April 5, 2017

             March came in like a lamb, it lasted about two days. We have had many lion days since. Spring break from school for the Mink Creek kids has been about half and half. A bit more than half rain, a bit less than half sunshine. Things are greening up, more noticeable on the sunny days. Residents are grabbing hours of sunshine cleaning up flower beds and giving the yards a working-over. Garden spots are still a bit too wet, with more moisture every day or so, to put on the spring chore list just yet.

           Elder James Baird has had an accident while serving a mission in the North Dakota, Bismarck Mission. He broke his leg and is now home having had surgery at the Franklin County Medical Center. He is the son of Liesa and LaRon Baird. LaRon traveled to his missionfield to bring him home. James' Uncle, Daniel Baird of Sugar City, ID, came to provide some empathy, having had a similar situation in his younger days.

           A Boy Scout Court of Honor was held when two young men, Walter Iverson and Clay Jepsen, had achieved their Eagle Rank in scouting. Walter is the son of Kurt and Margret Iverson, Clay the son of Kerry and Melinda Jepsen. Walter's Eagle project took place in Preston, painting the Rodeo Parade safety line along the route the parade follows each summer in an effort to make it safer for the children on the sidelines. Clay's project was that of Mink Creek cemetery veteran identification and recognition. Flags of our nation have been placed at the grave sites on specific holidays. Grandfathers, Eagle Scouts themselves, presented the awards to these two: Johnny Iverson and Glen Jepsen. Merit badges were awarded to several of the young men who are on the scout path. Those attending enjoyed refreshments of a chocolate pudding, a piece of Congratulations cake and a citrus frappe.

          Alexis and Scott Strong were up from studies at BYU in Provo, UT, for a weekend with her family, the Kurt Iverson bunch.

           Landon and Amy Costley and their family, plus some friends and families drove up from their home in Utah to enjoy some time at the Wynn and Cecelie Costley residence. It was still home and fun regardless of the excess moisture this spring has produced.

          Between April Conference and Spring Break for the school age residents have taken trips, done fun things. Things are settling back to whatever is normal. Now there is the anticipation of Easter on the horizon, and the hope of some warmer days. The sun has been shining this week, but that wind from the north has kept teeth chattering and the need for a warm jacket uppermost in any planning or venturing outside. Still hoping for some drying days so the farm work can begin.

March 28, 2017

         Water, if there is a level spot there is water. The recent rains of the last week have not helped the situation. Strawberry Creek has jumped its normal course in several spots and spread out over the flatter areas nearby. The culverts meant to contain the flow of more than one of our streams are insufficient for the amount of water causing overflow, causing the water to go up and over, or else around. There are a few spots where water is coming up through the pavement of the roads. One home with a lengthy paved driveway has had the entire length crumble. It is a good thing those home owners are not easily discouraged.

            Near milepost 8 and milepost 12 on Highway 36 the hillsides that border the road on the upper side are doing their best to creep out into the highway. It seems to be Nature vs. Man. In several places the water is causing the shoulder of the road to collapse. When the weather settles down there is going to be a need for much repair work.

           At least two families found their way to the NASCAR races this month. Steve and Terry Mainini went down to Las Vegas, NV, meeting family and friends in this annual family outing. Both Steve and Terry have California family and this is a good half-way spot for spending some time together. Kent and ReNae Egley and some of their children did the NASCAR thing this year for the first time and had very favorable reports.

            The Twin Lakes Canal Company has had some challenges getting the water from its source in Mink Creek over to the Twin Lakes on the west side of the valley. There have been multiple mud slides along the miles of canal that had obstructed the flow of water. It all had to be cleared out by bulldozer and trackhoe before water would be available for the coming irrigating season of the farmers. Modern equipment had its challenges, imagine what it would have been if all had to be done with teams of horses, scrapers and shovels as when the canal was begun.

            Three of our young women have recently been involved in cheerleading competitions and returned with smiles of performances well done. They are Hayden Egley, McKinley Longhurst, and Davanie Ostler. Three other teens performed in the Preston School Orchestra concert: Bracken Christensen playing a bass, Abigail Janke with her trumpet, and David Seamons on the violin.

           It is Spring Break this week for our school-age kids. The weather has indicated at least two of their vacation days having strong chances of rain and gloom. For those students living on working farms the break often means more time for spring farm work. That activity is just getting underway as our field ground is drying out enough to support the weight and action of equipment.

Day after Spring begins, 2017

           The Relief Society held their birthday celebration this year, celebrating the 175^th year of their organization with the teenage girls invited to share in the fun. They met at the LDS Recreation Hall for a dinner of taco salad with multiple trimmings, ice cream and birthday cake, assembled and made by Dana Olson. The theme of the evening was “A Few of My Favorite Things.” Each lady in attendance had brought a favorite thing in a brown paper bag, some tied up with string, all anonymous. Laural Janke led the group in singing along with Julie Andrews “These Are A Few of My Favorite Things,” the precursor to opening the brown paper packages. As each was opened there was much guessing as to which individual claimed it as a favorite. There were many surprises and it was a delightful evening of fun. The room was decorated with heirlooms from the past and a clothes line full of aprons and other domestic duty laundry. Laural's able assistants were April Rasmussen, Jasmine Erickson, Anna Beth Olson, Jennifer Seamons, Juli Egley and Margret Iverson.

            Robert and Phee Crosland and family traveled to Rigby, ID, to participate in the blessing of a new granddaughter. She was blessed and given the name Makala Kunde, the daughter of Malia and Jason Kunde.

            The members of the Young Women auxiliary invited their parents to the annual spring meeting “Young Women in Excellence.” There was a display of the various talents of the girls: love of animals, cheerleading, tumbling, music in the form of trumpet, guitar, a vocal rendition, piano, soccer and softball. The young women are Celina Crosland,Hayden Egley, Hannah Greene, Abigail Janke,Tara Jepsen, Emily Longhurst, Davanie Ostler, Liberty Stanworth and McKinley Longhurst. Their leaders are Laurel Wilde, Maryann Jepsen, and Dawnell Greene. Refreshments served were banana splits.

          There are multiple mud slides on our slopes. One of particular interest is on the north side of Birch Creek Road above the Keller fish ponds because the road is heavily used. Most of the intersections on all of the roads that join with Highway 36 have had some erosion from the heavy runoff this last month. Bear River flows at the official entrance to Mink Creek community and the river is running very high, full of brown muddy water. As we drive to Preston Foster Reservoir is noticed with its shrinking ice cover as the warming temperatures and runoff water are collected daily.

           It must really be spring. My robin count today was 2, pheasants 3, and one chukar. I spooked the chukar and the sound of his flight was wonderful. Yesterday may have been the official day of spring on the calendar, but today confirmed it.

           Farmers all over the county are getting machinery ready to hit their fields. Many are waiting and hoping for those fields to get sufficiently dry after being submerged in water a couple of weeks ago. Wonder how long it will be before we complain about how dusty things are.

March 15, 2017

         Relatives of Tawni Hall gathered round to celebrate her marriage to Tayson Reid recently. Tawni is the daughter of Kristi and Bret Hall. Her brothers, Bridger and Tyson were able to give some brotherly advice to Tayson. Tawni's gradfathers were both there, Vernon Keller of Mink Creek and Dallas Hall of Wellsville, UT. Kristi's siblings drove up; Kelton Keller and family from Alpine, UT. Chris and Karla Jensen and Karma Wood from Logan., Jeff and Kay Hill of West Jordan, UT, Clay and Nancy Torfin of Fairview, ID. Doug and Shelley Keller, Bret's sister, live in Preston.. Other out of town relatives were Rob and Kamee Summers and Brian and Cindy Gardner, all of Wellsville, and Steven and Lorene Lieshman of Logan. Tawni and Tayson will be settling into life as Mr. and Mrs. Reid in Richmond, UT.

            After making the decision to go for citizenship in the United States Mink Creek resident Pedro Gomez has spent months studying, getting ready to take the required test. This past week he and his wife, Avery, drove to Boise where the test is administered. We are happy to report that Pedro passed and those giving the test had no question as to whether or not he could speak English, since he was conversing easily with them in the language. Congratulations are in order for Pedro and his family, Later this spring there will be an official ceremony in honor of those who have achieved this goal.

             There has been a great deal of activity in our canyons at the beginning of this week while a lengthy search was being conducted by the Franklin County Search and Rescue unit and other volunteers. The young man, Kacey Hebdon, had been lost while snowmobiling with friends in the Copenhagen Basin area. A fierce winter storm moved in and he ended up spending the night and then some in the midst of snow and wind. The whole county celebrated when he was finally found and, though chilled to the bone, in relatively good shape.

              The annual Blue and Gold Banquet for the Cub Scouts was well attended. Cubmaster Sharla McKay used the theme of STEM for the evenings activities. STEM stands for S-science, T-technology, E- engineering, M- math, all areas that need strengthening in our world of today. For their feast those attending enjoyed a potato bar with all the trimmings, salads and a tasty chocolate dessert. Leaders of each den provided activities. The Bear leaders, Liesa Baird and Margret Iverson, dealt with Legos. Layne and Karen Erickson had a Weblos erupting volcano. Avery Gomez and Phee Crosland had created robotic bugs.

             It has been “that kind” of a week again and this is late. We have had a most welcome change in the weather and enjoyed several sunny, drying days. Normally this would not be worthy of report, but with the excess moisture that this winter has presented, drying is much desired for right now. Of course, before too much time passes we will be complaining about the dust. For now we are dealing in mud and reminding ourselves that winter most likely is not over.,

              Farm auctions throughout southeastern Idaho are underway, right on schedule. My guess is that the auctioneers feel fortunate when they can locate a place large enough, and dry enough, to hold their auctions and provide parking for their customers.

            Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Dust off your Irish genealogy and put on a bit o' green.

Lamb or Lion, 2017

Lamb or Lion for March?  I think it is a toss-up at this point.

           Our snowy slopes have been put to good use in more than one instance recently. The family of Johnny and Jeaninne Iverson gathered for their annual Mink Creek Snowfest. This year there were 25 attending from across the nation: Virginia, Texas, Utah, California, Colorado , even a few from Idaho. The excess water on our slopes this past month had rearranged their usual sledding hill, but other spots were located. The Iverson clan had ongoing board games over the three day event and enjoyed special Dutch-oven potatoes and the 6 batches of belated Valentine cookies that Jeannine produced. The children helped with some of the cooking for the event and that made extra fun for everyone.

         It was Winter Scout Camp time and the Copenhagen Basin area rang with the noise of young men and leaders digging their snow caves, making preparations for their overnighter in the deep snow. The numbers were good this year, about 70 scouters all told participated. Five Mink Creek scouts attended: Jonathan Seamons, Keenan Janke, Bryce Egley, Bracken Christensen, and Charles Iverson. They were accompanied by leaders Robert Crosland, Kim Rasmussen, Sheldon Longhurst, and Kurt Iverson. It snowed the whole time they were there, but the caves proved to be fairly comfy for their sleeping accommodations. The guest speaker for the occasion provided good words of advice and wisdom with his story of survival. All enjoyed the Klondike Race using sleds, snowshoes, hauling straw bales to test their mettle. Our group always enjoys the food whipped up by Kim Rasmussen; in this case it was soup bowls and eggs and sausage in the early hours. They had no need for extra refrigeration on this campout.

         We've had another moose on the loose. This one was up Birch Creek and it decided to join the little herd of horses that belong to Kerry and Lacey Christensen. The horses were not pleased, nor were the Christensens and it took patience on the part of all the neighborhood before things got settled back to normal.

         MaryAnn Jepsen had some down-time recently, down in St George, UT. It was a Ladies' Event with her daughters-in-law. Sunshine and Home Tours were two of the main events of this time for relaxation. Just the thing to help a case of the winter-blues.

         Every few days we catch a glimpse of spring, followed by snow flurries and wind. March 1^st did come in like the proverbial lamb, and judging from forecasts for much of the remainder of the month, we are going to be enduring Lion weather for most days.

         The spillway of the Twin Lakes Canal is dumping its water into the Bear River. It may not be a celebrated waterfall, but it has a charm all its own to those of us who live nearby.  Due to the winter weather and mud slides along the route of the canal the crews are working on repairing winter's damage before the annual date  arrives to have it full for irrigation purposes.

Last Day of Feb, 2017

        The last day of February. This shorter month seems to have gone by quickly. We have been so busy keeping up with the capricious nature of the weather that we have hardly noticed.

         Clifford and LaDawn Jensen have been entertaining grandchildren of late. Their oldest grandchild, Rachel Mackelprang, has recently returned from serving in the Oregon, Portland Mission and is now living in Hyrum, UT, while making plans for college. Rachel is the daughter of Mercedes and Darren Mackelprang who live in Statesboro, GA. Not long after Rachel's visit Cliff and LaDawn enjoyed the company of all five of their son Jeremy and Heidi Jensen's children: Murielle, Brielle, Aurielle, Kasen and Keith. This family of Jensens live nearby in McCammon, ID.

         With the recent warming and rainstorms our southern slopes became bare and the deer and the turkeys flocked to them for grazing. Pun not intended but was irresistible. Since those few days the snow has revisited and everything is back under the white blanket of winter. With the deer back near the highway there have been at least another three deer fatalities.

           Abigail Janke and Hayden Egley were recognized in the LDS Ward as they have entered the Laurel class in the Young Women's organization. Ben Seamons was a first place winner in the Preston  High School wrestling program and qualified to go to the Idaho State Wrestling competition. His brother David also qualified for this event. They are both sons of Jeff and Jennifer Seamons.

             A Valentine Party is the perfect place for the presentation of gifts and talents. At the party last week there was an auction of volunteered goods and services to be rendered for the Young Women's organization, along with food and games. It was a fun evening for all that attended with lots of good food, laughter and visiting.

           The update of our ongoing struggle with the melting snow, plus additional rain, is that we have additional mud slides and our canals have overflown in a few places. We express appreciation to Stuart Ostler for providing a pile of sand that many residents have used to fill sand bags in efforts to divert the water's pathways away from buildings and homes.

          In the days that have passed since this was written the Idaho State Wrestling event has taken place.  We are happy to report that Ben Seamons claimed the  state championship spot in his weight division, 170 pounds.   The school bus had a police escort with flashing lights escorting them as they returned to Preston from Boise.

             Tis the season of Farmer's Auctions in southeastern Idaho. Even with the excessive wetness and areas still filled with snow the flyers announcing various auction locations are arriving in the mail. It is a bit like getting those seed catalogs, an encouraging sign that spring will come. More patience is required for the catalogs, but they also provide lots of fun plans for warmth and greenery.

Moisture, continued, Feb 21, 2017

        The wild turkeys are invading our yards, as well as their more normal feeding areas. They are challenging the right of way for motorists driving the highway. Earlier this week the turkey traffic fatality rate was up to three.

          A local moose found the perfect resting place in the beautiful yard of Wally and Kim Christensen. As Kim was heading outdoors to take care of some chores, the cow moose waltzed into their orchard and found the spot to her liking. There was water handy, a nice resting spot and fruit trees all around. Kim observed from a safe distance and put her chores on hold until the critter departed.

         Michelle Wall and her children have been here for a visit with her parents, Kent and Tammy Beardall. Michelle lives in Grand Junction, CO, and is expecting a baby this spring so this will likely be the last visit to her home ground until after that event.

          Four couples took a break from winter in Idaho to attend a Cowboy Poetry Festival in Elko, NV. Nate and Dana Olson, Glade and Corinne Larsen, Clare and Linda Christensen, and Forrest and Patti Christensen, all missed out on some of our early February thawing and the excitement that came with it.

           Josh and Lizzy Greene and their two boys, Bentley and Oaklan, have been up to visit his folks, Chad and Dawnell Greene. The domestic pace picks up when those grandchildren arrive.

          There are highway signs here and there indicating that water may be washing across the highway, our main street, as it make its way down our slopes to Mink Creek. Believe it! We also have some mud slides. Two  are every evident in our southern end; one is a huge slide in Kent Egley's field. It has always been nearly perpendicular and now the dirt has slid down and is causing a mud lake at the base, with water runoff adding to the mix. Another, easily seen, is on the east side of Bear River, just above the old highway, now designated as Riverdale Rd.

          There are also lakes in the making, forming in farmer fields. Driving north from the intersection of Highway 36 with 34, I have started to mentally label some: Sharp Lake, Keller Lake, Coburn Lake, Hall pond, Hansen Lake, Despain Lake, and on up, until  one reaches the areas where the temperatures haven't gotten quite high enough, but will be coming a bit later.

         

            Today has been wind and rain, with occasional glimpses of blue sky. The canals that run through our village are overflowing in several places.  Every creek is running full tilt.  There has been a need, again, for sand bagging around some of our homes. A few more mud slides have been counted. It is a condition that has everyone on high alert. The forecast is for lower temperatures in a few days, bringing snow rather than rain. Spring is still weeks away and we are hoping to survive this aggressive winter in the meantime.

,