I have had the 5 shelf Excalibur for over 20 years. I tried one of those round types when I picked up a brand new one, still in box at the SalVal for 5.00. To compare the 2 is like comparing apples to oranges. It depends on what you will be using the dehydrator for. I use the Excalibur for drying crafts as well as foods, so I need one that has the features the Excalibur offers. Such as yesterday, I made soap and dried the bars in the dehydrator. With the Excalibur you can use all the trays , some trays or remove them all for taller applications like raising bread or making yogurt and you cannot do that in round models, or at least the one I picked up cheap. If a part gets broken I can order replacements and the cheaper ones don't have a 10 year warranty. I saw on the Excalibur site the Economy 4 tray is one sale and lower priced than the Nesco Pro right now. I found that in the round types ones the food trays lower dried faster and you were constantly moving tray for even drying, you don't need to do that in the Excalibur. Dehydrated green beans with ham and potatoes is awesome. Dried strawberries are intense, and I always make a big batch of dried soup veggies , as those mixes are so pricy to buy. Both manufacturers have recipes/ideas on their websites, maybe those can help you decide.

I have used both the glue pens (they are blue and can be found in Walmart, and they dry clear) they work pretty good, and I have used the tape runners. I like both and go between both of them for either pictures or paper. Vellum has to have a different glue since most glues show through it, I have used 3m photo spray and it works okay but here is a new glue stick at micheals that is supposed to work great for vellum. For reqular templates I draw the design and then cut the paper with scissors. For coluzzles you have to have a special coluzzle knife, or it ruins your templates. As for the magic matter, I have never tried one but have heard good and bad reviews on it, the coluzzle is a better system for a newbie. I like zig pens best, with the .o5 fine line being my favorite for journaling. HTH Good luck Love Penny

You have a point, Cherryfizz. When my kids were in middle and high school, they attended schools many miles apart. One school was in a town northwest of us and the high schools was two towns south. Schools are not funded when students are absent. Even during non emergency times, schools do not receive the daily rate of student funds for each absent student. Around here, that amounts to over $40 per absent student, no matter what the reason for his or her absence. When schools are closed, they are not funded. School lunch programs are not money makers. I imagine authorities often ask the schools to close when the roads are dangerous to help keep people off the roads. Others are concerned about student safety when the temperature and winds might easily lead to frostbite. Another concern ought to be unusually cold weather in areas where students would not own the thicker coats and boots to keep safely warm outside for long periods, especially if buses are delayed an hour or two or three because of the weather. And employees also need to be able to get to the schools where they work. It is a headache when school is cancelled, but safety is the concern all around.

That sort of joint just adds to the structural integrity of the fence. And is no more likely to cause problems for the posts than leaving them uncapped and fully exposed to the elements, which is an equally common approach.