "Is that Jesus sitting over there?" The waitress nodded "yes," so the Irishman told her to give Jesus a cup of coffee on him.

The next patron to come in was an Englishman with a hunched back. He shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked the waitress for a cup of hot tea. He also glanced across the restaurant and asked, "Is that Jesus over there?" The waitress nodded, so the Englishman said to give Jesus a cup of hot tea, my treat.

The third patron to come into the restaurant was a Redneck on crutches. He hobbled over to a booth, sat down and hollered, "Hey there, sweet thang, how's about gettin' me a cold glass of Coke!" He, too, looked across the restaurant and asked, "Is that God's boy over there?" The waitress nodded, so the Redneck said to give Jesus a cold glass of coke, on my bill.

As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the Irishman, touched him and said, "For your kindness, you are healed." The Irishman felt the strength come back into his legs, got up, and danced a jig out the door.

Jesus also passed by the Englishman, touched him and said, "For your kindness, you are healed." The Englishman felt his back straightening up, and he raised up his hands, praised the Lord and did a series of back flips out the door. Then Jesus walked towards the Redneck. The Redneck jumped up and yelled, don't touch me......I'm drawin' disability!!!!!"

   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 August 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.

"The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread" by Peter Reinhart

Have you ever wanted to get serious about bread making? This is the most extraordinary bread making book you'll find anywhere. A reader from Fenton, MI. wrote; I have six or seven bread books I've collected over the past ten years. The authors of these books have played an integral part in my development as a home baker (Marilyn M. Moore, Beth Hensperger, Bernard Clayton, Jr.) and I have tested and tasted breads from my own kitchen with much satisfaction. I'd reached a point where I thought my baking was as good as it was going to get without having very expensive commercial equipment but was pleased to learn, after ordering The Bread Baker's Apprentice, that there is indeed a new level of excellence using everyday tools and ingredients. Mr. Reinhart's stories, photos, techniques, and recipes yield better results than you could ever imagine. The bagels have spoiled me. The artisan breads have spoiled my entire family. This is a fine book to own and work with.

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

Recipe Box Bookends

     A couple of weeks ago we made a really nice little recipe box. Well this week we are making two and turning them into bookends.

Here's what you'll need:

• 2' X 2' X 1/4" plywood
• 12" X 6" X 1/2" Poplar
• (4) 1/2" hinges
• Small Brads
• Glue
• 2 metal bookends

This project uses 15 degrees for a lot of the cuts. The measurements are to the longer side so you will cut back 15 degrees.
Cut (4) side pieces of 1/4" plywood 6" X 5".
Cut 15 degrees from the top corner to the other side.
From where that cut meets the other side cut 90 degrees down to the bottom. See Picture.

Cut (2) backs 5 1/8" X 6". The cut across the top should be beveled 15 degrees.
Cut (2) fronts 4 13/16" X 5 1/8". The cut across the bottom should be beveled 15 degrees.
Cut (2) bottoms 3 7/16" X 5 1/8". The cut across the front should be beveled 15 degrees.
Cut the top from 1/2" wood, 6" X 5 7/8". The cut across the back should be beveled 15 degrees.
Nail the boxes together using glue and small brads. I found it easier to hold one piece in my vice while I aligned and nailed the other.

Screw the hinges into the back and lid. The bevel of the lid should be flush to the back of the box.
Now the creative part. Paint the boxes to look like little houses or bird houses.
Attach metal bookends to the back of the box.

That's it! Now organize your cookbooks and recipes into these neat bookends.

We hope you've enjoyed this project and have good success with it. Remember, if you ever have any problems with our projects just drop us a line and we'll try to help. Since we build every one of these projects we have a pretty good idea of how to get through them. We also make lots of mistakes so we can help avoid them. 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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     If you want to talk about something just drop us a line at duckmaster@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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