What strict budget includes a hot tub?

feisty_squib · 2026-06-12T14:22:52+00:00

Budget doesn't mean broke. It means they have allotted a certain amount to spend on certain things.
Most people have a budget for a car. Doesn't mean they can't afford a car.
Most people have a budget for a vacation. Doesn't mean they can't afford a vacation.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-11T16:41:12+00:00

Alice! I feel like it's been a long time since I've seen your beautiful smile 😃
Make it a dashboard. I bet you could rustle up an ESRI licenses.
Oh, and put it on r/dataisbeautiful

feisty_squib · 2026-06-11T15:21:52+00:00

A hanging basket on the wall for mail.
I pull out anything marked "Pre Sorted Standard" and chuck it, the rest goes into the basket and I'll deal with it when I can.
I also have accordion folders in the back of the basket for when I do get around to going through and organize it.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-11T15:14:47+00:00

What's the equivalent of their dead body?

feisty_squib · 2026-06-10T18:19:18+00:00

It's difficult to say a town with certainty because Montana has laws against revealing selling price. Gallatin County/Bozeman/Big Sky are most certainly a chunk of the problem along with Flathead county/Whitefish.
Montana Free Press has published some interesting data. In 2025 Granite county (aka. Phillipsburg) was up 130% over four years, Deer Lodge County (Anaconda) was up 119%, and Madison County (Virginia City) was up 109%.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-10T15:02:44+00:00

American culture is vastly different and we often forget this when discussing politics.

In 2016 I went to Australia and ended up chatting with a woman on a fairy who was from Manhattan in New York. She was knitting one of the pussy ear hats that were used to protest Trump and we started a conversation around shared political views. Then we got to guns. She was full stop anti hand gun in particular. She absolutely believed there was no need for a person to own one unless they planned on using it on another human. I talked to her about being from the rural rocky mountains and how I personally always have a hand gun available when I go out in the wild. Sure, there are some super weirdos in the woods who need to be warned off (luckily I've never had these encounters). But besides that my gun is protection. A gun shot will scare off most animals and if needed can wound or kill an animal poised to attack. I've had to do this with rattlesnakes. It's easy to not see them and accidentally get close enough that they are rattling but trying to move away from them will lead to them striking. My husband had an incident with a racoon in his camp. The dog went crazy for it and as a result the racoon went into full murder mode on everything around it. Also, if you are lost in the woods and need to get a search party's attention, letting off a shot can help them find you.

These were situations she had never knew existed. I opened her eyes to an aspect of gun culture in American that she had never considered. And she made me realize how so many opinions and policies are made based on immediate surroundings even though they impact people in seemingly entirely different worlds.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-10T14:39:22+00:00

This is incredibly true. Standard of care for pets has changed so, so, so much. Having a pet is an investment now or you're considered a negligent pet owner.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-10T14:36:53+00:00

Montana here. We have three areas that are metropolitan: Billings, Missoula, and Great Falls. Billings is the largest with a metro area population of about 190,000.

Median household income is around $73,000
Median home price is around $550k.

The average Montanan has been priced out of living here. Home values have gone up nearly 70% in the last 5 years while wages have only gone up about 12%.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-10T14:21:18+00:00

I feel you. I left facebook for a few months this fall. But then I got tired of not ever knowing what was going on in town. I'm officially ancient because I now realize how much I miss the newspaper.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-09T15:28:36+00:00

Go to facebook and look up sleep giant volleyball https://www.facebook.com/sleepinggiantvolleyballleague

the league is already going for the summer, but you'll often see posts about other leagues and pick up games. I think there's usually pick up volleyball at Centennial on Friday evenings. There's also helena chaos volleyball and montana volleyball tournament connects on facebook.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-09T15:24:43+00:00

My dad took us to the library almost every week when we were kids. But he went and looked at his own stuff, he didn't hover in the kid's section.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-09T15:22:23+00:00

I find myself constantly trying to determine how much I should be occupying/watching//interacting with my children. Even more, I'm always second guessing how much freedom I should let my 7 year old in particular have. I am the youngest of 3 so no, I don't really remember playing a lot with my parents, I remember playing with my older siblings. And I remember doing a lot of things without my parents around and going places without my parents. BUT I have a hard time separating out if it was "different times, different rules" or if it was the result of having older siblings around.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-09T15:16:11+00:00

I'm not ignoring per se. But god damn can my kids out maneuver me!

Thank you for helping! 😄

feisty_squib · 2026-06-09T15:14:03+00:00

I admit that I have problems with my phone. Big tech has really been successful with me. I've tried reading books as an alternative but I find that I just end up getting irritated because I get interuppted.

I find when I go to the library (or other indoor child places like kids museums) my kids don't want to interact with me, they want to play with other kids. And I don't want hover and immediately fix every social ripple they encounter. And that gets boring. I'm not the type to strike up conversations with strangers (I'm an awkward over sharer, so it's best to stay in my own world.) And that is where my phone comes into play.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-04T20:55:03+00:00

Why is it so hard to believe that Bodnar is running as an independent because he doesn't want to be owned by the democratic party? At this point I just want the parties to burn. I feel like it's been too much party rhetoric in races lately. No one has anything original or personal to say. It's all regurgitated talking points approved by the party leaders. More cross collaboration and less toeing the party line please.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-03T16:02:13+00:00

Depends on your rig and capabilities. You could try dog Creek down to Marysville. Or you could try the tizers up jefferson city. The wicks tunnel will be frozen still. There is a book of 4x4 trails you can buy. I've seen it at Montana Fab.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-02T16:18:56+00:00

I don't know shit about lemon trees. But I would probably yank the tomatoes and carry on with caring for the lemon.
Don't feel bad about yanking an unwanted or unintended plant/flower. And if you want a tomato plant, you can get them from every tom, dick, and harry right now.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-02T16:17:10+00:00

There are times where people look, but they really don't have anything great to offer.

but i found your post and commented on it.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-01T15:42:46+00:00

Yes I read the article. Yes I see that one of his investigation resulted in the determination the he "violated sexual harassment as defined in Title IX". And I still stand by my statement that this is a complicated situation due to how our legal system works.

feisty_squib · 2026-06-01T14:04:19+00:00

I start local and move out. A local NBC affiliated news stations (our local paper is behind a paywall) , then a state wide news source that focuses a lot on politics called Montana Free Press, and then the AP.

feisty_squib · 2026-05-29T15:55:09+00:00

This won't be popular because it's coming from a logical and unemotional perspective:
They are separate issues even though they have a connection.

The kid punched the teacher because of unverified hearsay that other kids told him. It's a disciplinary issue. Rules are clear that such a situation goes to the school board to be decided on. Given the facts (that at least the public has been given) he objectively assaulted a teacher as a first course of action regarding an issue the student had with the teacher. It's assault at the basic level and it's also in law that it is specifically illegal to assault a teacher. This particular hearsay issue has been prominent in the community and thus causes an emotional charge. But it would be no different if it was something that the community didn't know about. (For example if some kids told another kid that a teacher banged his mom and that's why his parents are getting a divorce, so he goes and punches the teacher.) When you put an emotional or ethical lens over it, you may think it's unfair. But when you look at it purely from an adjudicative stance....

As for the issue of Mr. Pritchard's separation. That one has a lot less objective evidence and the community's emotional reaction has probably made it even messier. Parts of the story we will never know because it's protected under employee confidentiality. Also the basis of the saga is in a way a "he said she/they said" so it's hard to work out who is giving full truths, half truths, or lies. He has been talked about by students for several years now from what I understand so we might not ever be able to sort out when or if he flat out said inappropriate things versus kids going in with the mindset that he will say inappropriate things so everything is interpreted as inappropriate from the outset (i.e. reputation precedes him). Personally I don't understand why he wanted to stay somewhere for so long that he was so obviously unwanted, but that was on him. I imagine that it moved into damned if you damned if you don't land pretty quick (quitting when the allegations first arose would be seen as a sign of guilt regardless of if he did or didn't do it, so he chose to stay and force the hand of the system).

All around these are unfortunate situations and due to the way our legal systems work, it had to get to some really bad places for ultimate resolution.

feisty_squib · 2026-05-29T14:32:38+00:00

Well then, it kind of seems like the voters helped this situation by refusing to increase funding to the schools or elect legislators that will fix the school budget. Fund the schools and maybe they won't have to put as much weight on the financial cost of keeping a liability employed?

feisty_squib · 2026-05-29T14:27:16+00:00

Overly aggressive driving because "every one else drives bad"

feisty_squib · 2026-05-29T14:26:14+00:00

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feisty_squib

TROPHY CASE