Author: paedwards

Sweet Lorane Community News, April 28, 2022

April 28, 2022Newspaper Columns Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
April 28, 2022
By Pat Edwards

This week I’ve had a couple of comments from my readers that my columns have been a bit sparse lately. Recently, life has interceded personally in ways that have prevented me from focusing on my writing, so I ask your forgiveness and patience.

Our family has been dealing with a major loss, and for the past week, I have been dealing with a really nasty version of the familiar sinus colds that used to grab hold of me once a year or so. They historically cycle through a whole series of symptoms including raging headaches, the inability to breath through my nose, coughing and the continuing “sinus torrent” that ends up causing me to go through boxes of Kleenex. I thought that I had finally “outgrown” them—I haven’t had one like that in years, but this one caught up with me and seemed to be saying, “Let’s make up for lost time.”

Fortunately, I’m able to breath again, the headaches are gone, and I’m able to sleep at night. The torrent has slowed down to a little more than a trickle, although Mother Nature, with all her pollen, is prolonging that. I tested negative several times for Covid, and thankfully, my vaccinations and boosters are doing everything I had hoped they would, so that was welcome news.

So, for this week, I’m just going to apologize and hope that I truly have “outgrown” this very unwelcome spring event. I’m ready to go out and enjoy some sunshine, fresh air and all of the work that is awaiting me in the yard.

Happy Spring everyone!

Sweet Lorane Community News, April 21, 2022

April 21, 2022Newspaper Columns Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
April 21, 2022
By Pat Edwards

Our local communities are beginning to come alive after our long period of COVID mandates and social distancing. How exciting!

Rob Herbison, who lives in Lorane with his family, has posted the following notice: “I was granted permission to start holding some weekly open gyms. The first one will be Wednesday, April 27, at the Applegate Elementary School gymnasium in Crow. We will start around 6:45 p.m. and go for about 1½ to 2 hours. Right now we are a bunch of Dads wanting to get together and play, but anyone in the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District is welcome to attend. It will be recreational and is not intended to be super-competitive play.” I don’t have a contact number for Rob, but he can be reached through his postings on either the Lorane or Crow Community Facebook pages.

There are also a couple of upcoming events to note in both the Lorane and Crow granges. With the elections approaching, the Lane County Commissioner Candidates Public Forum is one we all need to put on our calendars. It will be held at the Lorane Grange on Thursday, April 28, at 7:00 p.m. The participating candidates will be those running to represent Western Lane County. It’s a perfect means of getting to know who is running and how they will represent us. Be sure to join us .

After a 2-year hiatus, the Applegate Booster Club’s 3rd Annual “Ohana Dance” will take place at the Applegate gymnasium on Friday, April 29, from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Be sure to don your leis, grass skirt, floral shirt and join in this fun, family event. Light desserts and refreshments will be provided. Tickets are on sale at the Applegate Elementary School office for $5 per couple or $10 for a whole family. It’s open to the public. For more info, contact Marissa Cooper at 541-517-6608.

The Crow Grange is again sponsoring its popular Mother’s Day Breakfast again this year, to be held on Sunday, May 8, 2022, from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. It will be a sit-down meal this year since the COVID restrictions have been lifted, but I believe that Connie Suing also said that “to go” breakfasts would also be available for those who want them that way. The menu includes pancakes or biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, fruit, coffee and juice. The suggested donation is $5.00 per meal.

The Crow Grange is also sponsoring another series of Line Dancing Classes which were to begin this past Saturday, April 23, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. I don’t have the future schedule available, but you can contact Connie Suing if you have questions. For these classes, no dance experience is needed. You don’t have to come with a partner and ages high school through adult are welcome. There’s a $5 donation and water bottles are provided. I understand that the Western line dances that they’ve done in the past are being expanded to those line dances done around the world. They will review the Western dances they’ve done in the past, however. Be sure to wear comfortable clothing, soft-soled shoes and be ready to have some fun.

It’s good to see all of these activities taking place again. They’ve really been missed.

Sweet Lorane Community News, April 14, 2022

April 14, 2022Newspaper Columns, Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
April 14, 2022
By Pat Edwards

This past couple of weeks were rather strange, weather-wise, even for Oregon. The week before last we actually had our first “shirt-sleeve weather” days. The 70 degrees were glorious and I was able to get some good weeding done in our big flower bed at the bottom of the hill. The next day or so, Jim and I had an appointment in town. It was the first time in three days we had gotten in the car to go anywhere. As I walked out into the driveway, I noticed that the hood and top of my dark burgundy-colored car were bright yellow. When I got in the car, I could not even see through the windshield and when I turned on the window washer and wipers, yellow streaks formed across the window before finally washing down the side of my car. I hadn’t realized that the pollen counts had gotten that high. I was going to run it through the car wash in town, but decided against it as I was sure it would just return to its yellow hue in short order. The next morning, our dog, BB, began snuffling through his nose. It wasn’t a cough, but I could tell he was having some respiratory distress. After several “snuffle sessions,” I realized that he, too, had been affected by the yellow shower of pollen. I gave him a Claritan that morning and by the next day, he was much better. I’ve continued his allergy pill each day until we began to have some serious rains which I knew would stop the pollen barrage for awhile, anyway. The ensuing rain was welcome, but not the cold. April showers are one thing when they’re accompanied by some warmer temps, but I’m definitely not a fan of the dips into the 30s and 40s during the day, too.

Then, a couple of days ago, I looked out the window to see snow almost covering the grass. Snow in April? There wasn’t a lot, but a layer of white had definitely replaced the yellow blanket on my car. It lasted until mid-morning before it was gone. I can’t remember a later snow in my almost 80 years in Oregon, but when I looked up the record for Eugene, we didn’t quite get there. The latest snowfall recorded in the Eugene area was on April 29, 1951. I lived in Oregon at the time—Lebanon, Oregon—and I was in the 2nd grade at Queen Anne Grade School. I don’t remember it… kids don’t remember late snowfalls, but I can sure remember the biggest snow we’ve ever had in Oregon. It was in January 1969.

That year, we still owned our homeplace on Lorane Highway where we raised our family, but we had rented it out for a couple of years to move to Monroe. Jim had been transferred to Corvallis to manage the Mayfair Market there. The long drive had become more than he wanted to do each day. We had a lot of snow in Monroe, but “at home,” near Lorane, we were told that we had almost 4 feet of it that January. (It was a record single snowfall in Eugene that year at 47.1″ that still stands). It caused havoc. We lost a loafing shed that was attached to our barn, but some of our neighbors had roofs collapse and large trees came down all over the county, some crushing anything in their paths. No one went anywhere for at least 3 days before the roads could be plowed, but a lot of sleds were hooked up to tractors and Jeeps and even more made sledding slopes on any available hill or incline, including roads. We had to tramp down or dig walkways through the snow in order to get out of the house to do chores. It’s not something native Oregonians west of the Cascades are used to having to do. But, for the most part, it was fun… and definitely memorable.

I hope everyone had an Easter filled with family this year. Things are beginning to feel a bit more “normal.”