May Day, 2018

         The spring break for BYU/I in Rexburg, ID gave a few days for two young men to head to Mink Creek. Rico Crosland spent some days with his family, that of Robert and Phee Crosland, before heading out to his summer employment in the state of Washington. Davis Collins came down to spend the week with his grandparents, Bob and Claudia Erickson, away from the college hubbub. His sister, Bailey Collins came up from Salt Lake City to join the group for a day. The Collins duo has discovered that Mink Creek has some good hiking country nearby.

         The community turned out one cold evening to do our semi-annual cleanup of our length of Highway 36. In years past it has been a project for the youth, but our population is shifting to not very many youth so it has turned into an all-ages event. There was a good turn out and all enjoyed the refreshments that followed the work: homemade slimjims, cheese and crackers and glazed doughnuts.

         We have a young man who is involved in racing of a challenging sort. Bryce Egley, son of Jared and Juli Egley, participates in a sport known as cross country mountain bike racing. He is presently involved in a national race series, the Pro Mountain Bike Cross-Country Tour (ProXCT). In April he has been in two races. The first one was the 2019 US Cup Fontana National in Fontana, CA. Bryce was awarded the 3^rd place for his excellent driving. His is the CAT 2 men's 15-16 year old division. His second race this month, where he placed 2^nd , was the US Cup Bonelli Park XCT in San Dimas, CA. Of course his family are his biggest fans.

         Karen and Layne Erickson enjoyed a visit from her sister, Linda Schmidt, of Mesquite, NV. Linda stayed a couple of days and the two sisters did some catching up. It has been over four years since they had time like this together. Linda had been able to catch a ride to Logan with Nevada friends who were delivering a student to Utah State.

        Some fruit trees are bursting into blossom. The apricot trees are wearing pale pink blooms. The hawthorn, service berry, and wild plum trees, full of white flowers dot our landscape everywhere, the side hills, along our waterways. The scenery is becoming beautiful.

        Spring! Wonderful, crazy spring! Another day of much rain, some snow. The snow line on our mountains dropped bit by bit during the day. That was yesterday, today warmed up and the snow line crept back up the mountain sides. This is a great way to usher in the month of May. The dandelions are putting forth their bright smiling faces that always are reassuring that another season has begun.