April 30, 2014

       

      Lorraine Christensen spent more than a week at the home of her daughter Kim and Joe Tracey in Meridian, ID. Kim, recovering from surgery, needed assistance with her family of young children while getting back on her feet.

       We have had two sessions of needed rain. The first storm brought a nice gentle rain that lasted for several hours. Storm #2 blew in on a powerful wind that shook trees and caused a power outage of nearly two hours. It was one of those lack-of-preparation awareness moments. Both have been great for planted seeds just waiting to sprout.

       Haylee Hatch, daughter of Sam and Katie Hatch, was awarded her Young Womanhood Medallion recently in the LDS Ward. Her grandparents, Burnell and Darlene Hall of Fairview, ID, came to recognize this achievement in Haylee's life.

      Johnny Iverson and Morgan McKay, currently seniors at Preston High School, were released from callings as Mink Creek delegates for the Youth Council in Preston North Stake. Taking these positions for the coming year will be Justin Longhurst and River McKay.

       Juliana and Blaine Packer and their little girl were here over Easter weekend, livening up the home of her parents, LaRon and Liesa Baird. The Packers live in Henderson, NV.

      Family members gathered to welcome Elder Christopher Wilde home as he spoke in the LDS Ward. He shared some of his experiences from the Arizona, Tempe, Mission. Aunts and uncles were here: Dottie Casperson, Janet and Jolene Schenk, of Preston, John and Nancy Tippets of Bennington, ID.

       Three beautiful young ladies from our community participated in the Distinguished Young Woman Program recently. They are Brooke Corbett, daughter of Shane and Sherrie Corbett, Haylee Hatch, daughter of Sam and Katie Hatch, and Claire Jepsen, daughter of Kerry and Melinda Jepsen..Melinda's sister-in-law, Sandy Checketts and her daughter Lauren and Christopher Warne of Nampa, and Becky Jepsen and her girls of Pocatello, were here to see the production.

       Due to extremely damp weather, translated as rain for several days consecutively, the semi-annual cleanup of Highway 36 was canceled, or at least postponed. The youth of Mink Creek have done this service for years and it has often rained, but this season was wetter than usual. The plan was to also tidy up the Birch Creek parking lot. That too has been put on the back burner of planning.

       However, the weather for Easter weekend was perfect. Great for the family traditions of egg hunts, hikes, spring picnics to celebrate the coming of Spring. Also great for remembering the true meaning of the holiday.

    

April 22, 2014

       Nicole Beardall, daughter of Tammy and Kent Beardall, has earned her Young Womanhood Medallion in the Personal Progress program of the LDS Ward. She is a Senior at Preston High School.

        Marie Aupperlee enjoyed a visit from her daughter, Sandra Wylie, of Chilton, TX. They were able to catch up on their lives and do some shopping while Sandra was here. Sandra will be stopping to see her own daughter in Rock Springs, WY, before returning to Texas.

        Mink Creek's 'Yellow Brick School House' has found a buyer. Mainly used for hay storage since its closure as an elementary school many years ago, it was built in 1916. New owners, Sam and Silvia Stanger, have some Mink Creek connections with the Perry Pearson family. The Stangers currently live in South Weber, Utah, and will be part-time residents of Mink Creek.

        Elder Christopher Wilde returned home from his mission to the Arizona, Tempe, Mission. He is the son of Judy and David Wilde. This leaves the family with only one son still serving, Elder Spencer Wilde who is currently laboring in Bimidji, MN.

        Driving to his workplace in Utah, in the predawn hours of April 17^th, Gene Rasmussen ran into a black Angus cow on Highway 36. Hitting a deer is bad enough, but hitting a cow was a disaster. Gene is fortunate to be able to climb out of his smashed vehicle, amidst all the blood and muck, then hike to a nearby home, wake the resident (at 4am), and use their phone to report the accident, He escaped with multiple lacerations and an aching body, plus a totaled means of transportation. We are grateful for the response of the county emergency people and the skill of the staff at the Franklin County Medical Center in stitching him up.

        Our hillsides were a great place to view the eclipse of the moon recently, providing a person had the energy to stay up into the middle of the night for the observation. With the light of the full moon it was very evident that the shadow was crossing it's surface. We have the advantage of very limited artificial lighting in our community. City lights are pretty much non-existent.

        Turkeys seem to have headed for higher ground, more or less, with the warming weather. Deer fatalities are still very evident along the roadsides. Now we are seeing some of those animals who have been hibernating during the winter months making their appearance.

April 15, 2014

Betty Jo and Glen Jepsen took a two week “project vacation” to Canada to see their daughter Jill and Mark Neitz. It is quite a lengthy drive to Stettler, Alberta. They live on a ranch, and have four children. Jepsens report that temperatures were cold, in the single digits, definitely stay indoors type of weather. Glen helped the family paint the basement for a new look, contributing to the intended project.

Carla Nielsen and sons, Collin and Aidan, came from American Fork, UT, to spend spring break days in Mink Creek. Carla is one of Bob and Claudia Erickson's daughters. The Nielsens have done some fun genealogy activities while they have been here, enjoying family recipes, pictures from the long ago past and hearing family legends.

A true blue Mink Creeker, Leness Keller, passed away this past week at age 85. Born and raised here, he has loved his Mink Creek roots, even though living his adult life in Preston. He was never too far from home and loved sharing stories about “those good old days.” He will be missed by his many friends and family.

A near neighbor, Don Carter of Riverdale, also passed away after 93 years of living under the cowboy hat that was his distinguishing trademark. A mental picture of Don brings up a lean man astride a horse, wearing a hat with its personalized brim, a ready smile on his face. He, too, left his mark upon this area of the country.

Our teenagers who are engaged in ballroom dancing participated in the Gem State competition in Rexburg. In the Cabaret section Johnny Iverson and his partner Jacee Hammons placed 2^nd and Angelo Crosland with his partner Stephanie Oliverson placed 6^th. Individual competitors were Haylee Hatch, James Baird, Angelo and Celina Crosland, Jacobi Johnson, Ty and Nicole Beardall, River McKay, Shelby Larsen, Johnny Iverson, Andy McKay, and Claire and Clay Jepsen. There were team events as well. Lots of ribbons and medals were brought home.

Would you believe that we could use some rain now?!   The weather has been lovely for the last two weeks, but the farmers could use a bit of timely moisture after days of field work.  Mink Creek has a variety of soils, some of it is clay, others finer, all of it on hillsides of more or less slopes.  It is a beautiful place to live, but not without its challenges,

I must apologize for last week's blog,   Things are settling down in the computer department, but it all takes time to adjust, and at that point it was the first day of a new computer, matching up to a writing deadline.  It was awful, no question about it!  Hopefully this one will work correctly.

April 9, 2014

Anyone driving through our village might note some area blackened by recent  fires.  Most of those are due to homeowners burning off the dry weeds from the seasons past. The larger burn spots are indications of a fire  that got away, possibly needing assistance from the county fire dept. to get it under control.  We are grateful for their assistance.

Jimmie and AnnaBeth Olson have been doing some serious traveling.  Their latest road trips have taken them to the homes of all of their children. They began with the plan to see Lydia and Jason Stucki and their family in Moscow, ID.  Another daughter, Peggy and Jon Flinders, and children live in Salmon,ID, and the road back down from northern Idaho took them to Meridian, the home of  Dana and Charlie Petersen and their children.  In a southerly direction from Mink Creek live the two Olson sons, Mike and  Anna Olson and family in Brigham City, UT,  and  Jerry and Christine Olson with their youngsters in St. George.


Mink Creek was pleased to have three of their young people qualify to play in the Bridgerland  Honor Band and  Orchestra Concert  held in Logan at USU's  Kent Concert Hall.  Abi  Janke,  daughter of Jody and Laural Janke, plays the trumpet and in the orchestra were two sons of Jeff and Jennifer Seamons, Ben Seamons played the   viola and David Seamons played the violin.

Elder Jacob Longhurst spoke in the LDS Ward about his mission to  Guadalajara, Mexico.  His maternal grandparents, Earl and Barbara Craythorn came down from the Burley, ID, area.  There were Craythorn and Longhurst aunts, uncles, and cousins here in abundance. Two of Jake's past missionary companions were here to share his experiences.
  
After a "spring break" filled with snow and rain the outdoors has had some drying days and sunshine. Our school children, forced to indoor entertainment during their break by inclement weather, were happy to have warm recesses.  Local farmers have been able to get out on their fields and the tractors are rolling, up and down the valley.  Hints of spring green are becoming stronger each passing day.

I have been having computer problems, hopefully in the process of being solved 
with a new computer.  However, now my relearning begins.  Please bear with me 
while I work out the bumps.  This whole entry may read strangely.  Sorry.

April 1, 2014

Since the last edition of this column crazy spring has walked in, a little ahead of the official day.  On St. Patrick’s Day a snow storm moved in and did a good job of blanketing our valley in white.  It took a good part of the following day for some color to be restored. 

Justin Coleman, son of Tammy and Nelson Coleman, was awarded his Eagle Scout in Hyrum at a Court of Honor with his cousin.  The two young men have been together in the efforts so this was very appropriate.  Justin’s Eagle project was the iron sign that marks the entrance to the community of Mink Creek, located at the Bear River bridge.

Max Haws and his family have been here to enjoy some Idaho spring.  We use the word “enjoy” lightly, since the weather was a bit up and down. Most of them are from California, but college and Idaho roots  now bring them from diverse directions.  Now the gathering included spouses, grandchildren, friends and roommates.

Family members of Karen and Layne Erickson gathered at their home to celebrate a double birthday.  Karen and their daughter Terrie McKay were both born on March 23^rd.  Besides these two families, the Paul McKays, and Ericksons,  Todd and Julie Kunz and their two children came down from Idaho Falls for the event and Connie Erickson and her fiancé, Adam Westenskow of Logan  drove up.  The only one missing was Bryan Erickson, and he had been here a few days earlier, going for a work/fun day with Layne on the Snowcat.

The songs of meadowlarks have lightened the cloudy gloom of recent days. On March 27^th we had a real dose of fractious weather, sunshine, rain, snow,  and hail, all in one day.  Normal spring weather in this part of the country.

We have had three soggy snowstorms since I wrote the above five days ago.  They sweep in, blanket everything with large sodden flakes of white, stick around for awhile and then are gone. Silence reigns for a few moments as if time stopped, but not for long.   Some days it warms up enough to have all surfaces brown and new green  again within just a few hours.   We are expecting more as this week progresses.  All moisture is appreciated after our dry winter.

Even though we are without much moonlight the owl conversations are a night-time delight.  They are very communicative for some reason right now.  Generally the moonlight increases their talking   I may not understand owl, but I enjoy their jibber-jabber.  My current translation is that they are feeling the spring season all around  us.