March 30, 2021

 March has been a month of fitful weather, no  guessing what the next day might bring, regardless of what the weatherman on TV had to say about it.  One day left and although it has been cold and windy, the sun has shone.  Just that brings a feeling of cheer.  The predictions for the rest of the week are favorable, maybe the neighborhood Easter Egg hunts will be able to take place outdoors. Fingers crossed!

The youth of Mink Creek participated in a food drive for the County food pantry. They toured the whole village looking for food placed on doorstops to add to the goal set for this group. They gathered up donated food on a rainy/snowing morning and delivered 907 pounds of food.

Eldon and Danita Wilcox are home from a trip to Florida and a family visit with Danita’s brother, Forrest and Patti Christensen in Wellborn, FL. The Christensens have a beautiful place in the northern part of the state. Florida was experiencing a “cold spell” while they were there with the temperature at 70 degrees, plenty warm for Eldon and Danita. They met up with their son Brigham and Jen Wilcox and their four children at Disney World, and all of the adults got a good workout keeping up with grandkids. Brigham’s family live in Idaho Falls so this took good family planning to make the connection so far from home.

The Young Women of the LDS Ward have been making treats to share with families when they make a surprise visit. All of the youth of the village were invited to Bishop Paul McKay’s home for a Missionary Zoom meeting.

Davanie Ostler and Liberty Stanworth as members of the Preston High School Cheer Squad, placed 1^st in show at the Idaho State Cheer Championships. The competition was held at the Ford Idaho Center in Boise.

Samuel Seamons, son of Jeff and Jennifer Seamons, married Ana Mae Buenavista last month, with an April appointment at the Manila Temple for their sealing. Ana Mae is from the Philippines and they are living there at this time. Their current plan is to take up residency in the States in a few months.

The newborn calves and lambs are prancing about this spring no matter the weather. It has been a variety lately, bits of sunshine, glooms of rain and flurries of snow, totally unpredictable.

That constant hum that fills the air when tractors are on the move is starting in Mink Creek. It is time. I have seen a set of harrows stirring up a mild cloud of dust and wondered how that was possible after the damp days we have had recently.

march 24, 2021

 

Lin and Sharla McKay have been having family in and out at their home. Their son Josh and Sarah Newby and their three boys were up from Spanish Fork, UT, for a weekend. After those busy days, daughter River and Hunter Morgan spent a few days helping her parents prepare for River and Hunter’s open house, that was put on hold when they married during the early months of the COVID restrictions. That date is coming up on March 27. For now the Morgans live in Mill Creek, UT, but are soon changing their location to Centerville. They are lucky to have Lin and Sharla helping them with the moving procedures.

Steve and Amy Baldwin enjoyed a visit from their daughter Erin and Nate Lundburg. The Lundburgs live in Logan.

The young men of the village enjoyed participating in the Preston North Stake basketball tournament. This sort of event is so welcomed after so many month of limited activities. Ryan Buttars of the Oxford Ward was in charge of organizing the tournament. Win, lose, or draw, it was fun!!

After having been canceled last summer due to the pandemic, the effort to have the yearly Mink Creek School Reunion is making plans for a June gathering this year. It is no longer called the School Reunion, since it has been a good many years since anyone attended any school within our boundaries. The reunion is to be known as Mink Creek Originals, people whose roots reach back to Mink Creek soil in one way or another. The person in charge this year is Karen Olson Tribett, who grew up here, the daughter of John and Edith Olson. In an effort to circumvent some of the COVID limitations it will be an outing at the Mink Creek Ballpark with plenty of room. Instead of a potluck affair box lunches will be provided. The welcome mat is planned to be rolled out at 11 am on June 19^th, a Saturday. There will be a reminder closer to the official date.

Days have gotten warmer so some of the ice dangers have melted away. It all depends on location, the north sides of buildings, or places in the shade may still offer a slippery surface for a few more days.

Green shoots of desirable plants are poking up through the soil that , only a few days ago was covered with snow. Weeds are already proclaiming their presence. Somehow they are always wanting more than their share of attention. It feels good to think that the real spring is unfolding. We aren’t suffering from warmth, in fact had another day of snow flurries in the past week, but the air is feeling promising all the same.

March 16, 2021

 Happy St. Patrick's Day. Hope you are ready for the 'wearin' o' the green.'

The turkeys have multiplied yet again. There are hordes, rather than flocks or herds, spread out on the fields near Bear River, all busy with heads down, searching for morsels in the dry stalks from last year’s growth.

They aren’t the only winged creatures putting in an early spring appearance. Beautiful swans have been enjoying the waters of the Bear over in the Narrows. They are so elegant and lovely to behold. The call of the local pheasants is heard in our valley and they are checking out empty orchards to see if there are any apples still available from winter’s winds.

It is a contest between the local deer and the birds to find withered apples or other orchard tidbits, too high to reach last fall that have since dropped to the ground. All critters are checking out the feeding spots for the domestic pets. The last couple of months has made for a very lean cuisine for our local wildlife.

Jimmie and AnnaBeth Olson made the trip to the Boise area during the days of the state basketball tournament. They have daughter Dana and Charlie Peterson and family who live in Meridian. Jimmie’s sister ReNae and Doug Mellor are also located in the area, so there are plenty of places for visiting and fun.

Richard and Vickie Free and Wally and Kim Christensen are home, back in Idaho, after several days of soaking up Florida sunshine. They loved the warmth and relaxation. They discovered they had arrived at Daytona Beach about the same time as a bikers convention and they saw more Harley machines than they knew were in existence. Another highlight was a visit to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, learning some exciting things about a possible Mars exploration of the future.

Daylight Savings Time has struck again. It would be nice to say that the community completely adjusted in that one overnight step forward, but that would not be truthful. There are some of us that take quite some time to make that shift to realizing that it really is night time and our mental clocks need to shut down. We have to resist the impulse to keep finding one more task to finish before bed. If we were already “night owls” by nature DST only aggravates the problem with life going on in a daylight world.

March 9, 2021

Candy Longhurst is pleased that she has been able to sell the majority of her herd of Yak cattle. Friends and family gathered for the herding and loading of these critters and there were smiles on their faces when the trucks were loaded and headed down the highway. They have been beautiful animals, but a bit on the contrary side when it came to management.

The Iverson family was able to stay with a tradition, their annual Snowfest, when family travels to the slopes of Mink Creek for fun in the snow on the Iverson fields. They come from near and far. This year families attended from Texas, Colorado, California and Utah. Major activities were sledding and a variety of games, indoor and outdoor. Mink Creek’s two Iverson homes, that of Johnny and Jeannine Iverson and Kurt and Margret Iverson were kept humming for the weekend.

Sidney and Lisa Whitehouse are moving to South Carolina. This has been a work in progress and en route they have visited with relatives across this continent. They will be missed by our community, leaving memories of their first arrival years ago.

Brian and Jill Petersen and their children, Samantha and Jace have become recent members of our village. They have purchased the ranch that belonged to Dick and LaDawn Jensen. They come to us from Nibley, UT.

Elder David Seamons, son of Jeff and Jennifer Seamons, has finished his At-home Missionary Training originally called to the Argentina, Cordoba, Mission. With current restrictions, that changed and he has flown to the Alabama, Birmingham, Mission, where he will be serving. An interesting tidbit is that Elder Seamons will be met at the airport in Alabama by Elder Walter Iverson, also of Mink Creek, who is currently a part of that mission staff. A reunion moment.

This season has been punctuated with calving and lambing for those who own livestock. A barn or shed can become a welcome place of refuge when these procedures decide to take place during the cold night time hours, for both the animal and the human midwife in attendance.

It must be turkey gobble time, of food, not noise. There are not just one or two, but enough to thoroughly cover a farmer’s field. Any morsel of grain or hay, any unsuspecting bug, it being part of a big gulp. They are soaking up sunshine along with the grub.

March 2, 2021

 

Davanie Ostler is a member of the Preston High School cheer and stunt squad. Lately they have been competing with other schools in preparation for District. At Highland High in Pocatello the group was awarded 1^st in Pom, 1^st in sideline, and 2^nd in show. Most recently the squad took 1^st in show at District Competition. There are lots of hours and practice for these performances.

Jonathon Schenk is an official member of the congregation of the Mink Creek Ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It has taken some time for his records to match up with his residency.

The community Valentine Dinner was well attended, about 60 people. Clare Christensen, the Quorum president, is considered the community chef. The menu was barbecued ribs, roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, green beans & bacon. Each place setting had a cup filled with valentine candies and ice cream sandwiches served as the dessert. Clare’s assistants for the evening were his wife, Linda, Cliff and LaDawn Jensen, and Garth and Robin Stevenson. Clare can’t take credit for the rolls, they were purchased from Gerry Crookston of Preston.

A program of musical numbers was appropriate for the day. Linda Christensen played a piano solo, Terrie McKay and Anna Beth Olson were a vocal duo accompanied by ReNae Egley, Mike and Mary Ann Jepsen had a fun, comical duet, with back and forth love messages, accompanied by Anna Beth Olson. Liesa Baird and her son Dallon, accompanied by ReNae were a vocal number. Kim and Twlonie Bullock on violins, Judy Wilde on cello and Linda Christensen on piano played the final number with the hymn, “As I Have Loved You.”

Winter vacations are not always spent in the warm sunshine. Kent and ReNae Egley and Lin and Sharla McKay took several days to spend in Island Park, ID, enjoying the snowmobile trails when they wished and the warmth of the cabin when things got too chilly.

Spencer and Paige Wilde, students at BYU/Idaho in Rexburg took a school break in Mink Creek. His parents, David and Judy Wilde, went to Pocatello later to celebrate Paige’s birthday.

There was much concern and excitement at the Birch Creek parking lot during the few days that the county Search and Rescue were locating two lost snowmobilers who were up on the mountainside of the south fork of Dry Creek. Avalanches abound on those steep slopes. It was a relief for many to have them safely down, alive and uninjured.

With all the melting and freezing, repeat, and repeat, icicles clutching the edges of the roofs are soon going to be as long as the walls, or nearly so. The drip, drip, action is constantly lengthening those crystal swords of ice. The melting has made it possible to remove some of the ice that builds up underfoot, so there are bare trails here and there.