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Welcome back to the third hour of mornings with Pat Crichtlow on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Dr. Kristen Lierly here with not Greg Bach anymore.
Greg had to make a quick exit as he is known to do at this hour, so he can prepare for his show with Jane.
But Sam is here.
Welcome, Sam.
Hello.
It's so good to be here.
I'm so glad you are here.
Sam and the Doc doesn't have the same ring to it, so we're going to have to come up with something else.
Davidson and the Doc, Tony Zimmerman on...
The text says that might have a good ring to it.
I like that or we could do we've also got Dom so it's Davidson Davis and Dom in the dock.
Yeah For anybody who doesn't know I'm I'm actually gonna be leaving civic media.
I'm so sad Yeah, I may be back in the fall helping with some podcasts here and there but Dom will be taking over for me
as producer of the John and Gordy show going forward.
Oh, fantastic!
Well, for today, we've got Davison, Dom, and the doc, and the amazing Brittany Merleau is joining us once again.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good morning.
So well.
Brittany, it is National May Ray Day.
Ooh.
I know.
It's totally made up, but somebody made it up.
And I love it because it is a celebration of sunshine.
And that gives us an opportunity to talk about vitamin D, which comes from sunshine and was discovered here at the University of Wisconsin.
So there is, yeah, like let's celebrate sunshine and that.
Seriously, I had no idea.
Go Wisconsin.
I mean, that's the best part of the weather.
The sunshine.
I know.
So can we have some, please?
Well, if you're up north, you can have some.
If you're down south, maybe.
What if I'm in the middle?
I'm in Green Bay.
Probably not.
I'm in a lake breeze for you in Green Bay.
Oh, it's going to get rough, too.
Today, it's about 25 mile per hour winds.
By tomorrow, we're going to see the winds off the lake at about 40 miles per hour.
So we're going to be stuck with some clouds, unfortunately.
But we're going to celebrate the sunshine this weekend, which is perfect timing on Memorial Day weekend.
Oh, yes.
Yeah.
So I'll take the rain during the week while we have to work.
Let's celebrate the sunshine, you know, internally today and then outside in it on the weekend, because we're going to dry things out by Thursday.
We're looking to get a little bit warmer, too, as we move into the weekend mid sixties for a good chunk of the state.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, sunny, dry.
We might have rain start to move in by Monday.
So just heads up if you're going to be out in the tent or outdoors or doing stuff like that.
Monday might get a little dreary.
I
heard you say Friday, Saturday, Sunday, sunny.
Yes.
Amazing Memorial Day weekend forecast.
This is the one I ordered.
Thanks for coming through.
You're welcome.
I tried.
You know, I had to order this stuff a couple months in advance, you know, and had to wait my turn, but Mother Nature decided to give Wisconsin a break finally.
This is because it is the unofficial start of summer for us here in Wisconsin.
And many of us have already dusted off our grills because we had that beautiful week last week.
Was that just
last week?
Wow.
Yeah.
So we really get to kick it off this upcoming weekend and it sounds like it's going to be wonderful.
Thank you.
It really is.
It stuck up on me too.
I don't know how it's here so fast, but I'm excited for
it.
It just keeps happening that way.
The older you get, the faster it comes.
Why is that true?
Sam, are you ready for that?
For what is this?
What is sneaking up on me?
Oh,
I was I was
talking earlier this morning.
I went camping this past weekend without Without like a sleeping pad or anything like that.
I was just on the ground and it used to be just fine But boy it it kicked my butt on Saturday night.
I did not sleep well
Sneaking up on me.
All right.
Yeah That's where it starts.
You can't do the ground floor camping much anymore.
You'll need like six pads.
Yeah
But at least you get a good forecast for Memorial Day.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's going to be great.
I'm looking forward to it.
It's going to be fantastic.
Brittany, thank you so much.
Have a wonderful rest of your day.
You too.
Thank you.
Thanks.
All right, Sam, let's keep this conversation going.
We had Alan in our last segment with men for choice.
He's a young guy.
He graduated from college recently.
organization that he works for, the mission is to talk with young men about why reproductive rights are important to them.
I would love your thoughts as just a guy on this topic.
Like, is this something that you care about?
Is it uncomfortable to talk about?
For me, no.
I guess I don't.
don't talk about it a ton, probably not as much as it should be talked about.
I also somewhat think that I'm a bit of an outlier among men my age.
Hopefully not, but I don't know, I feel like it is, A, not talked about enough, openly enough, and that I don't know, men just like, A, don't talk to women and get their take
on
things.
And they, I don't know, they're just misinformed and don't feel, don't feel very open about things.
It really kind of feels like, so I have four sons, age 16 to 26.
And it kind of feels like guys are in a silo and girls are in a different silo.
And there's not as much engagement as I remember, but I mean, obviously, you know, memory isn't 100% accurate either.
Is that your experience?
I mean, do you, is your friend group like mostly guys?
Um, I mean, all of my roommates are, uh, and by extension, yeah, I guess mostly, but there, I mean, there's plenty of women in my friend group.
Um, and I don't know where we don't, it doesn't exactly come up in conversation very often.
Right.
But we're.
Quote-unquote chill about it.
I don't know.
I don't know if there's a good way to phrase it
Yeah, it's kind of hard to talk about because it's just so not Part of who you are and what you do
Sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, but I wish I was listening for your last segment when you were talking to I didn't catch his name the guy from
Was it men
for choice
Alan from from that organization feel like that would have been a great conversation to hear It
is a great conversation and for our audience out there who might have missed it if you want to listen to it You can always catch mornings with Pat Cratlow on it's a podcast you can catch it on civic media dot us and Wherever you get your podcast though.
That's always fun And if you want to learn more about men for choice you can go to men
for the number four choice.org.
They've got a great fellowship program.
It's really about just coming together, teaching each other and then going out and doing that relational organizing, which you can do with any topic.
It's really just the process of talking with your friends about issues that you care about and trying to move something forward because the world is hard right now and it's hard to.
talk about some of these issues that have become really political, not just abortion, which is huge in my world as a woman and an OBGYN doctor, but something as fundamental as the economy, which is a great question to ask you as a young person, where are you out with all of these economic changes that are happening?
Are you paying attention?
Are you trying not to pay attention because you feel powerless about it?
Where's your mind at?
I mean, when I'm outside of work because I just get bombarded with it when I'm here, I
not going to lie, completely tune out for most stuff.
Like I said, I'm living with roommates in downtown Madison, so stuff is very, very expensive.
So I guess I'm conscious of definitely how much things cost.
I'm not really paying attention much to the stock market, though.
I don't have a retirement fund yet or anything.
I know that it is affecting plenty of people across the country quite a bit, though.
very uncertain times economically that we're living in, which is not good.
Yeah, the stock market is so reactionary.
You know, like something comes out, a whisper or a change in a plan and the stock market react.
Tariffs get
to leave for 90 days.
Stocks rebound.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it takes a while for that to filter down and actually affect the cost of goods and services.
And that's when it really hits home, I think, for most people.
And it sounds like you too.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, and later this hour right around 8 30 we're gonna welcome Carlos Smith and Teresa Fredrick's to talk about the cost of child care Which is something you're probably not thinking about right now.
I
know it's real tough in Wisconsin I can't even fathom it right now glad
I glad
I don't have a kid
Seriously, it is, it's hard.
It's people who do the childcare piece.
These people who are college educated in early childhood development are making less than people who don't have a college degree and serve you food at restaurants.
And we all need a living wage.
But man, it's crazy to me that we have to, that we can't.
pay the people who are taking care of our most valuable, vulnerable people in society, you know, children.
Exactly.
Children and old people.
People working on trying to cut social security, Medicaid, all that jazz.
But kids too.
Like, I can't, I like.
to be a kid and be conscious of this issue, which I'm sure that there are some kids who know that their parents are having a hard time being able to pay for their daycare.
I wonder what kind of an effect that's having on some kids.
I never had to deal with something like that when I was young, thankfully, but boy, to grow up like that.
And sometimes- Were
you
a daycare kid?
for a little bit of when I was growing up, yeah.
I went to before and after school every day, pretty much, because my parents both worked very early in the morning.
So similar, had to deal with it.
Yeah.
But as a parent, you need those...
things in order to be able to go to work and earn a wage.
It is like if society is working and providing all those, not just safeguards, but like that net to ensure that we can all be as productive and healthy as possible, that's great.
Those are all those social determinants that
allow us to live in a holistic way.
But we're missing, it's a Swiss cheese model right now.
There are so many holes in the way that we live.
I remember being a young person and not having health insurance, but I didn't need it.
But now that I'm older, I need it and it's expensive.
And I can't imagine what it would be like to be working in a job like an early childhood or childcare provider and not being able to afford your health
insurance.
I've been joking with John and Gordy.
the host that I usually produce.
I had to schedule a doctor appointment on my own this week, I think for the first time.
And it's been at least three years since I went to go see a doctor.
Part of the reason it's been so long is, A, because I moved to Madison, B, because the whole medical system is just so complicated.
I'm still on my parents' insurance, thankfully.
I don't have to pay for my own, but gosh, when I turn 26, I'm not looking forward to that.
Yeah, well, it's complicated even to know who do you go see and what kind of a visit do you ask for and There are so many questions.
It just it's so much harder than it needs to be and that discourages people from getting The kind of care that we need especially routine preventive care when you don't have a problem that needs to be solved and you're just doing it for maintenance Yeah, oh brother
picking away at it.
And later this morning, like I mentioned, we're going to be talking about child care and health care and how that all fits together.
And then at the end of the morning, we're going to be talking with Jane McNair about her show.
So I want you to stick around.
This is Mornings with Pat Krightlow.
I am Dr. Kristen Lyrely.
We've got Sam and... Are you going to say
anything?
Dom, Dom.
There we go.
Dom,
Dom and Davidson.
Dom, you are welcome to chat.
We want you part of this conversation.
All right.
Yeah, let's do it.
All right.
So when we come back, we've got Dom and Davidson and Doc, the whole crew.
Let's keep this conversation going.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
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Welcome back to Mornings with Pat Critello.
I'm not Pat Critello.
I'm Dr. Kristen Lyderly, and I'm here with Sam Davison and Dom, and we're Davison Dom and the Doc.
We just keep switching it up all morning.
I mean, it rolls right off the tongue, however you say it, right?
It's a lot of Ds.
Yeah, yeah.
We're fans
of alliteration here.
I like it.
We know what else we're fans of.
We found out during the secret show, May is bike month and Sam wrote his bike to Nuclearis over the weekend.
That's right.
Yeah.
It's about 30 miles away from Madison.
My roommates and I, we went camping there over the weekend.
It was a good time.
And you didn't just ride your bike, but you also had a bunch of stuff on your
bike?
Yeah.
Well, okay.
My roommates.
girlfriends also came along most of them they drove I didn't realize they were going to be driving so they they all loaded their stuff in the car and I packed everything on my bike a tent a blanket backpack full of food and clothes it was good and heavy but uh made it there I
what were you riding
it was a uh I
It was an old steel three speed.
Oh
my God.
Big, big old heavy bike.
Yeah.
I don't know how you did
that.
That is like that's a heroic
effort.
Thank you.
Yeah.
And it didn't have an engine, right?
Like no battery.
No, not
any bike.
Nothing like that.
Wow, just my just the pedals Well as I understand it you're also a biker and you too Dom
Yeah, don't tell us about your BMX days.
We were talking about it.
I almost shed a tear Yeah back in high school.
I used to BMX with with some of my buddies and
I have it.
I have it recently, but I used to do some cool tricks, I'd say.
I also skateboard and all that, too.
But yeah, BMXing was a big part of my childhood, for sure.
BMXing are the smaller bikes that have like pegs and you can do the trick.
Correct.
do
Wait a minute.
You have a YouTube channel of you BMXing?
totally
definitely not.
Yep, we're gonna have to unpack that for our next episode together, which will happen at some point
Yeah,
I love to ride I do a different kind of riding than you guys though I am ride either a skinny tire or a fat tire bike, but I go for long distances so I'll do you know like 20 miles at a pop or Throughout the summer.
I'll do a hundred mile rides like the organized rides a lot of those so up in Dorr County There's a century which is really nice and the cool thing about that is
They have food for you.
So you ride for 20 miles, you eat the donuts, get some coffee, hop back on your bike, ride another 20 miles, get some more, get some cheese curds and pickles.
Oh man.
Have some good conversations, ride for 20 miles.
Yes.
You know, it really is about the food.
Like I ride to eat.
And at the end there's beer and I ride for that too.
Oh, man.
Yeah, my roommates were joking.
Our trip down to New Glairs was like the ultimate beer run.
We wanted to go to the brewery there.
They was closed on Friday, but there's plenty of other options there.
It was a fun trip.
The brewery is an
awesome visit.
Have you been there?
I have.
It's fantastic.
It's a beautiful setting.
It's up on the hill.
It's a self-guided tour.
Um, just it's stunning and it's so Wisconsin proud.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean,
yeah,
like, uh, spotted cow is the quintessential Wisconsin beer just about.
Yeah.
It is.
I take it sometimes when I travel because friends ask for it and you can't get it outside of Wisconsin.
Oh, really?
So if I'm, I
guess, I guess that makes
sense.
But.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
So to spread a little Wisconsin love, you always have to include a little spotted cow.
So you guys weren't paying too much attention to the headlines over the weekend, but did you hear about the Mexican ship that ran into the Brooklyn Bridge?
No.
We had another ship run into a bridge.
Yep.
Same thing.
It like, it had engine failure and it just went off course and just drifted into the bridge.
Two people died.
Ooh.
Yeah.
That's unfortunate.
Is it, is it like before where?
Like the bridge is just shot now.
They're gonna have to rebuild it completely
Nope, not nearly like what happened in Baltimore.
Okay,
that's good
Mm-hmm, but the ship is they're they're trying to figure out what happened obviously and the ship is broken and So it was not a good will it's a Mexican ship.
It was on a good will tour.
It was headed over to Iceland I think so really unfortunate obviously with that loss of life
You know what's going on with ships and engine failure and running into bridges
good question I mean transportation in general all of the issues we're having with planes in the country, too
Yes, secretary Duffy.
Are you listening?
This is the real world.
Let's do this get my joke there.
He was on the real world
Right.
Yes
before my time I
think both of us were born in this century
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you know, you're right.
I mean, with, with airlines, with everything that's happening in Newark, but across the country, all the near misses, it's really scary to think about traveling.
And I'm sure that that's affecting people with their travel plans this summer.
Right.
Yeah.
Speaking of, are you
going anywhere for Memorial Day weekend next weekend?
Brittany Merlos said it's going to be good and sunny for us for the most part.
I know it's going to be beautiful.
I think I'm going to stay home.
I travel a lot.
So home is going to feel like a vacation.
That's
good.
Yeah.
I know, but the weather, when you get a good Memorial Day weekend, that is like, that's a gift.
Sure is.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, when we get back from this break, we will be hanging out with Attorney Carla Smith and Teresa Fredericks, owner and manager of Treetop Development Center and Preschool, talking about childcare in Wisconsin and what we can do to make it better.
This is Dr. Kristen Lairly with the Pat... Mornings with Pat Craig.
I can't get used to the name change of the show.
And we'll be back shortly.
Good morning and welcome back to mornings with Pat Kratlow on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Dr. Kristen Lyrely here with Sam Davison and Dom and we are Davison, Dom and the Doc.
We just keep changing the name of the show as it evolves.
I
mean, I'm
good with
whatever.
We're
all here.
Sam's like, you guys talk.
I'll push the button.
Oh, that's good.
because we have some incredible guests.
So you can take a little break because we have incredible guests.
We have Teresa Fredericks.
She is the owner and manager of Treetop Development Center and preschool.
And we've got Carla Smith.
She's an attorney in Northwestern Wisconsin.
They are based in Ashland.
And they're joining us this morning to talk about childcare.
We all need it.
I have four kids of my own.
We had to beg, steal, and borrow to get childcare as they were growing, and things have only gotten harder.
Ladies, welcome to Mornings with Pat Cretlow.
Thank you.
Thank you for having
me.
Teresa, why don't you start and just tell us, first of all, give us a little background on who you are, what you do.
I think you have such an extraordinary story.
This isn't just a job for you.
This is
This is who you are.
It's who I am.
It's kind of a legacy that I have carried on from my mom.
I'm a second generation owner.
She started when I was five months old.
So I like to say I've been here forever.
We just celebrated 52 years in business.
And it wasn't actually my plan to do this, but I think I had to leave in order to appreciate it.
And that it just was my calling.
I have a degree to teach six through 12th grade natural science and biology.
So I started helping her out when I finished my student teaching and she was going through an expansion.
And through that, I went and said, why did I not?
Go early childhood.
This is just so natural.
And so since then, I've been the owner since 2010 and got my master's in early childhood education to also help support what we do here.
You have a master as you are the owner.
This is a business that was started by your mom.
This is hardwired in you.
It
is.
Little known fact, my brother couldn't say my name Teresa and called me treetop.
So when she was looking for a catchy name, I'm like, I guess it's just been in my destiny.
Oh, wow.
That's that's incredible.
Hey, and Carla, how are you involved here?
You're an attorney, but more.
I
am an attorney.
I moved back.
I actually grew up with Teresa a few years younger than her.
And when I came back to the area about five years ago, I had young children of my own.
and we were looking for phenomenal childcare and everyone in the area loves Teresa, loves Treetop.
We only have a few options and my husband was a stay-at-home dad at the time and there comes a point where we felt like we just couldn't give him all that he needed.
In terms of structure, in terms of academics, in terms of social, Teresa has a large
kind of outdoor program that the kids can amble through the trails.
And we were looking for something, but we didn't have any options around here.
And so we ended up on the wait list for several places.
One of the places we got off the wait list on, but we said, no, we want to wait for a treetop.
And so we were on the wait list for probably six months.
And then we were one of the lucky ones.
Well, and you were one of the lucky ones because you had flexibility and you could start him at just two days a week which is how most of my families get in because They're you know, I'm licensed for 33 and I have 39 children because we have some staggered Schedules and so if you're flexible you have a better chance of getting in some are on the wait list for years and It's not just me either
pretty much every program we have here, we just don't have enough options.
I work with families every day.
I work with kids in the courthouse.
I work with grandparents.
I work with small business owners.
This is a significant problem in this area.
I mean, these small business owners are looking for employees.
I mean, they're being strangled.
They are trying to find employees and you have people like
my spouse or a lot of other parents who want to be back in the workforce, who want to be productive, and they just can't do it when they have small children at home.
And so to us, it's a no-brainer.
For people who want to get back to the workforce, it gives them an option.
People who want to stay home, that's wonderful.
They can continue staying home, but the amount of financial
independence, it gives people as well as how it grows the GDP, you would think that this is a bipartisan issue.
And I think in most states they realize both from the economic and the things that gives children is it.
It's a no-brainer.
It's a win-win for everybody.
And even judges, and it doesn't matter if these judges are conservative, it doesn't matter if they're liberal.
When you are in the courtroom arguing for the best interests of children, a lot of them at at-risk homes, they want those children to be in places like Treetop to provide for the stability and provide for a haven for these kids to have a leg up when they get to kindergarten.
It's obviously, it's a feel good thing.
It's the right thing to do.
But socially, it is necessary.
And economically, I love that you brought
that
up, Karla, because this is a huge economic driver that allows people to participate in the workforce.
And that's not a new thing.
Teresa, what have you seen over time?
You've been doing this a long time.
Has this always been an issue?
Are we at a certain flash point in time?
Why is it a crisis now?
It actually isn't a crisis now.
It has been a problem.
Back in 2013, they've done some studies and they've monitored the market of how many child care providers have been out there.
And it has been a decline since 2010.
If you look at the charts, it started to be stabilized when COVID happened.
And that was because we got the funding.
And so we were able to freeze the tuition for parents.
We were able to raise wages for teachers.
So we were able to recruit more teachers during that time.
And then if you look again, some programs closed when our funds got cut in half.
and then again when they got cut again.
So we know that this has always been an issue.
How can you be stabilized if your payments are only coming from the parents?
We need public investment in order for this to work.
You mentioned earlier that the average wage for these college educated early childhood specialists is $13 an hour.
That's with the funds prior to this.
It was $10.
So we're fighting for that $13 just to stabilize and then we have more work to do because Obviously, it's very important work birth to 590% of the brain development happens during this time Why would we not invest in that?
It's best for our economy the return of rate for
every dollar spent is something like seven to 17.
So the younger the child, the more return of investment you have.
It just makes sense.
I don't understand why it's not black and white for everyone.
It does make sense.
And from an early childhood provider standpoint, that's a tough wage.
$13 an hour is less than people who work in restaurants or
gas stations.
It is.
I really value my staff and I want to retain quality staff.
And so how do I do that?
By working a whole lot of hours.
I not only am the owner, the director, I'm the preschool teacher.
Sometimes I'm a cook.
I can be maintenance.
And so that's a wage like that preschool teacher wage is something I don't have to spend so I can
pay my other teachers more, but it's not right.
And that's not sustainable either.
It's not sustainable from a provider standpoint, and it's not sustainable from an access standpoint for parents either.
Carla, can you speak to that as a parent?
I'm the mom of four kids.
I have definitely struggled to pay for childcare, but my kids are older now.
What are you seeing?
well it's incredible so so Teresa is a godsend I mean honestly I would go into when I drop my son off and she would have a baby strapped to her back she'd be cooking you know lunch she'd be dealing with you know teaching other kids and the kids as a parent I I drop off my kids at elementary school every day and when I walk through those halls and I see the kids I went through treetop
It's incredible to see the skills they have.
I mean, they're structured.
They are academically advanced.
I mean, it's incredible what she did in her program.
And my daughter's first grade teacher, one of the best teachers I've ever seen, and she actually taught a treetop while she was in college.
Just a phenomenal human being.
And as a parent, it's hard.
I mean, it's hard when you are struggling with the demands of everything.
I have two children.
And to try to afford child care on top of trying to get them academically ready for school, it's essential to have these childhood education centers like Teresa does.
It's a struggle for parents.
It's a struggle for providers.
Governor Evers has called this the year of the child.
He put $480 million into his budget to sustain us where we're at now, which is still a struggle.
But what we saw with joint finance is they removed all of that funding.
We don't know what the plan is for childcare moving forward.
And we know that the funds that have been sustaining this are going away at the end of June.
Theresa, what will the impact on your center and centers in general be in Wisconsin?
Well, it's slated to be 25% of programs are going to be closing.
They will not be able to sustain anymore.
Program I will have to raise my rates and I've already notified my families It will be upward of 20 to 25 dollars per child per week now.
I know in bigger cities.
It's it's more we're rural so it tends to be a little less than more urban areas but you know, they know that they advocate right with me and All we can do is let our legislators know that this is important.
It's important for our economy.
It's important
for the children and so that parents can work.
Karla, we've got about a minute left.
What do you see as the impact on our communities as a parent and a community leader?
Well, it was fun because for treetop we had a little get together a protest last week and you had parents out there I mean both Republicans and Democrats both conservatives and liberals saying this is such an essential and I love the word investment that Tracy use it because this investment pays off in dividends I mean exactly what you said dr. Lairley is it's a good feel thing to do, but it's an investment in our future for our communities our parents our teachers You know our businesses
And in a small community like Ashland, these are your neighbors.
These aren't just random people off the street.
Teresa has been an investment in Ashland for over 52 years.
Yeah.
I want to thank you both for taking the time to join us this morning and for your incredible advocacy work and for taking care of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and our communities in general.
Very grateful to you both.
Thank you so much for inviting us.
Yeah, thank you.
You're so welcome.
We're going to be talking about this on my podcast this weekend, Saturday and Sunday at 3pm on WISS and WGBW.
On the other side of the state in Sheboygan, where community leaders and childcare providers will also be sharing their stories.
So thank you again to our guests.
This is Dr. Kristen Leier-Lee on Mornings with Pat Kratlow on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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Me, Dr. Kristen Lyrely and we've got Sam Davison and Dom and Greg is back and Jane
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
It's Monday.
It's Monday.
It is
Monday.
We were talking apparently and I always forget that you have the show behind the show Because people on the stream can hear what we're talking about.
So we were talking about soup and what
a
great soup day this would be soup
and nap.
Soup and nap day.
Yeah.
Curl
up
with a good book.
Have a little mug of noodle soup.
Ooh, I got my afternoon planned.
I know.
And like, store up your energy because this weekend is going to be fantastic.
Yeah, the weather looks good.
Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and cold from what I've seen kind of like today.
We really do need the moisture and we need the rain.
So I know it's going to be kind of like
But for the next couple of days, but then, yeah, it looks nice.
And then Memorial weekend is looking pretty good.
So
it's
already happening.
Oh, my goodness.
Memorial
weekend
is
this week from
today.
The official unofficial start of summer.
Yeah,
exactly.
I
think people are ready.
Yeah,
definitely.
So ready.
Are you going anywhere?
Any big summer trips planned?
We will be taking our vacation at the end of the summer, which we always do.
And we know you go.
Uh, we normally go to London for a couple of days.
My husband is English.
Oh, aren't you
fancy?
Oh, yes.
Well, we'll, uh, we'll spend a couple of days in London and meet with Charles, you know, cause that's what we
always do.
Will you have a spot of tea?
Um, no, we will not tea.
Even my husband doesn't drink tea when we're there.
It's, I mean, tea's fine.
It's just hot brown water.
Yeah, it's no, but, uh, yeah, so we'll knock around London for a couple of days and then we'll probably spend a little time in
Portugal.
It is a Harry and Megan's anniversary today.
Is it today?
Wow
Wow,
they've
been
married for wait Harry and Megan been married for seven years.
Mm-hmm.
That's hard to believe.
I would if you would ask me I was like to I don't
It just seems like
whatever
Wow,
yeah, they've been all over the news lately.
I don't
I wish people would leave them alone.
Yeah,
they seem like they really want to be left alone.
Well, I
don't
know.
But then they keep putting out Netflix shows.
It's like make up your mind.
Either you want to be in the public eye and open to criticism or you don't.
Yeah.
So
how do you do that growing up in the public eye?
You never have a chance to be like just a regular person because they're all of those external influences that are shaping and molding and telling you who you're supposed to be.
Well, I mean, let's also throw away the phrase normal person when it's attached to the Royals.
They're not normal people.
They're never raised.
They're not raised to be normal.
They're not, they're raised to be different.
They're above.
They're chosen.
Well, I think Diana really tried really hard for, for Harry and, uh,
William and William the old one.
Yes, Harry and Bill Harry and Bill I think she tried really hard with them though to expose them to regular life and expose them to people who didn't have as much and And I think I would like to think they took some of that with them Williams in the middle of it.
So I don't know.
Yeah,
but I mean Megan is a regular person She is so maybe there's that maybe that's how Harry ended up with Megan and they ended up leaving the royal family
But I still think I think Megan still wants to be in the public eye.
Yeah
She's as regular as a celebrity can be regular compared to a royal she I mean, it's not a it's not a prince The situation where he just saw some lady in the crowd and said I shall marry you for I love you Give
it all away
for you
This
is what happens when Greg gets enough sleep
Yeah, yeah, someone say, hey, Greg, just take a hat.
Don't take a nap.
Stop, stop wearing your CPAP.
Do us all a favor.
Hey, what are we going to talk about on the show today, Jane?
We are going to talk, uh, we're going to start off with Derrick, uh, Walmart is supposed to just eat the tariffs.
Did you know that?
Uh, the president over the weekend.
at least in my estimation has acknowledged that companies and American consumers are the ones who pay the tariffs as opposed to all of the months leading up to the presidential election when he said, you know, tariffs, the most beautiful word and all only other countries pay them.
Yeah, no, he pretty much said it over the weekend.
We our companies pay the tariffs.
We pay the tariffs.
So we're going to start off with a little bit of that.
And then we're going to talk about the GOP Wisconsin convention that was over the weekend.
Oh, yeah, we didn't get into that, but they made some big decisions.
They're very much in support of the 1849 abortion ban,
of course, which
shouldn't be a big surprise.
I also saw some reporting over the weekend that Tim Michaels was there.
Wait, what?
He's in Wisconsin?
He was
at the he was at the GOP convention.
So
why is he going to run again?
I don't know.
Oh, you know, he.
Bored.
Bored.
Yeah, I think he's bored.
I think these really wealthy white business guys like Eric Havde, it's like, yeah, I've done all this and I'm successful in business.
What do I want it?
I think I'd like to be a senator.
I think I'd like to be governor.
Wouldn't that be fun?
I think I'd be good at that.
Give me, give me, give me that.
It should be mine.
It should be mine.
Again, I just know that he was there.
I don't know what the discussion was, but we're going to kick that around a little bit.
We are going to spend a little bit of time just talking about President, former President Biden's cancer diagnosis and also some
that just got creamed from tornadoes.
So we're going to talk a little bit about that and also the cuts that have been made to the National Weather Service and also FEMA.
The head of FEMA actually testified before Congress and said getting rid of FEMA would be a really bad idea.
So the next day they fired him.
Yeah, mm hmm.
Well, this is just a pattern that we've seen over and over again.
But it sounds like a wonderful show and I'm going to join you for a little bit of it.
Yes, you're going to be here
at 930 looking forward to it.
And
Pam
Yonkey at 10.
And the fabulous farm babe will be here after 10 o'clock too, so stick around for that.
She's so good.
Thank you, Jane, Greg, Dom, Davison.
It's in my head.
Thank you to my son, and to Alan Dippler from Men For Choice, Teresa Fredricks from Treetop, Carlos Smith.
in Ashland.
It's been so fun this morning.
Thank you all for hanging out with us.
Yeah.
All right.
Tune in tomorrow morning.
Pat's going to be back on mornings with Pat Craitlow on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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