March 15, 2022

 Happy ungreen St. Patrick's Week.   Snow/rain storms still sailing through this place, and we are all in favor.  Patches of dirty snow,  mud, --the precursors of spring, but no feeling of urgency.

 Sister Tara Jepsen has finished her 18 months of serving in the Colorado, Ft. Collins, Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She returned home on March 4, the last place where she served being Casper, WY. She is the daughter of Dr. Kerry and Melinda Jepsen.

Voting for the school district levy took place at the normal polling place in our community. The only public building in our community is the LDS Church meetinghouse. Polls opened at 8 am, as do all elections.

A name and a blessing was bestowed on the small son of Jamie and Natalie Forbush this past week. He was named Canyon Michael Forbush. Robbins and Forbush relatives and friends gathered in Mink Creek for this special occasion.

A televised Face to Face session was offered to the youth of the community, gathering at the home of leaders, Bret and Jody Rasmussen. The topic was the 2022 Youth theme, “Trust in the Lord,” featuring the Young Men General President Steven J. Lund and Young Women General President Bonnie H. Cordon. It was a fun event on a cold winter evening.

Lana McCracken has spent some time recently with two daughters and families. Lana and Tamara Taylor, plus two of Tamara’s daughters and a dog, drove down to Placitas, N.M. Placitas is in the mountains near Albuquerque, and is the home of Annette and Russ Batchelor. The Batchelors have lived there for about a dozen years. It was an entire week of fun, doing science kits and whatever project Annette had in mind. Family time together is priceless, even on long drives.

In spite of the scanty snow depths at the time, the family of Johnny and Jeannine Iverson gathered in Mink Creek at their Glencoe home for their annual “Snowfest.” Around 30 participated this year, the second smallest number since they began this tradition. Still they had representatives from every branch of their family tree except two, coming from Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Virginia, California and Texas. The Iverson’s have a sound proof, smash proof, play room that is a favorite place for the young set. The group was able to find a neighboring slope with enough snow to provide tubing and sledding. Mink Creek Iversons, Kurt and his son Charles, took on the task of hauling those on the hill back to the top with their snowmobilies.

Mink Creek proper, the waterway, has been flowing with gusto. This week much of the water has been diverted into the Twin Lakes Canal to carry the water over to the Twin Lakes near Dayton. It was delayed due to the need of repairs in the maintenance of the ditch.

The First Robin of the season has been bouncing around  in my yard. He does seem to have a bit of confusion, but he has arrived. It is encouraging to me and to him, providing he can locate some housing that will protect him in our in-an-out storms.