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What's New? One thing that continually fascinates us all is the weather. If you remember last months newsletter we talked about record rains, high winds, flooding and snow. Well December wasn't much better. While the rains subsided to it's normal Northwest drizzle we got hammered with hurricane force winds all across the Western Washington area. Our power was out for three days and many people were without power for more than a week.
All of this got our interest going in setting up a weather station at our house. As luck would have it Costco had a La Crosse Wireless Weather Pro on sale. We purchased it and after some messing around we now have it connected to our computer and broadcasting the weather right from our home in Kirkland, Washington to the world.The weather station came with wind speed and direction, temperature; both indoor and out, humidity; both indoor and out, barometric pressure, weather trends and much more. On our home page there is now a blue box that displays our weather and updates every fifteen minutes. If you click on that box you'll be taken to our new weather page, www.runnerduck.com/weather/kirkland_weather.htm where more data is displayed. It's a work in progress but I'll be adding much more information as time goes on so keep coming back and checking. This should be a lot of fun to play with over the new year.
DigiTalkTo start the year off there is a new email going around that has a nasty virus attached to it. The email is titled "Protected Message from AOL.com user". It includes an ID number and Password. It's signed "Sincerely, Protected Mail Service, AOL.com" or it might be Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or MSN. It has an attachment that you really don't want to open. Not only will it infect your computer with a virus it will send it to your mailing list. To read more about this nasty email go to RaysComputerTips/Issue9.htm. SITE OF THE MONTH
Being a musician (Ken) I really likes music and I especially like listening to music on the computer while I'm working away. A lot of times I'll listen to our local jazz station, KPLU, over the internet. It's a wonderful station with 24 hour jazz but their play list gets a little repetitive after a while.
I just discovered a new listening experience over the internet that is really interesting. They have all types of music and it's free. The thing that makes it so interesting is that you select a mood or dance that suits your style. Are you looking for "dark", "energetic", "positive" or "calm" music? Just click on one of the music types or anywhere in between and you will get a trail of music that should suit your mood.
You can also select a year range so you can get music from a certain era. It's a lot of fun to play with and there is a lot of great music from classical, to jazz, to funk and rap.
Check out www.musicovery.com and start enjoying music a different way.
MARILYN'S CORNERSuet Bird Feeder
 Here's what you'll need:
Cut the wire mesh to fit the suet as follows:
The main body should be 24 squares by 12 squares. Cut the sides, ends and bottom as shown below:
 Bend using a pair of needle nose pliers or a wooden 2" X 4" and a hammer. Make the bends a sharp 90 degree bend. Using the cable ties attach the edge of the side to the back. Using the cable ties attach the bottom to the back. Using the cable ties attach the top to the back but only along the back edge. The top acts like a lid to keep the suet in so the bigger birds can't pull out big chunks. Trim all the long tails on the cable ties flush with wire cutters. Attach a chain to opposite corners of the top, this will help it hang straight. Put the suet in, close the lid and hang it up. Wait for the birds to show up and enjoy the show! Remember we have all of our past projects archived on our web site at www.runnerduck.com. Just click on the Craft Egg.
Kids Stuff
  (CLICK)
Shop our Year-End Clearance and find the hottest deals on the coolest toys with savings of up to 70% on top toy brands, including Barbie, Disney Cars, Hot Wheels, Pixel Chix, Polly Pocket, Superman, and more. Plus, get FREE Super Saver Shipping (restrictions apply). Don't forget to check out the rest of the Year-End Deals on baby products The Tempos
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Ken's brother Ron sent us this joke, unfortunately it's probably no joke at all!
A leading charity realized that it had never received a donation from the city's most successful lawyer. So a volunteer paid the lawyer a visit in his lavish office.
The volunteer opened the meeting by saying, "Our research shows that even though your annual income is over two million dollars, you don't give a penny to charity. Wouldn't you like to give something back to your community through our organization?"
The lawyer thinks for a minute and says, "First, did your research also show you that my mother is dying after a long, painful illness and she has huge medical bills that are far beyond her ability to pay?"
Embarrassed, the volunteer mumbles, "Uh... no, I didn't know that."
"Secondly," says the lawyer, "my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair and is unable to support his wife and six children."
The stricken volunteer begins to stammer an apology, but is cut off again.
"Thirdly, did your research also show you that my sister's husband died in dreadful car accident, leaving her penniless with a mortgage and three children, one of whom is disabled and another that has learning disabilities requiring an array of private tutors?"
The humiliated volunteer, completely beaten, says, "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."
Then the lawyer says, "So...if I didn't give any money to them, what makes you think I'd give any to you?"
THIS WEEK'S FREE RECIPE
It makes 1 1/2 to 2 Cups.
Pour over the ham before baking or serve hot at the table for a ham sauce.
Remember, if you have a recipe you'd like to share please send it to Marilyn@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.
If you like glazes and would like to see a bunch more then this months cookbook recommendation is a must! Not only does it have glazes but a whole bunch of great BBQ sauces.
Dirk Hemza, known as "DIGGLER" at Amazon from Livermore, California reviewed this book and wrote: "This is a great informational book on what each ingredient (spices , seasonings and jucies) does to the meat and taste. Has an abundance of great recipes. Has a lot of info on cook times and how different meats should be cooked.
I'm a BBQ fanatic and consider myself a grill specialist (not quite a Master yet). I think this book will give me the knowledge to push my grilling to a competitive level. "Watch out for DIGGLER'S Meat"
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!
Kaleidoscope
I always enjoyed looking through kaleidoscopes as a kid and figured that my grand kids would enjoy it too. I made these for Christmas presents this year and they were thrilled.
I was inspired by an article in the November 2006 Wood Magazine. I liked the idea of a wood kaleidoscope but their design was rectangle and I wanted one that was octagonal. If you like the rectangular design you can get the pattern for it at the Wood Store.
Here's what you'll need for the kaleidoscope:
You can order a wood kit to make the rectangular kaleidoscope and stand from Heritage Building Specialties at www.heritagewood.com or make your own. I did both and I have to say that the Heritage wood is very nice, especially the Curly Maple!
Set your tablesaw blade to EXACTLY 22 1/2 degrees. Set the fence using some scrap pieces so that the pieces you cut will be 17/32" on the inside edge.
Run the sled through the blade and check that you have enough height to cut through the 1/4" pieces.
Cut eight pieces 9" long.
Lay out two pieces of blue masking tape long enough to wrap all the way around the eight pieces.
Set the two pieces that will be the sides of the kaleidoscope 1" back from the edge of the other pieces.
Apply glue between each piece and "roll" all the pieces together. Make sure that the tape is tight around the tube.
Let the glue dry for 24 hours so the tube is good and solid.
You should now have something that looks like this:
Using a scraper, scrape the edges to remove any glue and smooth the edges.
 3-Piece Cabinet Scraper Set |
To drill the holes place a spacer inside the tube to prevent tear out. Drill the center top and bottom holes 5/8" diameter, 1" back from the edge using a forstner bit.
 7-Pc. Forstner Bit Set |
To see the rest of this project go to www.runnerduck.com/kaleidoscope/kaleidoscope.htm
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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.
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