February 20, 2018

          Thank you to those who commented.  Now I know that someone really does read it.  I often think I should quit doing it, so this will provide a feeling that it does have a purpose.

          Bill and Myrna Despain are enjoying a visit from Myrna's son, Dan Jolley and his wife Nina. The Jolleys live in Flagstaff, AZ, so their winters are generally a little different from ours, but not so much this year.

           The Gurney's Seed Catalog has arrived in the mail. Let the planning and dreaming of the growing season begin. Such beautiful pictures of perfect produce, herbs, trees. No shoveling or weeding required. This is an activity that can be enjoyed by a warm fireplace while the cold winds outside play about.

           Bob and Claudia Erickson drove to Pocatello and the Holt Arena to watch their grandson, Aidan Nielsen, son of Carla and Mark Nielsen of American Fork, UT, run in the 1600 meter preliminaries. This young man is a junior in high school and has discovered a love of running and participates in the American Fork High School track program along with indoor track in a club program. While at the Mini Dome the Ericksons noticed how involved was Tyson Gunter, one of the guest Olympians, who is married to Mink Creek's MaKenzie Wilcox. Ty has been part of the Simplot Games since his own high school days and as a student at Idaho State University.

          These clear skies and dry days have brought back our migrating geese. The V patterns can be both seen and heard as they make their way northward. The Mink Creek area has several spots where they regularly have a layover enroute.

          Irrigation plans are way earlier than usual, but with this year's weather it makes sense. There is water cascading down the Twin Lakes Canal spillway into the Bear River at the lower end of our community. It always looks so white and clean as it drops into the river below. The equipment and crew that has been at work on this top section of the canal has moved to a lower region.

           Our winter arrived on Sunday, and spent most of the day sending snow. It was a super wet, soggy storm and we need it all. It has stayed cold since, with a flurryof snow now and again. We can't brag about how deep the snow is, but we got 'some,' and we are not complaining.

          The LDS Ward meets at 9am on Sundays and those attending went in with bare, brown hills as their surroundings. When they left at noon to go home the entire world was covered with soft white, from the banks of Mink Creek at the base of our valley, all the way up to the tops of our mountains, treee limbs reaching down, heavy with a blanket of snow. Totally nice!