{"id":1537,"date":"2021-08-13T13:58:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T13:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2021-08-13T13:58:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T13:58:45","slug":"august-13-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1537","title":{"rendered":"August 13, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<body>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The good news is that the golfing yesterday was a great success.\u00a0 The golf pro that gave Jordan her lesson was a young guy who had to be 6\u20196\u201d to 6\u20197\u201d.\u00a0 Not many people make me feel short but he certainly did.\u00a0 He was a nice guy and Jordan had fun.\u00a0 We spent over an hour on the driving range and whacked a lot of golf balls.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t swung a golf club in at least two decades but didn\u2019t embarrass myself too badly.\u00a0\u00a0 In any case, we had fun and I\u2019m sure there will be more rounds of golf and time spent on the driving range in our future, regardless of where I live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"495\" data-attachment-id=\"1538\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?attachment_id=1538\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?fit=2016%2C1512&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2016,1512\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"Jordan-Golfing\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?fit=660%2C495&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?resize=660%2C495\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1538\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?w=2016&amp;ssl=1 2016w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Jordan-Golfing.jpg?w=1320 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today we are going ATVing down around Big Sky.\u00a0 That should be fun.\u00a0 I rented a 2-seat side-by-side ATV and we\u2019ll head up the trail to see what we find.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m sure the engine noise will scare away any bears, moose, etc. but will be properly equipped just in case.\u00a0 Frankly, I\u2019m more concerned about other humans driving fast and recklessly than I am about the wildlife!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was an article in the Bozeman Chronicle this morning discussing the latest census results.\u00a0 Bozeman\u2019s population now exceeds 50,000 and is stated to be just over 53,000.\u00a0 The population here has increased by 16,000 people since 2010 and there are no signs that it will slow down any time soon.\u00a0 Bozeman is one of the fastest \u2018micropolitan\u2019 areas of the country.\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019m not sure how this area will be able to sustain this kind of growth as it is already putting a huge strain on the housing market and the ability of businesses to find and retain staff.\u00a0 The \u2018locals\u2019 are getting priced out of the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The contractor who installed my flooring lives in Big Timber, 60 miles away, and commutes into Bozeman for jobs.\u00a0 My piano teacher lives in Manhattan, 20 miles away, and commutes into her studio in Bozeman.\u00a0 The pandemic just helped to accelerate this trend.\u00a0 Real estate prices in Bozeman increased 50% in a little over a year, if you can find a house to buy.\u00a0 Apartment rentals are few and far between and prices have increased significantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For me personally, one of the big concerns I have is water.\u00a0 I live just outside of the city.\u00a0 I have a septic tank and I get my water from a well on my property.\u00a0 Almost all of the properties outside of the city depend upon private wells.\u00a0 Right now, there are many, many houses being built within a five-mile radius of my property.\u00a0 Each and every one of those houses is drilling a new well and tapping into the aquifer.\u00a0 Given the current and what is likely to be ongoing drought, one wonders how long this is sustainable.\u00a0 Will there come a time when I go to turn on my kitchen faucet and nothing comes out?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the locals I talk to are hoping for a really hard winter this year in hopes that it might cause some of the people moving here from out of state to rethink their plans.\u00a0 The first winter after I moved back to Bozeman was more like a real Montana winter with stretches of below zero temperatures and significant snowfall.\u00a0 The last couple of winters were pretty mild.\u00a0 Last year during the \u2018great migration\u2019 into Bozeman, the winter was particularly mild.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see what happens if we have a really hard winter for a change. (Other than an increase in automobile accidents because people don\u2019t know how to drive in winter conditions!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The other interesting thing about the census report was the change in demographics across the country showing the population is becoming less \u2018white\u2019 and more diverse.\u00a0 As I have stated in this blog previously, all of the efforts to suppress voting by people of color are doomed to failure in the long term.\u00a0 Biology will ultimately win.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the right-wing media and politicians will use the results of the census to fan the flames of \u2018white fear\u2019 resulting in even more radicalization and potential violence leading into the elections in 2022 and 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fact is, the GOP is shrinking rapidly and they have a choice.\u00a0 They can either try to be more inclusive and alter their policy positions to appeal to a greater segment of the population or they can try to retain power through fear, intimidation and using authoritarian tactics.\u00a0 Unfortunately, they appear to have already made that choice which is why the road ahead is likely to be very bumpy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But for today, Jordan and I will take the bumpy road into the back country!!<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The good news is that the golfing yesterday was a great success.\u00a0 The golf pro that gave Jordan her lesson was a young guy who had to be 6\u20196\u201d to 6\u20197\u201d.\u00a0 Not many people make me feel short but he certainly did.\u00a0 He was a nice guy and Jordan had fun.\u00a0 We spent over an &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1537\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">August 13, 2021<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7FBZO-oN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1539,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions\/1539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}