Kim Williams Trail
Summer has come to Montana.
I know this because it’s overcast and rainy and just plain ol’ poopy outside.
That sucks when you’ve got a 6-year-old at home who gets bored easily.
Yep, it’s stay-at-home dad duties for me this summer!
I’m not working a full-time, 9-to-5 job…but my wife is.
I can’t seem to find a full-time, 9-to-5 job, either, so there’s no point in us spending a lot on summer childcare.
And boy…does it cost a lot!
At the YMCA in Missoula they offer a full-day summer camp for $38…which I take to mean per day.
So that’s $190 a week and if you did it all month…$760.
Wow!
Nope, we’re not gonna pay an extra month’s worth of rent so our son can do that.
We will do a few half-week or week-long camps from time to time…maybe soccer or what have you.
I think a lot of people in Montana are similar to me.
When it comes to childcare, the cost can often be more than a person is making in wages.
Let’s say you’re making $8.50 an hour and working 40 hours a week.
You’ll make $340 gross, and if you subtract the $190 for a Y week-long summer camp you’ll have $150 left over.
You can see why many Montana families have one parent working, one parent staying home…maybe working some nights, weekends, or odd-jobs.
I’m not saying this is good or bad, it just is.
At my house my son usually:
So that’s summer.
Boy, sure makes you appreciate what our schools do for us 9 months out of the year, eh?
Until school starts again it’ll be lots of Legos and games of Uno for me, with quite a bit of scootering and bike riding and kicking the ball outside.
There’s going to the park and playing…and I like the parks that still have sand the best as you can dig around a bit.
For other ideas, this post about summer options for Helena kids might give you some options.
I know this because it’s overcast and rainy and just plain ol’ poopy outside.
That sucks when you’ve got a 6-year-old at home who gets bored easily.
Yep, it’s stay-at-home dad duties for me this summer!
I’m not working a full-time, 9-to-5 job…but my wife is.
I can’t seem to find a full-time, 9-to-5 job, either, so there’s no point in us spending a lot on summer childcare.
And boy…does it cost a lot!
At the YMCA in Missoula they offer a full-day summer camp for $38…which I take to mean per day.
So that’s $190 a week and if you did it all month…$760.
Wow!
Nope, we’re not gonna pay an extra month’s worth of rent so our son can do that.
We will do a few half-week or week-long camps from time to time…maybe soccer or what have you.
I think a lot of people in Montana are similar to me.
When it comes to childcare, the cost can often be more than a person is making in wages.
Let’s say you’re making $8.50 an hour and working 40 hours a week.
You’ll make $340 gross, and if you subtract the $190 for a Y week-long summer camp you’ll have $150 left over.
You can see why many Montana families have one parent working, one parent staying home…maybe working some nights, weekends, or odd-jobs.
I’m not saying this is good or bad, it just is.
At my house my son usually:
- Plays by himself for a bit in the morning
- Then we got outside for a bit
- Come home and play inside
- Have lunch
- Maybe a cartoon for awhile
- Then more inside/outside stuff
- And then hopefully it’s time for my wife to come home and take over…though by then she’s tired from working all day too.
So that’s summer.
Boy, sure makes you appreciate what our schools do for us 9 months out of the year, eh?
Until school starts again it’ll be lots of Legos and games of Uno for me, with quite a bit of scootering and bike riding and kicking the ball outside.
There’s going to the park and playing…and I like the parks that still have sand the best as you can dig around a bit.
For other ideas, this post about summer options for Helena kids might give you some options.
What else is there today?
Well, the District of Criminals shooting.
I haven’t heard much about it, nor do I much care to.
I’m not interested in taking part in the pity-party for a bunch of paid-off corporate hacks that for a few months of the year also call themselves ‘servants of the people.’
What a load of crap.
Closer to home I see that Intelligent Discontent has changed its name to The Montana Post.
I wish them luck.
Here in Missoula Martin Kidston learned of my Fat, Drunk & Stupid post from April 9.
Yeah, I guess he doesn’t read my site if it takes him 2 months to learn about that.
Quite the reporter.
Anyways, that was my post calling out the mayor for being a general idiot and harm to the public.
You might have seen the post, as I promoted it on Facebook in April as well.
Got quite a few likes on it, and quite a few comments telling me I was an asshole or a troll or whatnot.
So to see a replay of all that again yesterday wasn’t much to get concerned about.
For me, I just double-down.
What, you don’t like me calling the mayor a fat, drunk, idiot?
I’m sure it would be just fine with you if he was a Republican, however.
Hell, that’s how careers are started.
By the way, Rolling Stone had a good interview with Al Franken this month.
One of the things I noticed was that people didn’t take him seriously, but then when he won his 6-month long recount and was seated in 2009, he became a real workhorse.
He went to every hearing, every floor vote; got there early, stayed late. Someone else at the time was doing the same thing: Hillary Clinton.
They kept low profiles, and in Franken’s case it helped him win easily in 2014.
I suspect we’ll see similar from Gianforte – a very low profile while focusing on being there for votes and hearings while doing more for constituent services back home than anyone’s done in years.
It’ll be interesting to see who Gianforte staffs his offices with.
I thought Aaron Flint would be a lead candidate, but then I saw he ran against and failed to win the Montana GOP chair position recently.
Is his stock falling?
I dunno.
Anyways, just some thoughts while my son entertains himself for a bit.
That’s about to end quickly…but will you look at that – the sun is out again!
Outside, here we come!
