August 12,2014

       We were visited with a deluge of rain, thunder and lightning. It lasted for quite some time and gave growing crops a good pounding as well as a very long drink of water. One thing about the terrain of our community, most of the water runs down to the bottom of our valley. This storm left marked trails on the dirt roads where the waters descended. As far as I know there were no flooded basements in our homes.

       Two babies were blessed and named in the LDS Mink Creek Ward. Tiny Quinton Keller Jones traveled here all the way from Michigan with his parents, Chelsea and Stephen Jones. Chelsea is the daughter of Glade and Corinne Larsen. Jacob and RaNette Free drove over from Pinedale, WY, to name their new little girl, Zennedy Nayvi Free. Jacob and RaNette just relocated to Pinedale with a new job. He is the son of Richard and Vicki Free.

       The Varsity High Adventure for eight scouts was hiking and camping in Grand Teton National Park. The leaders were Paul McKay, Marco Crosland, Kerry Jepsen and Eldon Wilcox. They hiked to the Lower Saddle in the middle of the Tetons. They hiked four miles with full packs, had a beautiful campsite and got to play in the snow still tucked away about the camp. Those mountains have lots of depth and it was hard, but fun, with many learning experiences along the way. One of those was being able to look to the east, as the sun was going down and see the shadows of those huge mountains in front of you. One member of the troop, Chris Wilkerson, had his 16^th birthday during the trip and everyone celebrated with him. Chris was later ordained a priest in the LDS Ward.

        Wally and Kim Christensen have spent some of our hot July days in Canada. Wally was attending professional meetings as an optometrist. Kim got in her share of shopping and relaxing.

        Chokecherries and summer apples are ready for picking now. There seems to be chokecherries in abundance this year, both domestic and wild. The limbs of trees near our farm are touching the ground they are so heavy with the black clusters of berries. If they are on your summer wish list now is the time.

         This may be my last minkcreek blog for two or three weeks. I am heading down to Utah with some medical problems and I am thinking it will be 2-3 weeks before I am ready to blog. Just thought I had best give you a heads up so you weren't wondering what had become of me.