April 20, 2022

 

Casey and Julie Haws drove up from their California home to geth the Haws home in shape for good weather visitors as the season opens up in Idaho. They came prepared for pulling weeds, shoveling where needed, recovering from snow debris and general spring housekeeping. All was not work as these two love their Mink Creek connections.

Some snow flurries didn’t discourage the ladies that belong to the Syring Camp of the Franklin Company of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers as they met at the home of Karen Erickson. She and Colleen Wilde were joint hostesses for the monthly session. The meeting was conducted by Captain Mary Ann Jepsen and she led these sisters in some pioneer singing. Karen shared a letter written by her great-great grandmother, Chloe Belle Fuller Beatty Randall as she recalled the life style of her growing up years. A luncheon was served and enjoyed, followed by a lessen from Lorraine Christensen describing pioneers homes from wagon boxes, to soddies and eventual homes as they set their roots into this part of the nation.

The roller coaster temperatures are keeping us all on alert. This is particularly true for those new babies that come in the early spring months---calves, lambs, kids, colts. Included is the newly hatched chickens or ducklings. With the cold days recently experienced the cute, fluffy cheepers need more than a heat lamp to survive. Some are being sheltered in a cardboard box nestled in a corner of the household kitchen. It is a reminder of how things were done in years past, before there were heat lamps.

A happy announcement – two babies have arrived in Mink Creek homes recently. Anna and Sundance Watts have a tiny girl, a bit over six pounds. Leigha and Kade Nicolls received a bouncy boy, weighing in at nine plus pounds. Both of these infants are the first babies in their respective families.

There have been 4 days without a snowstorm and the color of green is becoming prominent in our valley, green fields lined up along side of a freshly plowed one are such a statement of continued growth. It is the season of renewal. A few residents report that it has been sufficiently dry to hike in our lower mountains. Snowmobilers are still enjoying the trails higher up.