July 9, 2019

           There is a building going up in the west end of our community, not far from the Bear River. The descendants of Hugh and Bonnie Hansen are erecting a structure on their home farm

that will become their reunion retreat. In my mind it is the “Hansen Hall.” The family has gathered in this same spot for several years at festive times and this indicates plans for years into the future.

          Steve and Amy Baldwin have moved to a home with a hillside perch and a beautiful view in Mink Creek.Some years past the Baldwins lived in Riverdale and Steve worked with supervising the Deseret Industries. Still employed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, they were transferred to St. George, UT, for further training. Promotions brought Steve and Amy back to Franklin County and we are happy to have them living within the Mink Creek boundaries.

           Emily Longhurst enjoyed a spring trip to Samoa, traveling with her friend Ashlynn Sparks and her family. The sun, the beach, the ocean, the blue, blue sky the relaxed atmosphere was a luxury in unexpected ways. Here she was while Idaho was experiencing cold temperatures. She was not fond of the insects, particularly the mosquitoes. Emily was willing to try different foods and loved the coca rice. The highlight of her trip was getting to know the people, the smiling, happy Samoans.

         Jesse and Annavelyn Wilcox and Eldon and Danita Wilcox have been on a cruise, along with all the other Wilcox children and families, totaling 34 members. Only MaKenzie stayed in Idaho with he new baby. Included in one of the ports of call was Ensenada, Mexico, where Wilcoxs reconnected with Omar Lopez. Omar had been an exchange student at PHS from several years ago who lived with the Wilcox family. The grown up Omar and his family, two children and he works for Toyota. He was most helpful setting up a bus and tour guide for this family group. They threw in some ziplineing and swimming for fun activities.

          Nearly a year ago the Mink Creek community banded together in order to plant a field of garlic at the Sheldon Longhurst farm. Sheldon was battling leukemia in the Portneuf Hospital in Pocatello but his wife, Candy, and their family were trying to fulfill his dream of raising garlic. His college degree had been in horticulture. Sheldon lost his battle, but the field had been planted. Recently the growing crop of garlic needed some extra care in the way of trimming the scape from the plants so that the underground bulbs would be encouraged to grow in size. Over twenty neighbors, armed with scissors and buckets met at the fields one Saturday morning to accomplish the task. It was successful before the day warmed up too much and the group celebrated with a feast of cool watermelon.

          This year there are plenty of robins in Mink Creek. I think most of them are now concentrating on any cherry trees that are grown in our community. The fruit is not ripe, just with a slight rose tint, but the birds are gobbling them up well before they have a chance to ripen.

          A couple of heavy rain squalls pushed through here, but we didn't get the hail that clobbered the Preston flats area. Our fields, gardens, yards all got a good soaking.