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Welcome to Arts and Ideas, in the air, under the tent, and around Baltimore.
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Your daily podcast briefing of all the goings-ons, ins and arounds, arts and ideas, said to vary school.
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So today is the last day of our week because we have no school tomorrow.
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So don't come to school tomorrow. You can come to the assembly on Sunday.
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It's at 2 p.m. and we talk about the budget. It's very exciting.
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It's so exciting. Those numbers. I love the numbers. Spreadsheets even.
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There is a video I made going over the basic budget outline, so there's that.
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Let's see, today there was a JC I was not involved in.
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We have a new JC clerk, so I don't actually have to run it. That's exciting.
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One of the other staff scribed and was on the team.
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So I picked up stuff around the yard because we're going to have it mowed, hopefully tomorrow.
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So that's all exciting. The edges are quite overgrown, but the middle is quite low.
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So I guess there's that. Anyway, so that will be tomorrow.
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So don't come to school tomorrow. We're going to try to have all the mowing done when nobody is here.
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Because that's important to be able to have everybody out in the field.
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Today saw some gaga ball playing and some swinging and a little bit of frisbee throwing.
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But it was kind of less people outside than I would have expected on a day like today.
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It was pretty nice. There's still good numbers, but yeah, I think a lot of people for some reason stayed inside.
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Not sure why.
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Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, so we had a little meeting about how to spend the textbook and electronics grant money.
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Some more iPads and upgraded desktop computers, a 3D printer, which is very exciting.
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Maybe some kind of screen thing.
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You know, we'll see. Maybe a smart whiteboard.
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We're looking into a few things, but that'd be all nice.
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We also had an article club where people came with their different articles and talked about what they had read or watched or whatever.
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So that was interesting.
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And Phil and I experimented with replacing the rebar for the tent with drill and stake. So that was exciting.
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And yeah, it's kind of my day now.
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Again, there's no school tomorrow. And so this is tip of the week Thursday, but also a bit of farewell.
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It was a good week, a little bit on the chilly side, but often it was quite nice outside.
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So that was good. And we'll see how everything goes.
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So my tip of the week Thursday is about lawn mowing. That's correct, lawn mowing.
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I have a new house, as I may have mentioned, perhaps on a previous podcast.
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And so I had to figure out how to mow the lawn. As a kid, I'd mowed my parents' lawns. Kids often do that.
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But, you know, that was a gas powered mower and big and clunky. And, you know, I've got a yard with lots of steep slopes and weird kind of nooks and crannies and a big mower didn't seem right.
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I certainly didn't want to have to deal with the gas mower. I looked into corded mowers.
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And I was like, OK, I mean, there's also cordless motors, but that seemed all bulky. And then I came across a string trimmer that converts into a little lawn mower.
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So you just like slot it in to this little base and then you can just roll it around like a lawn mower.
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So in the areas that's kind of straight, you know, easy to do. So you can just do that. I could also even like with one arm on this thing is very light.
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I could go up the side of the hills, just go up, up, doop, doop, doop, doop. Just, you know, no problem.
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And, you know, makes a nice uniform length. And then whenever there was anything tricky or special or whatever, you just easily pop it out of that base, just tap the foot on the thing and just use the string trimmer as a string trimmer does, which is just whack the heck out of it.
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And it's all just string, no blades. So I run into like bricks and and branches and sidewalk and what I don't matter.
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It just don't matter. I probably choose up the string a little faster, but it doesn't chip a blade or anything like that or cause big chunks to fly off.
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You know, it's just a string. I think I've even run it over my foot a couple of times.
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I mean, I was wearing boots, but, you know, it's just not that damaging, but it does take out the grass and the weeds and stuff.
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It also converts to an edge trimmer. So you just rotate it around and all of a sudden you can dig out on the cracks on the sidewalks and along all the side and get rid of all those plants.
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So that's all extremely exciting.
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So I will post a link to the item in the well where this podcast is listed as a block and decker three in one string trimmer.
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I think it's exciting. So exciting. So if you're looking for a lawnmower.
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Just post the name. I don't really want to link to something commercial, but yeah, I found it extremely nice.
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A couple of downsides have to hold the trigger down so the hand really gets kind of vibrating and the batteries only last 15 to 20 minutes.
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Although the two things together actually work out nicely because battery dies gives the hand a rest.
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It comes with two batteries. One downside is that a new battery is 50 bucks.
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The entire thing, two batteries plus the string trimmer and base and whatever is 150 bucks.
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So in the business of selling batteries, basically.
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So it is what it is. But in terms of getting a small area done really easily, I mean, I wouldn't I wouldn't use it for this size lawn at the school.
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But for my little plot of grass and particularly something that's very varied as it is, it was wonderful.
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I just I just love the thing. Next week, I intend to tell you about tip of the week about a screen door kind of thing that I found, which I just love to.
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But I'll leave you in suspense for that. Anyway, I will see you when I see you.
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Have a good one. Have a good three day weekend. And on Monday, we'll all be back. All right.
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Have a good one.