The UCB Buzz

A publication of

Utah Council of the Blind

February 2021

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.)

Check out the website at utahcounciloftheblind.org

Mail correspondence to: UCB, PO Box 1415, Bountiful, UT 84011-1415. E-mail us at ucb.board@gmail.com. For credit card payments call 801-245-9264.

The UCB Buzz 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.

Editor: Tom Mitchell
Utah Connection Manager: Linda Holladay

In This Issue

Disclaimer.................................................................................................. 2

Goodbye to Cassettes................................................................................ 3

President's Message.................................................................................. 4

Victor Reader Tip: How to use the Bookmark Key...................................... 6

Where is the Bookmark key?.................... 6

In the Kitchen........................................................................................... 13

How to Store Marshmallows..................................................................... 13

Gone All Day Stew................................................................................... 14

Thank You, Lifetime Members.................................................................. 15

General UCB Information......................................................................... 17

Board of Directors................................... 18

Upcoming Board Meetings...................... 19

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.

Goodbye to Cassettes

By Tom Mitchell

With this issue, The UCB Buzz will no longer be produced on cassettes. Our cassette mailing list has dwindled to below 10 people, and it doesn’t make sense to continue to produce tapes for so few people. Those of you who receive cassettes will be placed on the mailing list for the CD version of the newsletter. These CDs are made just like music CDs, and will play in any commercial machine that will play music CDs. Each article is on a separate track, so if you want to skip one, all you need do is press the button on your player that would take you to the next song. If you would rather not have the CDs, but would prefer Braille, large print, or e-mail, follow the instructions at the end of this magazine so you can have the format you want.

President's Message

Happy new year UCB members,

What a wild ride we have all been on. As I look back at 2020, it will for sure be a year to remember. Some people have said that it was the worst year in history. I think we might all be in agreement to that in some way. We have all lost so much, changed in unbelievable ways, cried, and have felt boredom on a totally different level.

However, as I look back on 2020, I want to remember the positive things. Yes, toilet paper was scarce, but my father-in-law, age 91, reminded us that toilet paper has not always been a thing, and we began to get creative on lack of supplies; and our food storage now had purpose.

As a mom of school-age children, I have always secretly wanted to homeschool my kids, and I got the opportunity to do so. It did not take me long to have a new appreciation for public schools and the amazing teachers that take on that responsibility each and every day.

As a family we always said we would like to be able to spend more time with each other. Well, that was all we could do, so we made the best of it as we played games that had been collecting dust on the shelves, finished forgotten arts and crafts projects, and completed home improvements we had plenty of time to accomplish.

Learning new technology was a must. Who knew we could have a reunion, birthday party, or even a board meeting in our pajamas with our family and/or friends, all connected through technology? Everyone could attend as we enjoyed the sounds of blissful chaos.

As the year came to an end, traditions were not forgotten. Large gatherings became small gatherings with all the trimmings. A Thanksgiving feast that could last four weeks—so much food. The holidays were different, but, thanks to Amazon Prime, Santa still came, and the year ended with the sound of fireworks and a vaccine that will change the world once again.

So, this year, friends, hold on, because the ride is not quite over. Find the good and share the ride.

Anna Jeffery

Victor Reader Tip: How to use the Bookmark Key

By Tom Mitchell

Some of you who use the Victor Reader may have noticed the Bookmark key on your machine, but perhaps may not have been able to figure out how to use it or why it’s there. This article will give those of you who would like help with the Bookmark key some ideas on what you can do with this very useful key.

Where is the Bookmark key?

The Bookmark key is located on the right side of your player, just above the number 3 key. It’s a square key, but it’s turned on an angle so that at first glance, it looks like a triangular button. With this key you can make three different kinds of bookmarks, go through all of the bookmarks you may have in a single book, and delete a bookmark. Now, let’s explore this useful key. Press the key once, and it says "Go to bookmark.” Press it again, and it says “insert bookmark.” A third press says “Start highlight bookmark.” A fourth press says “Bookmark list.” The fifth press says “Remove bookmark.” If you press it again, it goes back around to "Go to bookmark.”

"Go to bookmark.” Each bookmark is given a number when you insert a new bookmark. Each book can have a virtually unlimited number of marks. The “Go to bookmark” key allows you to select which bookmark you want to go to. Simply press the "Go to bookmark” key and type the number of the bookmark you want to go to and press the play button. The machine will begin playing at that point.

“Insert bookmark.” Of course, to go to a bookmark, you must have a bookmark to go to. This is what the "Insert Bookmark” key does. Press the bookmark key until it says “Insert bookmark”, then press either the confirm key, which is the pound key on the number keys, or the play button. The player will say “bookmark 1 inserted”, and continue playing. You may need to use the small left- or right-arrow keys on the bottom of the machine to rewind or fast-forward your player to the exact spot where you want the bookmark to go, but once you find the exact place where you want it, then press the “Insert bookmark” key. If you then insert another bookmark somewhere else in the book bookmark 2 will be inserted. And the machine will add 1 number each time you insert a new bookmark. However, if you want, you can put in your own bookmark number. Just type in a number after you press the “insert bookmark” key and type the number of the bookmark you want, then press play. The machine will insert a bookmark with that number. But if you insert another bookmark after that, the machine will revert back to the next number before your number that you typed. So, for example you typed in bookmark 10 after bookmark 1 had been inserted, the next number the machine automatically inserts will be 2, not 11. If you wanted 11, you’ll have to type it in. That’s one of the machine’s drawbacks. Most times, I like to just let the machine do the numbering.

“Insert Highlight Bookmark.” This one is an interesting one. Let’s say you have a recipe book from which you want to hear a recipe read, but only that one recipe. This is what the Highlight Bookmark will do. Find the beginning of that recipe. Again, you may need to rewind or fast-forward your machine with the left- and right-arrow buttons on the bottom. But when you have the place located where you’d like to start the highlight bookmark, press the bookmark key until it says “Highlight bookmark." It’s easiest to press play at this point. The machine will say “Start position”, and will begin playing the book. Let the book play until you reach the end of that recipe. Then press the stop button. Then press the bookmark key again and the machine will say “End Highlight bookmark. Highlight bookmark 2 (if that’s the next number) set.”

“Bookmark List.” This key allows you to go through all of the bookmarks in your book. Say you have a number of items in your book and you’re looking for a specific one, but you don’t remember which bookmark number it is. Simply. Press the bookmark key until you hear “bark mark list”, then use either keys 6, to go forward through the book, or 4 to go back through the book. After the 6 or 4 key is pressed, the machine will immediately begin playing the section of the book assigned to that bookmark. If it’s not the one you want, simply press 6 or 4 again, and the next or previous bookmark will be played, until you get to the section you want.

The Remove Bookmark key allows you to delete any bookmarks you don’t want. If you decide that you have a bookmark you no longer need, press the bookmark key until it says “Remove Bookmark” and type in the number of the bookmark you want to get rid of, then press either the confirm key or the play key. This will not change any of the numbers of the other bookmarks in your book. If you want to delete all of your bookmarks go to the “remove bookmark” key and press the number 9 five times, then confirm. All the bookmarks will be deleted. That covers the main kinds of bookmarks listed on the bookmark key. But there is another kind of bookmark you can make, called the Voice Bookmark. Let’s say that in a recipe, it recommends an ingredient, but you find you can substitute one that you like better. Say it recommends sugar, but you’d rather use honey. So maybe after it says sugar, you can press the bookmark key until it says “Insert bookmark.” Then, instead of pressing play, press and hold the record button, just as if you were recording a note for the Notebook bookshelf. The machine will say “Start recording, and give a little beep. Begin speaking and hold the record button until you’ve finished speaking, then release it. The next time you play that portion of the book, you will hear the machine speak whatever you’ve inserted as a voice bookmark. Nothing in the book itself will be erased.

These bookmarks are not stored in the book, but in your own machine. So that if you lend someone your SD card, the bookmarks you make will not go to the other person’s machine. These marks are yours alone and cannot be copied to another person’s Victor Reader.

You can read about bookmarks in the User’s Manual that’s already on your Victor Reader. Simply press and hold down key #1 until it says “User’s Manual”, then go through the headings until you hear the section about bookmarks. This will help you find the information you need about bookmarks that’s already there in your Victor Reader.

In the Kitchen

How to Store Marshmallows.

By Sandi England

We all would like to eat them when they are fresh, within 2 to 4 weeks. But if you can’t, you can do some things to keep them fresh longer.

1. Put some white bread in the bag with the marshmallows and seal it with a rubber band. Each time you open the bag then put in a new slice of bread.

2. Putting them in the freezer. Put them in a container. If you intend to store the marshmallows in the container, you should seal it and shake it. If you will put a little cornstarch or powdered sugar in with the marshmallows this will coat them and ensure that they don't stick together. Defrost for 10-15 minutes, and if you want to slice them it is easy when they are frozen.

3. Note: a container which has a tight-fitting lid will do. They will last about 3 months in the freezer. Always taste or look at them before using when you have stored them.

4. When putting them in your refrigerator, keep them dry, you can use powdered sugar for this. This will help them to not get sticky.

Gone All Day Stew

By Donni Mitchell

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

1 can (10 3/4 oz) tomato soup

1 cup water

1/4 cup flour

2 pounds beef cut into 2 inch cubes

3 medium carrots cut into 1 inch slices

6 white boiling or yellow onions cut into 1/4

4 medium potatoes cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks

12 whole large fresh mushrooms

2 beef bouillon cubes

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 bay leaf

Black pepper to taste

Mix together soup, water and flour until smooth. Combine with remaining ingredients in Dutch oven or covered roasting pan. Bake 275 degrees for 4 to 5 hours.

Thank You, Lifetime Members

Our most recent membership drive brought us five new lifetime members:

Christopher Bailly

Matthew Barnhill

Dianne Brown

Laura Brown

Eric Carrillo

Mario Cazares

Vivian Crosby

Ellen Derrick

Janette Dietz

Vicki Flake

Trent Florence

Belva Frandsen

Peter Frandsen

Saundra Fullmer

Danny Galvin

Arlene Gardner

Dero Gertsch

William Gibson

Elaine Hall

Jeremy Hampton

Georgia Hardy

Kevin Hart

Linda Holladay

Ruth Mary Hopkins

Jennifer Ann Jamieson

David Jordan

Edwin Malmgren

Helen Martinez

Kathryn McAllister

Chris McRoberts

TerriLynne Pomeroy

Robin Porter

James Pratt

Noel Rasband

Linda Reeder

Nancy Belle Reid

Gloria Romney

Jeanny Schmidt

Martin Schrenk

Elaine Scott

Marshall Scott

Terry Shortt

Brian Smith

Joanne Smith, PhD

Janis Stanger

Scott Stanger

Joan Tait

Cindi Vega

Dixie Webb

Jack Wheeler

Ruth Wheeler

George Wiggs

Linda Wiggs

Pauline Williams

Leland Kent Wimmer

Eugene Wood

General UCB Information

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 15th of the month. You may e-mail any articles you wish to submit to tommit60@gmail.com; send Braille, print, or audio to UCB Buzz, PO Box 1415, Bountiful, UT 84011-1415. Please allow extra time for processing Braille, print, or audio.

If you have questions or concerns for any board member or would like 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 Thursday of each month at 4:45 p.m. via Zoom, except as noted. If you would like to participate in the Board meetings, please leave an announcement at the end of the Utah Connection, 801-299-0670, or send an e-mail to ucb.board@gmail.com with your contact information.