February 8, 2016

            Layne Erickson underwent surgery on his right shoulder recently. He is home recuperating on a nice comfy couch now, in between sessions with the physical therapist. His son Bryan and Shannon Erickson drove up from Mt. Sterling, UT, for a visit while he was hospitalized.

           Terry and Bryce Stromberg were home a few days before they begin their mission duties in Salt Lake City, UT. They are part of Temple Square Mission. Terry will be working in Family History and Bryce, a retired law enforcer, will be in security. Bryce is clean-shaven these days, so if you run into a guy that looks familiar, but not quite, there are possibilities that he may be our Bryce Stromberg.

           We have had a flock of snow geese visiting our area. They are a little hard to spot because their color just blends in with our white landscape. They look like a bunch of lumpy snow until a person is able to focus on the heads that go with the lumps.

            Other wildlife sightings recently have been moose in the lower part of our community. It doesn't take those critters long to travel over a long distance. We also have a report of cougars in the upper part of the valley, even coming up to our homes and buildings, checking things out. It behooves us to keep alert when we step outside.

            A group of our young men have been working to understand aluminum castings. This is a fire and brimstone project. Andy McKay, Clay Jepsen,  Angelo Crosland, Ty Beardall, Kris Wilkinson and Ben Seamons gathered with their leaders, Terry Westerberg, Kerry Jepsen and Bishop Kurt Iverson. at the forge on Andy's grandparents' farm. They have been collecting tin cans, old radiators, anything junk aluminum, for this event. Their main instructor was Andy and all learned new things, even terms like forge, crucible, melt through, and dross and how they all go together for this process.   Some of their castings were too frail and broke, others held, but much education happened.

           The snow, rain,warm, melt, freeze weather we have been having lately has added some extra challenges to life around here. There is the constant threat of slipping on the invisible ice when afoot, damaging a limb or head on our way down. The off roads that are dirt have been known to require chaining up the tires in the effort to get around.

           Happy Birthday, Boy Scouts of America! Today, Feb 8^th, marks 106 years of scouting. With all its ups and downs, it is a worthwhile program. Thus writes a scout leader from the past.