May 29, 2019

        We didn't plan on a monsoon season in Mink Creek, but judging from the water received the last few days it is here. The rain comes down so powerfully, so much of it, that it is carving small ditches along the sides of our dirt roads as the water finds it way to the bottom of our valley. Planted crops may be getting washed out of the soil on the sloped fields, in the few areas that are flat the seeds may be drowning. The snow line on our mountains is bouncing around, up and down with each storm.

         Apple blossoms are thick, both wild and domestic They are also taking a pounding with the rain and hail. The golden flowers of the Mules' Ears plants are in abundance on every slope, particularly noticeable in the field above the Mink Creek Cemetery, just in time for Memorial Day, welcoming the family members that come home for a brief visit.

         Marie Keller has returned home to Mink Creek and husband Ben Keller. She has spent the last several months back east, caring for a family friend. She is glad to be home and back among the Mink Creek Ward family.

         The wedding of James Baird to Rebekah Wilmes brought family members home for the occasion. James is the son of LaRon and Liesa Orton Baird. Baird uncles and aunts came to celebrate: Devin and Maria Flake and son Jude were up from Saratoga Springs, UT, Juliana and Blaine Packer and family of Jackson, ID, Brain Baird from the Provo, UT, area, Tammra and Jason Taylor and family of Woods Cross, UT, and Daniel Baird and family from Sugar City, ID. Liesa's parents are serving a mission, but her siblings represented the Orton family with Katie Lund of Herriman, UT, Karen Ziegler of Centerville, Tanya Orton of Iona, ID, and Miles Orton of Preston. The reception took place at Castle Manor in Hyde Park, UT, with three hours of fun,dancing, and visiting.

         This very wet weather has most of our wildlife in seclusion. However, the black birds are enjoying their free rein as they march about, hunting through the wet grass and fields, heads bobbing as they perform their imitation German goose-step.

          Dandelions are in profusion, adding large splashes of yellow color to the local landscape. The current rains only seem to encourage them. Of course they are still considered a weed, but at least they are a cheerful weed, one that a child can easily pick and present as a bouquet to a smiling mother as she recalls doing the same thing in her own life. Not many weeds fall under that classification.