At first, I had nothing good to say about Watford City.  After about five months of living in Watford City, and writing about it, I have covered most of the bad things in Watford City, probably more than several times.  There are a few good things about Watford City that appear every now and then.

I have noticed that the local school-aged kids here are very well behaved.  I lived in Idaho for about five years, Idaho is about 60% to 70% Mormon where I lived, and the Mormon areas of Idaho are well known for having very well behaved kids.  The local kids here are even better behaved than the Mormon kids, probably because they don’t believe that they will evolve to become gods, and become gods of their own planet one day (Mormon doctrine).

I guess that I have seen local kids aged two to eighteen.  I didn’t notice them or give much thought to them most of the time because they were quiet, not doing anything obnoxious, and not doing anything wrong.  I only started to consciously be aware of these local kids because they are so polite and respectful.  At many businesses they have been holding the door open for me, and letting me in or out ahead of themselves, because I am old.

I have only seen kids like this before, when I bought a home in rural Idaho in a town with a population of about 5,000.  The two boys at the end of the dirt road did not have a basketball, football, soccer ball, baseball, remote control car, mountain bike, or hardly anything.  Every day after school, they had to work on their farm, and their neighbors’ farms.  In the summer when there was no school, they had to set up irrigation pipes, let them run for an hour, then move the pipes further along, let them run for an hour, then move them again, all day long.  The one that had to mow my lawn when I was away working in North Dakota, his name was Zane.  When Zane graduated from high school a couple of years ago, his dad told me that he got into some school to be an air-traffic controller.  I believe that they make $200,000-$300,000 per year.  If I had to move back to Idaho, where it is difficult to get work, I might end up having to mow Zane’s lawn.