November 8, 2022

 Election Day!  Hope you all voted.

There is a new Wilcox home going up on a hillside above the stream of Mink Creek. This one is for Doug Wilcox, who has had property here for years along with his brothers, Con and Lynn, all from Utah. The house is nearly invisible to anyone passing by, but it has been an ongoing project for most of the past summer months.

Clare and Linda Christensen hosted an evening on October 28, a getting-to-know-you party, for the people who have moved into our community fairly recently, a mix and mingle. Called a Fall BBQ, the menu turned out to be a prime rib dinner with those attending bringing potluck salads. Fifteen households were able to come. Some of them have Mink Creek roots, but not recent, part of their ancestral past. Others are totally new to the area.

Halloween Trunk ‘r Treat on October 29 at the recreation hall turned out to be a very fun event. The Young Women were in charge and the girls had things going constantly, a nice deal. Food was first on the agenda, chili dogs. Then they were ready to have doughnuts on a string for the youngest age group. Next was added a cake walk—with cupcakes for the prizes and more doughnuts for the older kids. There were five categories for the costumes: Best All round won by Clayton Phillips as a small Frankenstein, Group or couple won by Jesse and Celina Groesbeck with daughter Oakley all in cow costumes from their head to their ankles, Silliest category went to Timber Christensen as a ghost buster, Scariest was a grim reaper who turned out to be Hendrick Chatterton, and Most Creative went to Rapunzel, better known as Addy De Vries with a blond braid bedecked with flowers reaching to the floor. There was a big variety of costumes, all ages, which made the costume parade a big hit.

Winners of the pumpkin carving contest were Timber Christensen for best all around, Annie Rasmussen, then Katiana Baird and her niece Cedar Packer shared the third prize. Phee Crosland won the prize for their decorated trunk. It was loaded with ghosts, had a skeleton duet plunking some scary tunes on a banjo, topped off with an eerie lantern to lure the treat seekers to a cauldron of goodies.

Slush! That was the conditions today. Grateful for highway snowplows and the men that get up in the middle of the night to set them in motion.

Remember the wildlife that is out in the storm during the night hours. There were a couple of deer fatalities during that time with evidence, plus the remains filling the barrow pit between Mink Creek and Preston. We live here, but their ancestors were here before ours.