Oct 16, 2013

The slopes of the mountains surrounding us look as if washed in red-orange paint as the maple trees predominate for a week or two.  Stations Creek, Bear Creek, South Canyon, Mink Creek, Birch Creek, Strawberry,  all have their share of color, Riverdale included.  Bits of yellow and fall’s bright green make it gorgeous.

At this end of Riverdale are a herd of cattle; among them are some that must be related to the Texas Longhorn, judging by the span of the horns they carry.  This is a motley bunch of bovines, blacks, browns, brockle-faced and those that pack a rack of horns.

Tyson Hall, son of Kristi and Brett Hall, was ordained to the office of an elder in the LDS Ward.  His brother Bridger came up from Logan to witness this event.  His grandparents: Sallee Keller of Mink Creek and Dallas and Deone Hall of Wellsville, UT. were in attendance.

Rico Crosland was awarded his Duty to God achievement certificate for services rendered during his Aaronic priesthood years.  He also spoke in the LDS meeting prior to leaving for the MTC in Provo.   After a few October days in that locality he will be flying to Auckland, New Zealand, to serve in the New Zealand, Wellington, Mission.

Macy Jepsen, eldest daughter of Kerry and Melinda Jepsen,  has received her mission call to Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Mission.  The call arrived at her home in Mink Creek and her parents were given permission by Macy to read it to her with a Skype communication while Macy is in Italy a little longer.  She will be leaving here in February.

Mike Dyer must be moving outside of our community.  His home is posted as rentable with the intention of buying.  There are several homes within our boundaries that are now available.

Karl and Marion Haws have enjoyed a lengthy visit with us this summer.  If they aren’t careful they are liable to receive assignments of community tasks for village activities.   Lately they have had one foot in California, one in Idaho, and yes, that is an mightyl big step!  Other family members have flitted in and out of the Haws home during the last few weeks.

The community wood project gets underway this time of year.  First there is the gathering and then follows the splitting of logs at various homes where the homeowners might not be able to provide the physical labor required to lay in the fuel.

Oct 9, 2013

Colors of fall enhance our valley, but there is no brightness, being muted this season.  It is like looking through a tinted lens that removes intensity of red, orange, yellow and lime green.  

There is no walking through fallen leaves, listening to the crunch, recent rains have softened those sounds.  For the upcoming hunting season those hunting will consider this a plus.

The Eldon and Danita Wilcox family is home from the Philippines where they traveled to attend their son Jesse’s wedding to Annavelyn Malate.  The wedding took place in the Manila LDS Temple. Being the last in the family to marry, as many relatives as possible traveled to witness this event: besides his parents there were  three sisters,Elise Hardy, Brittany Durrant, Ami with her husband Tom Fenton, and his uncle Forrest and Patti Christensen.  The group toured as much as possible in their two week stay.  Annavelyn’s family is from the Bicol region of the country, home of the Mayon volcano, a live volcano and very tall.  They swam in the ocean, visited a nearby island, did lots of shopping and visited friends of Jesse’s.  The Wilcox’s are a tall family and certainly stood out amongst the smaller Filipino people.   There were places they just didn’t fit!

 Riding on the pudjaks, bikes with a sidecar, a means of public transportation, was an event in itself.    They found travel crowded with many people walking on the roads, as a result it took a longer time to go between places.

The family took in some historical sites:  Corregidor Island, location of WWII battles, and the American Cemetery in Manila.  Here they were impressed with the perfect grooming of the lawns and the exactness of the monuments. They spent some time on Luzon Island. The group was there for two weeks and tried to take advantage of every day to tour as much as possible.   Their return flight to the states was held up for a few hours due to a typhoon that moved in.  Jesse and  Annavelyn are still in the Philippines, with Jesse  now called to serve as a counselor in a local bishopric.  This was a surprise to all, even though he had served a mission there several years past.  Not sure how the visa thing works in this situation.

My apologies to those of you who look for this blog on the same day that the newspaper comes out.  I was out of town for a couple of days and I forgot all about the blog for several hours.

So far we have had a wetter fall than usual.  It is cloudy and threatening as I post this.  But the big freeze has held off for some reason.  Just in the last few days have the more fragile flowers frozen.  I still have hopes of my chrysanthemums blooming once more if all is favorable.  They made it last year, perhaps it is too much to hope for two years in a row.

Oct 2, 2013

The youth and leaders had a very wet fall highway cleanup.  In a downpour, thunder rolling around our mountains, towards the end they needed car lights to find the trash. The occasional sheet lightning was not sufficient.  Refreshment were more than deserved.

Warren & Colleen Wilde have returned from a five day trip to Sacramento, CA, attending the Lewis Family Reunion.  Colleen’s brother Ben Lewis and his wife Julie are the Mission President and Mother of the Sacramento Mission and since they couldn’t be elsewhere the family took the reunion to them.  All the siblings and spouses were able to be there:  Lynn and Steve Cherrington were already there, serving a mission,  Beth and Bud Alford came from Idaho Falls, Bob and ReNae Lewis from Denver and Ann Stephenson and her son from Los Angeles.

Lorraine Christensen is home after a much extended stay of two months in Lafayette, IN.  She was there to give help and support to their daughter Carrie and Ken Melton with their expected baby arrived in June, well ahead of his September schedule.  He weighed 3 #, 4 oz and  dropped to 2 #, 7 oz, but is now about 9 pounds.  He will be named Thomas Henry Melton.  Big brother Kenny enjoyed a trip to the zoo with Grandma and helped pick blueberries.  A canning session went on with Carrie and Lorraine, yielding raspberries, apples, peaches, tomatoes and salsa. 

Tyson Hall, son of Kristi and Brett Hall, has received his call for an LDS mission to the Chile, Antofagasta, Mission.  He will be entering the Mission Training Center in Mexico in January, 2014.

Mary Jean Rasmussen and son, Kim Rasmussen, have been down in Centerville, UT, with her daughter Terry and Hayes Carr and family.  Grandson Kenneth Carr is soon leaving for his mission to Riverside, CA and extended family members gathered around for the occasion.

            The dampness of fall continues, the lawn keeps growing and the need for mowing hasn’t lessened one bit.  No hard freeze yet, although there are a few spots  up and down the village that show some frost damage.

            We have had some snow in our upper elevations, but it isn’t the sticking variety.  Forecasts this week sound like some of that might arrive in a few days.

            River McKay, daughter of Lin and Sharla is playing on the PHS girls volleyball team this year.  So far it has been a pretty successful season.

Sept 25, 2013

Our fall weather is starting off like a bouncing ball, up, down, up, down.  We have had a good share of rain with gloomy skies lasting all day.  After a summer of drought conditions we are now getting a drenching.   Harvesting that last crop of hay is a pure gamble.  It is hard to trust a sunny day.  As this is written some fields are full of soggy, brown hay.

There was a good representation of both Riverdale and Mink Creek residents recently at the funeral of Relda McGregor in Niter/Thatcher, ID.  Relda  Ane Smith was born and raised in Riverdale, ID, then married Bob McGregor of Thatcher who had several relatives living in Mink Creek.  With the passage of many years there were quite a few additions to those Smith and McGregor lines.

Macy and McKenna Jepsen, daughters of Kerry and Malinda Jepsen,  have been both excited and nervous about their plans for a trip abroad.  Now they are in Italy for three months of study and fun.  One very nice thing about this is that they have each other for support.

The Mink Creek LDS Ward was invited to view the Preston North Stake Conference at the Riverdale Church.  These two communities have been strongly connected since their founding years in the late 1800’s.

With a chill coming in with the weather change people are more conscious of the need to get their winter’s supply of firewood.  Our forested canyons are beginning to be filled with the sound of chainsaws in action.  Some families make getting wood a planned outing, complete with picnic and games.

            Quite a few kids from Mink Creek are involved in the Preston Recreation Program’s soccer season.    Between school, practices, and games they keep pretty busy.  There are Mink Creek players on three different teams, mixed with  other players from across the county.  There are also three Mink Creek men who volunteer to coach in the soccer league.  They are Kerry Jepsen, Jody Janke, and Kurt Iverson.

            The Lewis and Clark Volunteers, a mountain man group active in southeastern Idaho, met again at a favorite camping spot.  This is located on the banks of Mink Creek on the farm of Vernon and Sallee Keller.   The change in the seasons will soon have them heading indoors, planning the next rendezvous.

Sept 18, 2013

The LOTOJA brought some family fans to stand along Highway 36, cheering for their personal bikers.  At the Pearson place Dean and Rebecca Pearson of Cedar City, UT, Howard and Colleen Hawkes of Kaysville, UT, and other relatives were happy to see Gerald Olsen come pedaling by.  Gerald, of Roy Pearson’s family, has ridden this race for five years.  Further along the road a good portion of the Keller clan was there to greet one of their biking kin, giving questionable advice, snacks and fresh water bottles as needed.

Robert and Phee Crosland made good use of various buildings they have built at their home on Birch Creek. Bunkhouses were needed.  Robert’s sister, Carolyn and Mick Michie of Moroni, UT, brought their sons, Brad and Jacob, plus several of the boys’ friends for an end-of-summer visit.  The Michie family also brought Micah and Camy Glad and their six children, also of Moroni.

Andrew Iverson, son of Kurt and Margret Iverson, recently turned twelve. In the LDS Ward he was presented with a certificate of graduation from Primary and the Faith In God certificate.  Andrew was ordained to the office of a deacon.

The last child of William and Christina Rasmussen has passed away, Verda Rasmussen Wagstaff, born in Mink Creek ninety-nine years ago.  She has lived many of her years in Orange, CA, but was in Arvin, CA, at the time of her death.  Verda grew up here with no running water, no electricity and has seen many changes in lifestyle during these 99 years.  She was flown back to be buried in the Mink Creek Cemetery alongside her parents.

Dick and LaDawn Jensen have a new grandchild.  Shirley and Kevin Ahrens of Pocatello have recently added a beautiful dark haired little girl to their family.  She will be named Jordan Shaun.  She is welcomed by a big sister and two brothers.

            That fall feeling has arrived.  Storms have arrived with regularity as well.  Even when the day has been dry the dew forms on the grasses well before midnight, so things keep pretty moist.  Lawns are prospering; weeds are having a hey-day!  Any harvesting on the fields of farms are at a standstill.   Pears, apples, peaches are at the picking stage. 

            It is that special bug season---the time when the jr. high kids are on high alert for the extra bugs to add to those they have been saving in their freezers, etc. for Crosland’s collections.  I understand that now other science teachers are on board and no bug is safe in Franklin County. 

Whole families are outdoors searching for any creature that qualifies. 

Sept 11, 2013

Labor Day weekend sent campers galore headed up to our canyons and beyond.  Besides the RVs, the 4 wheelers and motorcycles there were plenty of boats.  That translates into hours spent on Bear Lake and its shores, just over the mountains east of Mink Creek.  These recreation enthusiasts had Friday, Saturday and Sunday to enjoy sunny weather.  Labor Day itself started raining with gusto early on, and stayed gloomy with persistent moisture coming down most of the day.

            Our ground has been so dry that it was most welcomed, but there is no doubt that all that dampness put an end to many celebrations.  It is continually amazing how dry the terrain can be, nearly to the crackling point, and a good storm paints the surroundings with green once again.

Bryan and Shannon Erickson and sons came up from Woodland Hills, UT and split their weekend between his parent’s place, Layne and Karen Erickson, and  the beachfront home they have in Bear Lake.  It made for a nice combination.

Ella Jepsen, daughter of Kerry and Melinda Jepsen, turned eight years old before the closing days of August and was baptized and confirmed the newest member of Mink Creek’s LDS Ward.  Friends and relatives were here to witness this occasion.

Sharon Moran has returned from a late summer water trip.  She has been kayaking in the Puget Sound in Washington with her son Willie Moran and friends.   Willie is now employed in that area of our country, growing organic produce, and loving it.

Jody and Laural Janke and their family took a quick drive to Pleasant Grove, UT, to witness the wedding of a friend who has moved there recently.

Fall plowing is part of the work to be done for those of us here that are still in the business of farming.  That recent rain was certainly sent at the perfect time for this necessary task.

It is bow hunting season.  Camouflage clothing, silent steps, good equipment and tools required, have all made it a good hunt for the bow enthusiasts.   I have heard some success stories already this fall.

            Canning season is underway in most homes.  Some apples are ready, zucchini abounds,  cucumbers are turned to pickles, the fall raspberries are on….and there are plans for more as the weeks pass and harvests increase.  Garden tomatoes grace the tables, but they are also being turned into many variety of tomato recipes:  salsa, chili sauce, chili, spaghetti sauce,  plain old tomatoes, and the list goes on. 

Sept. 4, 2013

 Grasshopper season is upon us.  These creatures seem to be very present when it is time to harvest the grain.  They came in all sizes and a variety of colors, red-winged, yellow, non-descript, bodies of grey, dull tan, slightly green.  The bouncing legs are of different lengths, but all able to be is places not desired by humans.  Their flying fills the air, and then, almost by magic, the grasshoppers are gone, disappeared.

            It is also the time to lock your cars at public gatherings or a person is apt to find a deposit of zucchini squash in your vehicle when it is time to go home.  Luckily, there are lots of things a cook can do with this particular item.

            Donald Christensen passed away recently.  He was raised in Mink Creek, a son of Allen and Pearl Christensen.  Over the last months he has been hospitalized several times.  He and his wife, Jeanette, now call Preston home, living in the Whitney boundaries.  His dedication to genealogy research, serving three missions to find and digitize important records, leaves a monument that will benefit many.

            Karl and Marion Haws of Santa Barbara, CA. are enjoying their Mink Creek residence during these warmer days in California.  They come here often, all year round, as do their children and families. 

Kent Egley has had some knee surgery and is recuperating.  Having a nurse for a wife keeps him in line when he is tempted not to follow the doctor’s orders.  He'll be farming as soon as he can.

Jacob and Ranette Free and their son have been down from the Rexburg area to visit the Richard Free ranch.  It seems one of those situations where “you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.”

Our local owls and coyotes make their presence known, particularly when there is a good moon.  Between the howling of one and the hooting of the other, it makes for an interesting combination. 

We had a day of rain on Labor Day, in quantities that varied throughout the day.  We needed every single drop.  There were several celebrations that got cancelled, but all for a good cause.  No flooding was reported, although the water level in our various creeks increased some.

The excitement of school starting has worn off.  Now there are moans and groans about having to be out of bed and moving to catch the bus,  along with concerns about lab fees, etc. that accompany some classes.