August 28, 2023

 It has been a crazy week, but things are settling down, it is that time of year.

School has started, for our Preston School District, but for all over the nation. This event brings families visiting one more time before their routine changes in their own locations. Kent and Tammy Beardall enjoyed some time with ttwo of their daughters. Michelle and Gary Wall and children drove up from Grand Junction, CO, Nicole and Nathan Denny timed it right to join the group, coming down from Idaho Falls with their children.

Julie and Kasey Haws and extended family were here from their California home. As empty-nesters Julie and Kasey can come and go to suit themselves, but bringing family often affects the choice of spending time in Idaho. It is a beautiful time of year.

James and Rebekah Baird and their two littles. Ruth and Reuben, came down to his parents, LaRon and Liesa Baird for a few days. They live in Heyburn. ID. The senior Bairds were baby sitting while James and Bekah celebrated an anniversary. LaRon had volunteered for some grandparenting time.

We have a new family living in the center of Mink Creek. Carl and Jenny Osborn have purchased the former home of Ramona Lower Hatchett and are getting acquainted within the community.

Stuart and Stetson Ostler, a father/son team, traveled to Alaska to do a roofing job for friends. Stetson has worked in Alaska in the past. This was combined with some fun fishing, so it wasn’t all about pounding nails.

The Relief Society enjoyed a fun end-of-summer activity this month, kayaking on the Bear River. Husband were invited and some took the ladies up on it. They drove up the Narrows and gathered at Red Point, using that spot as their headquarters. Along with the water fun some of the people went as observers and had some moments to visit, play board games, and catch-up on each others lives, comparing notes as to how the summer months are going. Of course there were refreshments, all part of the party.

The sounds of harvesting permeate the area. Third crop hay, baled and either hauled and stacked on the farm or being hauled to a buyer down the road. Grain combines are busy collecting the kernels and shaking out the straw from golden fields. To match the summer’s finish for our farmers, the kids are off to school and reconnecting with teachers and friends. Those doing home-school are getting their individual curriculum lined out and underway.

The grass hoppers are constant. Some residents report that their gardens have been totally consumed. “They have even eaten the green tops of the carrots, that I hope still exist.” If a person is outdoors doing a task that requires standing in one place, such as picking green beans, or picking berries, they soon get the feeling of attack, that pebbles are being thrown randomly at them as the hoppers come from every direction.