Feb 1, 2012

We are happy to have snow in our village, it has slowed down the runoff from all that rain.  The State Highway crew had warning signs along our main street where the water was washing over the road as it made its way down our slopes.  The bottom of  the dugway road that leads from the flats around the Bear River up to Station Creek and Glencoe Road has a big wash-out  where the cascading water was more than the dirt road could handle.

            George and Judy Rasmussen are home after visiting children here and there the last few weeks.  These particular families live in Iowa, Utah and Nevada. One of their teenage granddaughters, DeAnna Thomas, came to Mink Creek with them, enjoying a bit of a vacation from her home in Las Vegas.

            The young men of Mink Creek are having a good time playing basketball.  Their coach this season is Mark Heaton.  Thus far they have had three games with other wards of the Preston North Stake.  It is a great winter activity.

            Glen and Betty Jo Jepsen have taken a lengthy winter trip.  They drove to Stettler, Alberta, Canada to spend time with the family of their daughter Jill and  Mark Neitz.   Everyone there was awaiting the arrival of the newest child in the family.   This little granddaughter put in

her appearance on January 8^th, on schedule.  The three other Neitz children were a great welcoming committee.  The Jepsens stuck around for a bit longer to help out with the adjustments that were bound to come following this event.

            Katherine and Leon Noorda are currently in Thailand serving a humanitarian mission.

They have survived the flooding of this fall season and report that it is the worst the country has experienced for the past century.   In the city of Chiang Mai over one weekend they distributed  a total of 1800 blankets during  three gifting ceremonies that took place each day.

            The Preston High girls’ basketball program for this year is winding down.  The Varsity team is now in district tournament play.  Mink Creek has had two young ladies participating on the freshman team,  Tawni Hall and Brooke Corbett.  Tawni is the daughter of Brett and Kristi Hall, Brooke the daughter of Shane and Sherie Corbett.

Elder Bridger Hall, son of Brett and Kristi, has been on his mission to Colombia for 8 months.  He is now a trainer and serving in the city of Pomplona.  He is sufficiently comfortable with the Spanish language to manage several baptisms while speaking the native tongue.  He has adjusted to the cultural change.  One bus ride to a mission conference took 35 hours to complete.  His eating habits have taken a change, low on sweets now.  His family describes him as “healthy and happy.”  Bridger teaches English as a second language on weekends.  One thing he misses is the game of football since South America is big on soccer.

mink creek news January 25, 2012

When this week’s column was begun there was lots of frozen water in this community.  The edges of the several ponds, the three canals that come out of Mink Creek, the irrigation ditches that are contained within the community boundaries, not even counting livestock watering troughs, and lots of puddles.  The mountains and hillsides looked dry as the proverbial bone.    Then along came a wind in clear skies with streaked clouds. A day or two of that and we got hit with snow, glorious snow.  Visibility was limited.  Some hours later the white turned to liquid and it was rain, rain and more rain.  With the frozen earth there was no absorbing and the water is running downhill, in paths of least resistance.  The snow turned into slush and slop.  That is the current situation as of this writing.  Hopefully the soggy white stuff is being stored in our mountaintops.

            Judging from inquiries I have received, an explanation is in order regarding the length of the Mink Creek News.  The Citizen newspaper has requested that the Rural Route columnists limit their weekly contribution to 300 words.  By complying with that request, much of what I normally would write does not make the weekly publication.   It is difficult to decide just what is newsworthy to fit in the allotted space. The result is that I have started an online blog that contains the “rest of the story.”  Please check that out if you have the interest and the computer needed.  I have always enjoyed your comments that you have delivered to me personally, now you have a chance to be my critics online no matter where you live.  You can give me your comments whether you are in California, Massachusetts, or anywhere in the world.  Take advantage of the opportunity.

My husband’s brother, Gary, alerted us to the passing of Stanton Rasmussen.  While I didn't know him I am thinking that many of you readers or your spouse probably did.  He grew up in Mink Creek, the oldest in his family, and was 73 at the time of his death.  Stanton spent many of his adult years living in Grace, ID. He died on Jan 16 in Salt Lake City at the University Hospital.  His funeral was in Grace, ID,  at the Stake Center with burial in  the Grace Cemetery.  This information was gathered from the Idaho State Journal.

There are four young men from Mink Creek currently serving LDS missions.  Here is an update on Elder Joshua Newby, son of Lin and Sharla McKay, who has been out nearly two years serving in the St. Louis, Missouri Mission.  At the present time he is in Springfield, IL, doing the work of a zone leader.  As these last months go by he is not eager to leave, even though seeing a snowmobile, pulled on a passing trailer, gave him a brief longing for “winter in Mink Creek.”  His parents report that Josh wondered where that machine could be used in the Springfield area.  When the trailer drove by there were 3 inches of snow at the most and all in an area of flat terrain.  His release date is April 5^th and then he has plans to head back to BYU/Idaho when the track begins later that month.

Our community welcomes a new family living in the Iverson rental home of lower Mink Creek. Greg and Heather Andra and their four children come to us from Smithfield, UT.  Prior to their time in Smithfield they lived in Montana, near Missoula country.

On a recent drive through Treasureton and Grace it was evident the weather they had been getting was much the same as on this side of the Divide.    Water was in abundance and any flat farm field was filled with slush.  Any deer to be seen were wading as they munched.

One particularly icy morning the school buses in the Preston District had challenges getting their passengers delivered to school on time.  Sand trucks came out our way to add some grit on the dirt roads. 

mink creek news January 18, 2012

Interest in a community skiing night was revived and residents responded enthusiastically.   The Preston 4^th Ward skiers combined with those from Mink Creek and a wonderful night on the slopes of Beaver Mountain was enjoyed.  All ages participated, some were beginners, other veterans of the sport.  The lodge was filled with spectators and supporters.  Good food was available to keep the energy levels up and add to the social atmosphere.  For five hours the mountainside was filled with sounds of fun and laughter.  Even in this year of thin snow there was sufficient and plans are already being scheduled for a outing  during next year’s winter.

Dylan Larsen came over from Oxford, ID, where he lives with his mother, Beth. He spent some time with his dad, Craig Larsen and his wife, Elaine.  Their home on Birch Creek was glad to see this young man.

Keenan Janke is the newest member of the Mink Creek LDS Ward.  He is the son of Laural and Jody Janke and  was baptized and confirmed this month.  Family and friends gathered for this event in Keenan’s young life.  His grandparents are Bob and Claudia Erickson of Mink Creek.  Carla and Mark Nielsen and their sons of American Fork, UT and Danalee and Gene Abernethy and daughter, Mikell, of Alpine, UT, drove up for the occasion.

We are saddened to report the death of Merlin McKay.  He and his wife, Opal, spent many years raising his sons on the McKay farm up Bear Creek Road.  Opal passed away following lingering illness in December of 2010.  Their sons still live here, Paul and Terrie McKay and family up Station Creek, and Lin and Sharla  McKay and their children further up on Bear Creek.

Since this end of the news is no longer part of the Preston Citizen newspaper I will likely approach things from a more personal view with observations, comments, and such.  Please let me know through a comment on the blog your feelings about this, after all you are my “audience” and I hope to cover things in a way that meets with your approval.

Our Cub Scouts had a fun Pack Meeting this month, as usual.  The Bear Den put on a great magic show.  Their new leaders are Ivan and Lana McCracken.  The Pack did some “rabbit relay” games that turned out to be hilarious.  Most of the families of the Cubs attend this meeting and make up a fine cheering squad for the scouts.  Our current Cubmaster (what is the title for a woman leading Cubs?) is Dawnell Greene, a lady with great ideas for active boys.

A ride up Strawberry Canyon over to the Bear Lake area is on dry roads.  The snow up there is pretty scant.   Snowmobile diehards are still making use of what little there is.  The snow plows clearing off the parking lot at Copenhagen have to work pretty hard pushing snow from various directions to build a decent pile of snow.   The State plows have made a few early morning trips headed that up the canyon, but not many.  I did notice a sander truck out one morning recently. Montpelier might have a little more snow than we do over on this side of the summit, but not by much.  A weird year weatherwise, and a bit frightening for the future months.

January 11, 2012

January 1, 2012, arrived in Mink Creek with a beautiful, sunny blue sky.  Not one drop of moisture given, and none in the forecast.  The possible lack of sufficient water for the coming growing season is becoming a frequent thought.  We have even had two days of  slightly thawing temperatures, for the most part the bare ground stays frozen.

 The lack of the white stuff has not kept the deer up in the higher elevations.  They are down in our midst, grazing on leftover fields.   The absence of the usual weather has not deterred their feeding habits. The y are often the fatalities in the  animal/ automobile collisions.  Most of those happen during the night hours, but the deer are out there at all hours so be on guard if driving through. 

 Some of Vernon and Sallee Keller’s family gathered  at Maddox’ Restaurant in Brigham City to celebrate a birthday.  Those attending were Kelton and DeniseKeller and their Mauri from Alpine,UT,  Karla and Chris Jensen and their children of  Cliffside in Logan, Jeff and Kayleen Hill from West Jordan, UT, and Karma Wood of Logan.

The end of 2011 saw Paul and Terrie McKay driving a long round-trip, destination Lakeview, OR.  This was a surprise arrival, planned for Terrie’s best friend and cousin, Kristin Collins.  The Collins family was having a wedding reception for their oldest daughter, Bailey.

The surprise worked perfectly and the cousins loved the few hours spent before the McKays returned to Mink Creek.

            Karl and Marion Haws were pleased to be able to come from Santa Barbara, CA,  to Mink Creek for part of their holiday vacation.  Two of their children joined them:  Aaron and Heather Haws and their three small children of Boise, and Peter and Gretchen Haws and family of Solvang, CA.         

Wally and Kim Christensen had a full house over the holidays when all their children were on the home front. Angelie and Thane Winward and their twins came up from Logan, spending time with her parents.  Aaron and Nick Christensen are now living in Logan as well.  Jeremy and Crystal and their family drove from Orem. 

            Mike and Mary Ann Jepsen did Christmas in California this year.  They spent the days with their daughter Annie and Steve Earl and their children in San Jose.  The weather was great for them, coming and going.

            LaRon and Liesa Baird were happy to have their daughter Juliana and husband Blaine Packer back home for a few days.  Blaine and Juliana live in Heyburn, ID.

            The winter germs are making the rounds.  A number of our residents report having had to deal with the yuckies while trying to create  holiday traditions and fun with their families here or elsewhere.

            Most of Mink Creek residents have been having problems with their landline phone systems.  To begin with the things just stopped working completely.  Some 30 hours later the system was erratic---“please dial 1 for this number” (which happened to be the number of the next door neighbor),  static on the line beyond hearing, phone going dead after speaking only a few seconds, and on and on.  As of this writing there is some improvement, but the whole package has yet to arrive.

            It has only been fifteen days since we had the shortest day of our 365 and already one can see the lengthening of daylight hours.  The solar lights are shedding light longer into the night and the sun wakens earlier.  It feels good.