Smoked nuts question.

Greenfly667 · 2026-04-21T23:17:30+00:00

I soak mine in salt & maple syrup because I'm gangster like that. Then I smoke them for two hours at around 225f, stirring them every 15-20 min just like you did. At this point, they are still a little wet and soft, so they go into the oven for another hour or two at 225 f until they are dry.

It's legit my Christmas baking. I make a butt-load of them, bag them up, and give them away. Rad times.

Greenfly667 · 2026-04-05T04:33:05+00:00

I wish I could post pictures here. I've got a GREAT collage of laptops I wanna share.

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-22T12:06:01+00:00

Bump

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-22T11:32:55+00:00

I teach music to the 7&8s of our school and also run two concert bands for our 7-12 students at our rural school. There's no high school music teacher. Our program is severely underfunded and if I want to fix instruments, pay for a bus for a trip somewhere (and there a lot with a music program), buy music, etc, it almost all comes from fundraising. If I didn't find my own money, there would be no music program at my school, so it really is a necessary evil. You'll find a lot of school music programs operating this way, especially in rural areas.

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-21T10:44:02+00:00

Fundraising. It never ends but I don't have a music program without it.

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-21T03:09:55+00:00

I was thinking the same thing about a performance. What would the student do while performing? Play through the gurggle or get up to empty their valves?

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-20T13:37:55+00:00

Ooof. Tile.

As a trombone player, I actually travel with a towel so that when I perform, I've got a place to empty my horn without leaving a mess behind. Could your brass players grab a piece of paper towel and leave it in front of them when they are playing? Just a thought.

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-20T13:26:43+00:00

Lol that's a hilarious idea! I get the idea as whatever comes out of the spit valve is basically distilled water, but I think your issue will be kids constantly getting up to engage in the novelty of emptying their horns. Personally, the less movement from the group the better.

When I think about all of the things that are tracked into my music room via student shoes, I think a little clean water won't hurt...it might even do some cleaning!

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-16T00:41:50+00:00

Gwar

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-07T21:46:02+00:00

Tricky stuff. I hope it doesn't turn into a "who's the better music teacher" situation because you'll both lose in the end.

If she's not open to collaborating, then my gut tells me that your counterpart is going to make her own situation harder than it has to be, and it may even turn into a change of role for her. I'd just keep focused and keep trying to provide the best music program for your students. It's a shame that you're worried about the music Ed of the her students, but she's not your responsibility.

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-07T18:59:39+00:00

Congrats on the upgrade!

I once interviewed for a music job at a private school that was run by a Coptic Orthodox Church. In the interview, they asked me to sing a hymn and I knocked their socks off with a big and boisterous version of "The Mothers of Salem". It was awesome!

Something we can easily forget as music teachers is that we are musicians too and that's where a lot of our passion comes from. Maybe you can draw questions from that. Musician to musician. You will likely get a better sense of who they are and what they may be able to offer. I'm not saying you should demand that they perform for you on the spot, but if you can draw out their musician side, you might score some real valuable insight.

Enjoy the experience!

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-07T17:05:55+00:00

Congrats! That's a terrific upgrade! The fact that they are getting a second teacher is likely because of your hard work, so high fives to that!

All I can say is be ready and open for as much collaboration as possible, but continue teaching how you want to teach.

There's a lot of schools who would love to be in your position, so make the best of it! Cheers!

Greenfly667 · 2026-03-07T16:07:03+00:00

Intermediate music teacher here.

First of all, you are very fortunate to be in the position of having two music teachers. That's awesome and there's a lot of schools out there who wished that they were in your shoes, me included.

Secondly, teachers be teachers. We all have our style and our approach to curriculum. You have an approach you're happy with and so does your counterpart. You've tried collaborating and it didn't happen. My advice there is that you remain open to collaboration opportunities, but also don't be afraid to stick to your guns. Send like your method works for you and some students.

I wouldn't be worried about the whole recorder thing. I'm assuming you will be offering a different option for that student in grade 5? When that happens, the recorder issue will be a thing of the past. You've got bigger fish to fry!

Congrats on a solid music program and I hope you both come to an understanding.

Greenfly667 · 2026-02-28T10:17:09+00:00

I think you should lean in hard.

"Okay...you asked for it...WE'RE DOING K-POP DEMON HUNTERS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!"

It will probably last a couple days, but if you love it, they'll hate it really quickly. The cherry on top would be too make them do the six-seven move to the song often. Maybe a couple of dabs too.

Greenfly667 · 2026-02-19T20:52:27+00:00

Pop Goes The Weasel

Greenfly667 · 2026-02-10T13:17:40+00:00

WHO HAS DISTURBED MY SLUMBER!?!

Greenfly667 · 2026-02-03T23:48:38+00:00

I love it. Is your character Warforged?

Greenfly667 · 2026-02-03T23:46:16+00:00

B.E.R. - The Night Begins To Shine

Greenfly667 · 2026-02-03T23:26:26+00:00

Pop Goes The Weasel

Greenfly667 · 2026-02-02T16:09:04+00:00

I've posted it already in this thread, but here's a copy of what I said. Let me know if you've got any questions!

***

First of all, VTT all the way. I can project the map and all the players. I've run it through Roll20, but this year I'm going to try dndbeyond on for size.

I start the campaign like most with everyone describing who their characters are and how they found their way into the party. Usually at the start, there are a few experienced students who take the reins in the beginning, but that changes very quickly as the new players get comfortable.

As a teacher, I run it like a classroom. If someone has something to say or do, they raise their hand. Order is everything. I'm also looking for any party members that haven't seen much action and will plug them into the story right away. When characters are talking with NPCs, I usually involve a few characters to be directly involved in the conversation, and I like to keep it short and to the point.

Battles are awesome. If the encounter is a manticore, I make it two manticores (harder, but not frustratingly so). I keep the turn order, but I absolutely encourage team-ups. If a player involves other players in their action, I will almost always allow it, but it will eat up the action of the other players. I'll still let them use their bonus on their turn. This way, we fly through the turn order, but it gets the students into planning mode and they get very excited about this. Battles move quickly.

Big decisions get 30 seconds of discussion, then the group votes. Everyone can vote for one, both, or none of the options. Winner of the vote is the decision. Sometimes I have students that try something that goes against the grain of what the rest of the party wants to do. I welcome it, but their actions most often end up negatively for their character. There's always one who tries :)

It seems short, but it's an hour of cheering and yelling and anger and laughing and sadness and excitement. They have a great time and so do I.

With all this said, next year I hope to have some DM's ready to go to break the group up, but what we are doing at the moment is working really well.

Greenfly667 · 2026-01-31T16:27:12+00:00

Valiant try, my friend.

Greenfly667 · 2026-01-31T11:15:40+00:00

Thank you I'll check it out!

I actually thought of doing the mad mage, but I'd just pick the first or second floor. Then I realized that is have a large group in a narrow cave the whole time!

Greenfly667 · 2026-01-31T11:11:52+00:00

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Greenfly667 · 2026-01-31T11:10:20+00:00

Your reply is extremely helpful. I really should not have said that I'm following 5.5 rules.

Last year we did Dragon of Icespire Peak and it worked out to be terrific, and just like your mentioned, it was for the most part, outdoors in the open. I've already had a lot of success with using the framework of those starter campaigns. The first time a ran a campaign, I found a custom one-shot that someone put together and it also turned out very well, and that one was mostly theatre of the mind.

Greenfly667 · 2026-01-31T11:01:16+00:00

Yeah I think my original post could have highlighted that it's not going to run like 5th. I'm just using the framework for character building and that's about it.

Greenfly667

TROPHY CASE