Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Moisture, continued, Feb 21, 2017

        The wild turkeys are invading our yards, as well as their more normal feeding areas. They are challenging the right of way for motorists driving the highway. Earlier this week the turkey traffic fatality rate was up to three.
          A local moose found the perfect resting place in the beautiful yard of Wally and Kim Christensen. As Kim was heading outdoors to take care of some chores, the cow moose waltzed into their orchard and found the spot to her liking. There was water handy, a nice resting spot and fruit trees all around. Kim observed from a safe distance and put her chores on hold until the critter departed.
         Michelle Wall and her children have been here for a visit with her parents, Kent and Tammy Beardall. Michelle lives in Grand Junction, CO, and is expecting a baby this spring so this will likely be the last visit to her home ground until after that event.
          Four couples took a break from winter in Idaho to attend a Cowboy Poetry Festival in Elko, NV. Nate and Dana Olson, Glade and Corinne Larsen, Clare and Linda Christensen, and Forrest and Patti Christensen, all missed out on some of our early February thawing and the excitement that came with it.
           Josh and Lizzy Greene and their two boys, Bentley and Oaklan, have been up to visit his folks, Chad and Dawnell Greene. The domestic pace picks up when those grandchildren arrive.
          There are highway signs here and there indicating that water may be washing across the highway, our main street, as it make its way down our slopes to Mink Creek. Believe it! We also have some mud slides. Two  are every evident in our southern end; one is a huge slide in Kent Egley's field. It has always been nearly perpendicular and now the dirt has slid down and is causing a mud lake at the base, with water runoff adding to the mix. Another, easily seen, is on the east side of Bear River, just above the old highway, now designated as Riverdale Rd.
          There are also lakes in the making, forming in farmer fields. Driving north from the intersection of Highway 36 with 34, I have started to mentally label some: Sharp Lake, Keller Lake, Coburn Lake, Hall pond, Hansen Lake, Despain Lake, and on up, until  one reaches the areas where the temperatures haven't gotten quite high enough, but will be coming a bit later.
         
            Today has been wind and rain, with occasional glimpses of blue sky. The canals that run through our village are overflowing in several places.  Every creek is running full tilt.  There has been a need, again, for sand bagging around some of our homes. A few more mud slides have been counted. It is a condition that has everyone on high alert. The forecast is for lower temperatures in a few days, bringing snow rather than rain. Spring is still weeks away and we are hoping to survive this aggressive winter in the meantime.

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