February 23, 2021

 Did you observe, or even notice that it was George Washington's birthday yesterday?  This combining of George's Day with Abe's makes for one less day to celebrate, and honors all presidents, but I have good memories of learning about these two men because of their birthdays.  Things I would not have learned and that helped lay my foundation for loving stuff historical

    If we had thought that winter was on its way out, we are now convinced that it changed its mind. We had the one blizzard and then a measure of warmth started things melting. A sense of alarm, “no spring, not yet” was felt. Now winter has sent us several days of heavy wet snow, with barely a break in the coming. The brown patches that were visible on our landscape are well covered with a thick, cold, white quilt. Snowmen are happily appearing in many yards, with smiles on their faces. Shovelers are out, also with smiles.

    Alona Ostler and some gal friends enjoyed an All-girl vacation in the area around San Carlos, Mexico. The absence of pressure was the order of each day as they enjoyed the warm sunshine, did some fishing for seabass, some hiking, played in the water and just relaxed with no schedule for working hours from any direction. It is safe to say a good time was had by all.

    Kim and Sam Daines were up from Draper, UT, for a weekend visit with her mother, Judy Clark. We miss having them as regular members of the community.

    The family of Joseph and Pearl Lloyd gathered here for the funeral and burial of Joseph in the Mink Creek Cemetery. The Lloyds are fairly recent residents of this community, having moved here a few years ago after retirement.

    Lana McCracken had the fun of a visit from her granddaughter, Tabatha (Tibby) Taylor, of Woods Cross, UT. Tibby is the daughter of Tamara Baird. She attends a charter school and was able to do her schoolwork online while in Mink Creek to extend her stay some extra days.

    Kassidy Christensen, daughter of Lacey and Kerry Christensen has had an exciting stay at the Franklin County Medical Center to have her tonsils removed. Cold throat treats have been part of her recovery process and probably shared with her siblings, minus the surgery pain.

    The Mink Creek Cemetery was the place for the burial of Stanford Jensen recently. He grew up here, a son of Rodney and Virginia Seamons Jensen. He was 67 at his passing and has helped his mother for the last six years at her home in Smithfield. Seamons and Jensen family members attended the services.

    Some of our trees held on to their brown, crisp leaves all during these cold months, providing a splash of light sienna color to mix in with the evergreens and tans of dry growth. Now those same leaves are letting go, dotting the snow cover on our lawns. Does this mean they are making an exit to prepare the trees for the eventual spring? Usually those leaves are long gone, off the trees, raked up or swept off, sailing to a new location in the wind.

February 16, 2021

 

The community enjoyed a Family History activity organized by the Relief Society who invited the entire village to participate. Their goal was to present the 21 Day Challenge of working on the Gathering of Israel, as given by Sister Wendy Nelson, President Russell Nelson’s wife. Four different ways to do family history were covered: Jody Rasmussen helped others to understand the various Apps that are available to us on our cell phones. JoAnn and Drew Ford presented the discovery of Family History in heirlooms, cookbooks, preserved handiwork, and personal life histories. Phee Crosland discussed the importance of journal writing, ways of sharing heirlooms and family traditions. She used an example of a “memory jar” given to Johnny and Jeannine Iverson by their children—slips of paper with written tidbits of memories, that later had photos added and even later was published into a book to be shared with the growing Iverson family. Clifford Jensen impressed the group with the importance of learning how to preserve old photos, to label and identify those in the photo and scan them for a more permanent document. Refreshments served were a perfect match for the Scandinavian descendants of the settlers of Mink Creek. It was aebleskivers, prepared ahead by Kim Christensen, Phee Crosland, April Rasmussen and Jody Rasmussen.

The Primary enjoyed an afternoon of sledding at the Glen Jepsen farm. His driveway offers a perfect hill for this event and this is the second year it took place. It had been scheduled for January 29th but the weather had presented a January thaw on the 28th. The slope was bare and the outing postponed, scheduled for Feb 6.. Still the weather brought no snow until a day-long blizzard moved in on the 5^th, enabling the event to take place. Brother Jepsen and others brought their 4 wheelers to haul the sledders back up to the top of the hill for more rides. Even a few adults remembered their skills and took a ride on the runner sleds.

Vickie Free enjoyed a girls’ trip with her sister, Kathy Baldwin Jones, of Grace, and two of Kathy’s daughter, Katrina and Nina. The group went to Disney World and Daytona Beach in Florida for several days of laughter, memories and fun, along with the ocean, beach and seagulls and some feelings of Nature’s peace.

As of this writing we have had three days of snowfall and the inches have piled up. Big soggy wet ones. We have not only the temperature of winter, but also the appearance.  White sky, white mountains, white fields, white roofs, sidewalks, etc. Quite often, during these hours it hasn’t been just a storm, it has been a whiteout where one couldn’t see much across the streets of our homes. A great time to be home, feeling snug and cozy, grateful that the electricity gave us power and comfort. 

February 9, 2021

 We have some bald eagles in the neighborhood who consider themselves on duty regularly to clean up any carcass from road or field. Such beautiful birds. Turkeys and deer are happy with the bare southern slopes offering grazing areas.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of Mink Creek held their annual ward conference on the last Sunday of January. Visitors were officers of the Preston North Stake, and they were sufficient in number to fill the choir seats of the chapel. Speakers were President Richard Swainston and 1^st Counselor, Brandon Stephenson. The congregation enjoyed a special musical number, a vocal quartette: Ramona Hatchett, Liesa Baird and Hazen and Dallon Baird singing “Come Unto Christ.” They were accompanied by Judy Wilde on the piano. This meeting and the following one were available on ZOOM, for those unable to attend.

Our members of DUP Camp Syringa are not having their monthly meetings at their various homes due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 virus. Several members of the group have been afflicted with the disease. The women are missing these social hours.

The Primary organization had planned a sleigh riding event, scheduled for January 29^th. When the late January thaw arrived a few days prior to that the event was postponed to the next Saturday. In the meantime we have had no snow so we are holding on to the promise of a storm with Nature’s party planning.

I hope you have looked to the west as the sun goes for a rest. The sunsets lately have made all of us breathless in a much better way than the COVID-19. It is a riot of rippling colors every night lately. Enjoy the show that Nature is giving us, no charge.

We had a day long blizzard on the 5^th, timed perfectly for that sledding party. The whiteout lasted for most of the daylight hours. The party was really a celebration of the storm’s arrival. The only reports I have heard have been good ones. No injuries and lots of fun. Now it has warmed up again, but more snow is hoped for in a few days. No matter how much the lazy side of us might think we want to be done with winter, in reality this part of the country needs more winter, some wetness to take us into a good spring and summer. It gets pretty difficult when the water tables drop sufficiently.

Groundhog Day, 2021

 

The Young Men and Young Women groups are meeting for a combined New Beginnings session at the home of Kurt and Margret Iverson. It will be breakfast and making plan for the coming year’s activities for those in the community from ages 12 to 18.

Two young ladies have graduated from Primary and are now members of the Young Women program in the LDS Ward. They are Kate Rasmussen, daughter of April and Trevor Rasmussen, and Greenlee Christensen, daughter of Lacey and Kerry Christensen. They have plunged right in and are having fun with the older girls.

Kent and ReNae Egley attended the funeral of Paul Tate. He is Kent’s uncle and grew up in Riverdale.

A Mink Creek old-timer passed away on January 9th. William (Bill) Ernest Crane (89) was the youngest of eight children in the family of William and Jemina Crane and wasraised on the farm on the banks of Birch Creek. He had been living in Kanab, UT, with his wife, Betty, and daughter Lynette. Bill was a navy veteran of the Korean War. He worked for the BLM or the National Forest Service and moved with the job. They lived in Paris, ID, Cheyenne, WY, and Las Vegas, NV. He was buried in Kanab.

Jonathan Seamons, at 160 pounds, continues to do well in the various wrestling tournaments where the Preston High School participates. He comes from a family o f brothers, all of whom have been in the wrestling program at the school, as was his father, Jeff Seamons.

The southern sides of our slopes are pretty bare of snow, with only patches. Fields still look white, but the turkeys are scratching through the snow to gobble any feed beneath. Above a livestock feedlot in the south end of our valley the small winter birds line up on the overhead power lines, waiting for those critters to fill their stomachs so the winged ones can snack on the scattered leftovers.

Around here the groundhog certainly saw his shadow, hopefully that is encouraging. I guess it depends on a person's perspective. We are hoping for more real winter to avoid a parched growing season.