The UCB
Flier
A publication of
Utah Council
of the Blind
April
2019
For the latest news
updates call the Utah Connection 801-299-0670 or 1‑800-273-4569. (You may
also leave a message at the end of the announcement.)
Mail
correspondence to: UCB, PO Box 1415, Bountiful, UT 84011-1415. E-mail us at ucb.board@gmail.com.
The UCB Flier is available in large print, Braille,
audio CD, as a data (Microsoft Word and a plain text file) CD, and by e-mail.
If you would prefer to receive your newsletter in a different format, please
call the Utah Connection or send an e-mail to ucb.board@gmail.com and let us know.
In
This Issue
President’s Message.................................................................................. 3
Annual Easter Egg Hunt............................................................................. 4
Announcement to Guide Dog
Users........................................................... 5
Gifts and Games........................................................................................ 6
Ogden Association of the Blind Activities................................................... 9
Tech Tips................................................................................................... 9
Games for the Blind and Visually Impaired............................................... 11
Chicken
Lasagna in a Crockpot................................................................ 19
Ingredients.............................................. 19
Directions................................................ 20
Freezer Bag Instructions......................... 20
General UCB Information......................................................................... 21
Upcoming Board Meetings...................... 23
Note to Braille and Audio Readers
Article links are omitted from these versions for ease of reading, but may be found in the newsletter archived on our website at utahcounciloftheblind.org
Disclaimer
Articles and
announcements included in this publication are presented for your information
and interest. They reflect the opinions of the respective authors and are not
necessarily endorsed by the UCB.
Hi. I don't have much to write about this month. I would like to take a moment to thank Jenni Thompson for arranging the self-defense class for women. She and Master Cherith Shiba did an awesome job. I felt it was very beneficial to us. The volunteers were very comfortable to work with. They have received information about working with blind or visually impaired students in the future. They also received a challenge to talk to others about blindness and using a cane.
If anyone else has any activity ideas, we would love to hear about them. If you are interested in being on a committee to help organize activities, that would also be appreciated. Please call the Utah Connection and leave a message or give me a call.
Sponsored by Legacy West Pioneers and UCB
On April 13, 2019, the UCB will be holding its annual Easter egg hunt in
conjunction with the Legacy West Pioneers from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Families
with children are invited to meet at the Utah State Division of Services for
the Blind and Visually Impaired at 250 North
1950 West, Salt Lake City, Utah. Come and hunt for beeping eggs; this is a
great test of the use of hearing to find an object. Sighted participants
who are up for the challenge will be blindfolded. Candy will be distributed to all those who find beeping eggs. A hot
dog lunch will be provided to all who
participate. Reservations are required by those who plan to eat lunch. Please RSVP with the
number of attendees to either Connie 801-266-2184, Teresa
801-966-0188, or Leslie 801-292-1156. In case of inclement weather, the egg
hunt will be held indoors. So, don’t let bad weather keep you and your children
from enjoying this wonderful event.
Guide
dog users, have you ever wanted to ask a veterinarian questions about your dog:
how to know when to take your dog to a vet, how to keep the dog from becoming
sick, what signs to look for to know when it's time to retire your dog, etc.?
Greatest Paws on Earth, Utah's guide dog users’ group, will hold a conference
call on Thursday, April 18, at 7:00 pm, with a vet as speaker.
Dr.
Richard Pratt, who has had several guide dogs as patients during his more than
20-year career at Holladay Veterinary Hospital, will answer these and other
questions during the hour-long call. Participants will also have the chance to
ask Dr. Pratt questions.
You
don't have to be a member of Greatest Paws to be part of this call. You only
need to have a guide dog or to be interested in guide dogs. The call-in number
is 800-835-8395, and the access code is 1623768.
If
you have questions, or if there are specific questions you want Dr. Pratt to
review before the call, feel free to email Sandy Ruconich, current secretary of
Greatest Paws on Earth, at sruconich@gmail.com.
Hope
to see you on April 18th!
On
May 4th, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., the UCB will have an activity at the
Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired at 250 N 1950 W in Salt Lake City,
UT.
We
will be making gifts for mom and dad or husband and wife in the morning and
playing games in the afternoon. We will eat lunch between the activities.
The
cost for lunch will be $5 and will include a sandwich, chips, and a cookie. The
games are free. The gifts will each have a cost, depending on which one you
pick.
Gifts
are as follows with their prices:
·
Ceramic Banks: $3. Shapes are: bears,
cars, frogs, and trains. We will paint them and coat them with a spray so the
paint does not wash off. Please specify shape when making your reservation.
·
Flower
Pens: $3 each or two for $5. We will wrap the pens with colorful tape and put
flowers on the ends of them.
·
Vase
for Pens or Just Because: $3. We will put colorful rocks in glass vases and
make them look pretty for flowers or anything else someone wants to put in
them.
·
Candy
Bouquets: $3. We will make flowers using wrapped candy and put them together in
pretty bouquets.
·
T-shirts:
$7. We will decorate T-shirts with puff paint. Please specify the size of T-shirt
you wish to decorate when making your reservation.
·
Cards:
$2. We will make homemade cards for your loved ones.
When
you make your reservation for that day, please let us know which gifts you want
to make and if you will be eating lunch. Please include the money for ALL items
you want as well as for lunch.
Please
mail your reservation information, along with your payment to:
UCB
PO
Box 1415
Bountiful
UT 84011-1415
All
reservations must be received no later than April 29th so that supplies can be
bought for each activity. Also, we need to know how many people will be coming
for lunch so that we can order enough sandwiches.
If
you have any questions, please call Kira Larkin at 801-898-5472.
Saturday, April 13, 2019, 1:00-3:00 p.m.: OAB Monthly Meeting, West Haven City Hall, 4150 S 3900 W, West Haven
Saturday, April 27, 2019, 1:00-3:00 p.m.: Class on fire prevention and safety, Hope Community Center, 5051 S 2000 W, Roy, UT
Saturday, May 11, 2019, 1:00-3:00 p.m.: OAB Monthly Meeting—150th anniversary of the meeting of the rails, West Haven City Hall, 4150 S 3900 W, West Haven
For reservations to participate in any of these activities call the OAB reservation line at 801-479-9019.
We thought it would be interesting to start a new column on tech tips. These can include screen readers, smart phones, or any assistive technology for the blind or visually impaired. If you have something you would like to share, please email it to newsletterucb@gmail.com or call Tina Terry at 801-245-9264.
I thought I would start with a JAWS and iPhone tip.
One of my favorite help commands for JAWS is insert + spacebar, j. This will bring up an edit box. If you are looking for a certain keystroke, you would type the description here. You may want to type “skim reading”. It would give you the keystrokes for skim reading. If you type “reading”, it will give you those commands. This command is one I use if I am trying something new with JAWS or for those times when I just freeze and can't remember a keystroke.
I also have an iPhone tip.
I believe IOS 11 changed the compass to measure. This was not very accessible in the beginning. I needed to measure something this weekend and decided to give it a try. You must double tap on measure. It will verbally try and guide you to put the image so that it is lined up with the camera. Make sure you are at one end. Flick to the right until you hear "Create first point," and double tap. You then, move your phone to the end of your object and flick to the right to hear, "create second point". Flick to the right and you will hear the measurements. The one drawback that I found was that it was a little difficult getting used to the way I needed to line my camera up with the item I needed to measure. I still like my old-fashioned braille ruler, but this works well. This app also has a compass and level, so it can be very helpful for household chores.
by
Kira Larkin
I
am a BIG game player. I have found several websites that have games especially
for the blind; many are self-voiced as well.
The
first game site requires one to have JAWS, WindowEyes, or a Mac computer. This
game site is rsgames.org. If you want to play games with
this website, you have to sign up for an account. It is free and has many games
that you can play against a robot, or bot, for short, or you can play against
other people from across the world. I've met people in other states, as well as
in England, Australia, Germany, and many other countries. It is really neat to
talk to them while playing. You can do this by either typing messages or using
a headset with a microphone. There are approximately 15 games available for
play, which include Yahtzee, UNO, Rummy, Monopoly, Battleship, Farkle, and many
others.
The
next game, or series of games I am totally addicted to is Crazy Party. One can
find it two ways on the Internet. You must have some kind of speech program on
your computer for you to play this game. The first way to look for Crazy Party
is to go to the Internet search field and type in Crazy Party games for the
blind. Within the first few finds, there will be a link to Crazy Party mini
games. The second way is to type in the following web address: pragmapragma.free.fr/crazy-party/en/. Once you get to the website, you
want to download Crazy Party beta 63 or whichever number the producer has put
up on the site. It will download in a zipped format, so once you have it
downloaded, you will have to unzip it to use the program.
Once
you open the program, you will be asked to pick a name for yourself that it can
use when addressing you. Then, you can have fun.
This
program has three separate parts: Part one is the adventure. In this area you
are presented with different worlds, each of which you have to explore and find
the mini-games to play. For example, the first and only world available when
you first open the adventure section is the valley. In the valley, you will be
asked to protect a duck from the rain with an umbrella for a minute. You will
also have to find the intruder duck, row a boat across a lake, count sheep in
the field, bring the cows home, and a few other things. You will advance from
one mini-game to the next if you get one or more points. If you do lose all
your points, but get zero or less, you can try the game again and again. Finally,
you find another world which, if you click on it with the enter key, will
unlock a new world.
The
valley may sound easy, but wait until you get to the volcano, where in one
game, you will have to jump over some fireballs, walk under others, and leap
over lava holes. If you die, you have to start all over again. Or the city,
where in one game, you have to catch over ten rats to move on. Watch out for
the rat with the deeper squeak because if he eats you, the game is over.
The
second part of this game is the battlefield. When you first open this, you will
be asked to pick your primary and secondary powers. You are then given cards
which you will use to battle different creatures. You might choose water as
your primary power. In the battle against the angry bull, you might use a water
pulse card, which will diminish the bull's health points. If your opponent
loses all of his or her points before you do, you get to move on. If not, you
have to battle the same opponent again.
The
third portion of Crazy Party are the board games. When you first download the
game, you are given the Quiet Woods. The program will spin the spinner and you
have to push the letter F or the enter key to stop the spinner. Each board, as
it is presented, has blue squares: plus three points, red squares: minus three
points, neutral squares: nothing happens, the bank: deposit five or more coins,
depending on what you choose, prize squares: gives you extra points, blue gems,
or prize gems, and mini-games: a mini-game will be chosen for you to play. As
you play the adventures, battles, and board games, you will gain points. For each
world you play, or board game you play where you earn one hundred or more
points before you finish, you get a gem which can be used to buy new board
games.
One
quick note about this game: Many virus programs will not let you download this
game. They view it as a risk. But there are no viruses in the program. I know
others who play Crazy Party and I have never had any issues with it leaving
behind any viruses. Neither have the people who told me about it and also play
Crazy Party.
The
third place where I find games for people with vision impairment is Spoonbill
Games. This website offers many free games which one can download and play for
free. You can also sign up to receive emails of upcoming new games that you
might like to play. This website offers several types of solitaire, a crossword
puzzler, word games, number games, and others. I can sit for hours playing
Spider Solitaire or 2048. Each game comes with a help file which opens on the
Internet, and each offers wonderful instructions, ′including keystrokes′,
on how to operate the games.
To
find a list of available games by Blind Gamers or Spoonbill Games, go to the
following website. I have found hours of fun just with the games from this
website. The other nice thing about the games offered by Spoonbill is that they
are self-voiced and you do not need a screen reader to play them. www.spoonbillsoftware.com.au/blindgamers.htm.
I-works
is another company which has created several games which use only sound for
blind people to play. A couple of the games offered by l-works.net have to be bought to obtain the
full version. But you can download a partial or demo version so you can get
used to the way the game plays before buying it. My favorite game by l-works is
Super Egg Hunt Plus. In this game, you walk around fields or a chicken coop and
pick up beeping eggs. There are clocks, which if you step where they are, will
give you extra time. But watch out for the chickens. In some games, if they hit
you, the game is over. In others, they knock you across the field and you have
to start looking for eggs all over again.
Other
games offered on l-works.net include a slide game, like the little plastic
puzzles with eight movable squares and one empty space, a guide the blind guy
through the neighborhood so he can take a walk, and a lockpicking game.
Finally,
if you just want to find games not mentioned in this article, go to audiogames.net. They have a table listing over
500 games, and if you have to buy them, if they are free, where you can go to
find them, and for most, a download link.
I
love computer games just like a lot of people. If you liked them when you had
vision and want something to play now, or if you just want to play games
because you can and you need a place to find some audible ones, look through
this article and find the websites I've offered. I guarantee you will find
hours of playing fun. HAPPY GAMING!
Yield:
6 Servings
4
boneless skinless chicken breasts
1
large onion, diced
2
carrots, peeled and sliced
4
tsp minced garlic
1/3
cup flour
64
oz chicken broth
15
oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1
Tbsp chicken bouillon
1
tsp dried parsley
1
tsp dried basil
1⁄2
tsp dried oregano
1⁄2
tsp dried thyme
1⁄2
tsp salt
1⁄2
tsp pepper
2
bay leaves
10
lasagna noodles, broken into 1-2” pieces
2
cups half and half
3
cups of chopped, fresh spinach
1
cup grated Parmesan cheese
1. Chop onion, slice carrots,
chop fresh spinach.
2. Whisk together flour with
chicken broth.
3. Put all ingredients except
noodles, half and half and cheese into slow cooker.
4. Cook on low 4-6 hours.
5. Chop or shred chicken.
6. Break noodles in pieces and
add noodles, half and half, spinach and Parmesan cheese.
7. Cook on low another 30-45
minutes, until noodles are tender (you may need to add a bit of hot water if
it’s too thick)
8. Garnish with mozzarella
cheese
1. Chop onions, slice carrots and
chop fresh spinach.
2. Whisk together flour with
chicken broth.
3. Put all ingredients except
noodles, half and half and cheese into gallon size, freezer safe bag.
4. Label and lay bag flat in
freezer.
5. Get bag out of freezer the
night before you plan to cook it.
6. In the morning, place
contents of bag into slow cooker.
7. Cook on low 4-6 hours.
8. Shred chicken.
9. Add noodles, half and half,
spinach and Parmesan cheese, cook on low an additional 30-45 minutes, until
noodles are tender.
10. Garnish with mozzarella
cheese.
Donni Mitchell volunteers in the UCB Office at DSBVI, 250 N 1950 W, Salt Lake City, UT, from 12:00 to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. If you wish to make a purchase, we recommend you give her a call at 801-520-3766 to be sure she is there when you visit to purchase cab coupons, t-shirts, screwdriver/hammers, 20/20 pens, signature guides, measuring cups and spoons, etc.
We are always looking for articles,
book reviews, or interesting tidbits of information from our readers or other
interested persons. The deadline for submitting items for publication is the
1st of the month, e.g. the deadline for the June newsletter is May 1st. You may
e-mail any articles you wish to submit to newsletterucb@gmail.com or send
Braille or print to UCB Flier, PO Box 1415, Bountiful, UT 84011-1415; please
allow extra time for processing Braille or print.
If you have questions or concerns for any board member or to be placed on the agenda of a board meeting, e-mail ucb.board@gmail.com or leave a message on the Utah Connection, and you will receive a timely reply.
Members are invited and encouraged to
attend meetings of the Board of Directors. These are typically held the fourth
Monday of each month at 4:30 p.m. at DSBVI in Conference Room R (in the north
hallway), except as noted.
· Monday, April 22, 2019
·
Monday,
May 27, 2019
·
Monday,
June 17, 2019
Sign-Up for our Newsletter: Click
Here
Stay Connected:
FREE MATTER
FOR THE BLIND
AND DISABLED
Utah Council of the Blind
1301 W 500 S
Woods Cross UT 84087-2224