Author: paedwards

Sweet Lorane Community News – January 5, 2017

January 5, 2017Newspaper Columns, , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
January 5, 2017
By Pat Edwards

It hasn’t escaped anyone’s attention that Mother Nature has decided to issue a very strong proclamation that winter is taking place here in Lane County. First, we’ve learned, once again, how to cope without electricity for days at a time during the ice storm; then after a couple of weeks’ reprieve, we dug out our heavy-treaded shoes and boots, coats, scarves and gloves to go out into the snow to warm up our cars if we had no choice but to be somewhere other than home. The lucky ones were those who were able to stay home and off of the treacherous roads.

Unfortunately, I had to be out in it both Wednesday and Thursday. There was a long-awaited doctor’s appointment which I couldn’t afford to reschedule, and the next day, Jim and I needed to accompany our son to an equally long-awaited and essential medical procedure so that we could drive him home to Cottage Grove afterwards.

I’m a good snow driver on the country roads where there is little traffic. My 4-wheel-drive SUV navigated the hills and curves really well when I kept it at a steady 30 mph and a bit faster approaching and climbing hills, but the worry about what other drivers were going to do was a bit nerve-wracking. Some, I felt, traveled a bit too fast and other oncoming drivers insisted on taking their half of the road out of the middle when going around curves, especially. When I got to Eugene on Wednesday, it was downright scary. Cars and small pickups were fishtailing all over the place; and I saw a couple of them doing 180’s and 360’s in the middle of the street. Getting back home both days felt really good.

I’m writing this on Friday and the ominous forecast is calling for another equally devastating ice storm with strong possibilities of power outages like we had before Christmas. Hopefully, that storm will pass us by. We have not even gotten the tree destruction of the first one cleaned up yet, although I would be grateful if some of the tenuous ones in our front pasture come down on their own rather than having to be cut down. I worry about those who have them near their homes, though.

Lorane is reeling from the recent death of one of our own this past week. David Doughty who, along with his twin brother Duane and other siblings, was born and grew up in Lorane, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday morning with what I’ve heard was untreated pneumonia. I don’t have information on services yet, but when the family releases them, they will be posted on the Lorane Facebook page.

David was loved by so many in the community and his death at such a young age is a blow to all who knew him. He was the son of Delwin and Beth Doughty. His grandparents, James Albert and Rosa Lee Doughty settled in the Lorane area in 1943, and his father and uncle set up a logging business at that time. Later, Delwin and Beth established D.A. Doughty and Sons, a sand and gravel business in partnership with their sons.

Our heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to David’s wife Jeannie and daughters Christie and Carrie, as well as the rest of their family, for their loss.

Hopefully, by the time that this column is read, we will have returned to our normal complaints of too much winter rain and chances of mild flooding… that’s so much better than the sub-freezing temps and icy road conditions. I think we can put this winter into our own personal record books as one of the worst we’ve had in a long time.

Happy 2017, everyone!

Sweet Lorane Community News – December 29, 2016

December 29, 2016Newspaper Columns, , , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
December 29, 2016
By Pat Edwards

The Lorane Directory Facebook page is adding a file for people to list their comments and feedback on various services they have used in the area. The first entry is one provided by Chris Nwk Blanchard. His family on Lorane Highway had been out of electricity for 10 days following the ice storm. They thought that Lane Electric would fix it, but didn’t realize that they would need to have a licensed electrician come to their home to repair some damage there before LEC could hook them back up to the main line. It was two days before Christmas and Chris put out a plea on the Lorane Facebook page to electrical contractors in the area who might be willing to do a last-minute job for them so that their electricity could be restored in time for Christmas. An angel in the guise of Chris Leturno of Superior Electric who lives in the Crow area immediately responded and had the work done in time to allow Lane Electric to get the family’s power restored. Not only was their best Christmas gift a warm house and restored electrical power for the Blanchard family, but, in addition, there was no charge from Superior Electric to do it. This is what holiday and community spirit are all about… neighbors helping neighbors. Thank you Chris Leturno for your kindness and goodwill. It will live on in the Lorane Directory as a recommendation for your services. I hope residents will post their recommendations for other local services they want to share, as well.

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy New Year. Our house is always pretty quiet, as Jim and I usually stay home and spend a relatively normal evening… and this year was no different. I guess that we earned the title of “party-poopers” quite some time ago.

School for the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District will be back in session on Monday, January 2, but Friday, January 6, is the first half-day scheduled to prepare student progress reports. During the scheduled half days, the Rural Art Center has a great program in place for students who want to stay and attend three hours of creativity with professional artists and a healthy snack. A suggested donation of $10/afternoon is requested, but there are scholarships available if this is a hardship. If your child is interested in attending these, contact Michael at 541-844-0543 or ruralartcenter@gmail.com for more information. There is no bus service afterwards, however, so children must be picked up promptly at 3:00 p.m.

The program for Friday, January 6 is “Baskets.” Donna Crispin, a fiber artist, will show those attending how to weave a basket with a wooden base using reeds and yarn to create a lovely, small and unique basket.

The program on Friday, February 10 will be on “Rope and Cordage.” Students will make their own jump rope with yarn and then learn how to make cord out of dried leaves. A full schedule of the RAC half-days of art activities can be found in the most recent “District Buzz” newsletter at http://www.cal.k12.or.us/district/news/12-7-16.pdf.

Shortie and I went for a walk up Easy Acres today and met a Lane County road maintenance crew cleaning up the broken branches and limbs littering the sides of the road. It’s been a huge job for them, but I really appreciate the things that they do to make our roads better and nicer to travel. I asked one of the crew members to pass on my thanks to one of his colleagues, in particular, who does such a great job of mowing the sides of the roads along Lorane Highway, especially, each summer and fall. He certainly puts a lot of TLC into the work he does.

Again, Happy New Year to all of you. Let’s hope it’s a much better one than 2016.

Sweet Lorane Community News – December 22, 2016

December 22, 2016Newspaper Columns, , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
December 22, 2016
By Pat Edwards

I’m hoping for a quiet week this week. With the holidays and the after-effects of the ice storm which left many of us without power for days, and for some, a week or more, it will be good to find a sense of normalcy. At our house, we were without power for three full days, but as I mentioned last week, at least we had a small generator that helped get us through the outage without too much discomfort. Then, unfortunately, there were those whose lines leading to their homes were some of the last to be fixed and were literally in the dark for over a week.

Despite everything, though, most of us were aware of the heroic efforts of the crews that were out in the freezing and dangerous conditions of trees and branches falling indiscriminately while they worked to get warmth and light back into our homes. For me, these men and women are heroes who deserve our thanks and appreciation. Thanks to all of you who worked long hours in difficult conditions to provide us with some of the things we so often take for granted. You are very much appreciated!

Since there’s not a lot of events planned in the coming weeks, I thought I would tell you a little about the Edwards’ family’s Hawaiian trip, as promised. We had many adventures on the cruise. Some were great tours like the one that we took to the Volcano National Park on the big island of Hawaii where we saw red molten lava bubbling up to the surface of the Mt. Kilauea crater.

Some were fun like the day we spent on a beautiful beach in Maui where many of the family played in the surf on boogie boards and others swam out to snorkle with turtles while Jim laid on a lounge chair, under an umbrella, watching everyone and I waded out to get a closer look at all of the shenanigans.

There were some stressful times, too… like when our daughter, Michele, and her family drove up the Road to Hana on Maui and got detained behind a landslide for hours. Fortunately, they got back just in time to board the ship before it was ready to sail.

The most memorable time we had wasn’t a lot of fun, other family members will agree, but it will probably be the one we talk about the most whenever we are bringing up family memories.

When we got to Kona on the island of Hawaii, we booked 6 two-person kayaks for a snorkling adventure. At first, the plan was for Jim and I to be in one together, but I said that it wasn’t a good idea as neither of us were experienced in kayaking. (It turned out to be a wise decision.) So, Michele offered to be in one with Jim and they assigned me to our grandson, Kevin. We all figured that we’d be kayaking in a bay or a tributary, but when we got there, we found out how very mistaken we were. We were to kayak in the ocean, about 50 yards out from the shoreline… and it was windy that day… and there were waves. I was petrified the whole time we were out on the water, but Kev kept me focused and on course, instructing me to steer INTO the waves and not allow them to broadside us. He assured me with words like, “It’s ok, Grandma. I’ve got’cha!” and he did. His calm assurance gave me the opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and do something that I’ll never want to do again, but I was able to conquer my fear enough to say afterwards, “I did it!”

As you read this, we are all looking in our rearview mirror at Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday celebrations as the road ahead is disappearing over the 2017 horizon. Where it will lead us is anyone’s guess, but I’m hoping that, as we travel along, we’ll find some sunshine… sunshine for the soul, and peace within our hearts. 2016 was a rather strange year; To me, it seemed unsettled and the path through it was rocky and hard to navigate. My prayer and wish for 2017 is that it brings healing and harmony to our troubled nation… that we find more common bonds to join us than disparities to divide us.

Happy New Year to each of you!