Sweet Lorane Community News, July 5, 2018

July 5, 2018Newspaper Columns4th of July, Art in the Country, Blue Rooster Inn, Chicken 'n Pickin, Crow Grange, Easy Acres Neighborhood group, Farmin Creek, Lorane Christian Church, Lorane Community Association, Lorane Growers' Market, Marissa McNutt Cooper, Rodney Liles, Worship in the Parkpaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 5, 2018
By Pat Edwards

What a wonderful Independence Day this year! Our Easy Acres Neighborhood Group got together at the Blue Rooster Inn to celebrate being neighbors. Because there are not a lot of us and because our neighbors know that we (the Edwards/Kaus) have a big family, they extended their invitation to all of us—not just Jim and me—and most were able to come.

It was an afternoon of eating BBQ potluck—our grillmasters were our grandsons, Kevin and Brent—conversation and getting acquainted in the historic barn, and yard games played next to the pond on which its resident swan glided gracefully as a backdrop for the many photographs that were taken. The venue was generously provided by Nancy Pelton, the owner of the Blue Rooster and a member of the group. Good times.

The Lorane Community Association held its monthly meeting last week and there is a lot of discussion about the upcoming unveiling of the mural that I told you about last week. Along with the unveiling, the LCA is planning to have some t-shirts, bags and possibly other items printed with the image of the mural and they will be on-sale that day (Sunday, August 12) in the parking area of the Lorane Family Store.

In addition, the plans for the community-wide yard sale on Saturday, August 4, are progressing. In addition to the sale, itself, the Rebekah Lodge is planning a pancake breakfast from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. that day.

As a side note, the LCA will be collecting backpacks, pencils, glue sticks and other school supplies to hand out to kids also on that day. Please contact Marissa McNutt-Cooper if you’d like to donate a backpack.

I’ll include more information on this event as well as the Crow Chicken ‘n Pickin’ BBQ and the Art in the Country Festival that will all be happening on the same day—Saturday, August 4—in a column soon.

The Lorane Christian Church has scheduled its annual “Worship in the Park” on August 19th at Farmin Creek, on Siuslaw River Road about a half mile from the Lorane Deli. This is a church service held in the beautiful outdoors! The service starts at 10:30 a.m., followed by a barbeque lunch at noon. The church provides the hamburgers and hotdogs, and side dishes of salads and desserts are welcomed. There’s a pond for swimming and horseshoes for the competitive at Farmin Creek!

The Lorane Growers Market is just beginning to pick up steam now that our gardens are beginning to produce. Stop by frequently and check out what items of produce have been dropped off. Our area gardeners have been very generous with their donations in the past, and all proceeds go to the Lorane Community Association to be used for the many projects it takes on through the year.

Our condolences go out to the Liles family of Crow for the loss of Rodney Liles who was killed in a car accident on June 25. I didn’t know Rodney, but he was the father of Talisha who went to Crow High School with our granddaughters. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Talisha and her family.

Sweet Lorane Community News – July 7, 2016

July 7, 2016Newspaper Columns4th of July, Boise, Creswell parade, Cruise 'n Ride, Fireworks, Independence Day, John Edwards, OPVA, Oregon Paralyzed Veterans of Americapaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 7, 2016
By Pat Edwards

I hope that everyone had a good 4th of July. We did… even though we didn’t expect to be here for it. Our daughters put together a fun family barbecue and a bonus this year was that there were no extra-loud illegal fireworks being set off in our neighborhood. I don’t want to sound like an old scrooge. As a child living in Lebanon, Oregon, I loved the activities surrounding Independence Day celebrations. Our dad would bring home an assortment of sparklers and ladyfinger firecrackers. He showed us how to ignite them safely using a punk and he would later handle the lighting of the fountains and pinwheels that we all watched in awe. I also remember the special times we traveled to my aunt’s house on East 22nd Street in Eugene. The whole family walked from there down to Hayward Field on the UO campus. We’d go early enough to find a patch of lawn to lay our blankets on so that we could lie and watch the fireworks display. It seemed that the whole town turned out for it.

At the time, I didn’t realize how traumatized our pets could become. We always shut them in the house while we were lighting fireworks, but seeing the way our dogs now cringe and crawl under my computer desk when the loud booms of illegal fireworks explode through the valley, I sympathize. More importantly is the increased awareness we now have of the PTSD that some veterans who served our country have to deal with each 4th of July. We are so lucky to have scheduled activities to attend, even now. Creswell provides a wonderful parade each year and once it is dark, families still are able to go lie out on a lawn to watch beautiful exploding displays of fireworks.

Despite our aborted vacation recently, Jim and I are glad to be back home. His brother John is under the care of his local doctors now after spending 3 days in a hospital in Boise, Idaho. Hopefully, one of these days soon, we will try again, but for now, we’re enjoying being home.

The trip was star-crossed from the very beginning. Besides John becoming ill in the middle of nowhere, we dealt with the fact that all motels/hotels were booked along Highway 26 and we had no place to stay even if John had been well. In addition, his power chair decided to quit working after we went back out to the cars following dinner in John Day. It just quit and it took over a half hour of pulling levers, pushing buttons and kicking tires before it suddenly came to life and John was finally able to lock it into place in the passenger side of his van. The vacation just went downhill after that… We even had problems on the way home. After leaving Burns with plenty of gas (we thought), we discovered that there was not a gas pump left in any of the little towns between there and Bend. We became really concerned when the gas warning lights in both of our cars went on. We were still 30 miles from Bend at the time and we were all holding our breaths, fearing that we weren’t going to be able to make it that far. Our daughter Kelly, who lives in Montana, chose to call us to find out how we were doing when we were 5 miles from Bend. When I updated her, she insisted on staying on the line to make sure we made it there safely. When we drove both vehicles into the first gas station in Bend on fumes, we all breathed a sigh of relief. I remember saying to Kelly, “Oh my gosh! I haven’t been this stressed since… Saturday!” We can all laugh about it now, but we weren’t then.

A quick mention of an upcoming event. Mark your calendars for July 16. It will be the “Cruise ‘n Ride” Benefit for the Oregon Paralyzed Veterans of America. It will start and end at the Crow Grange. Start time is 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. and it costs $15 per vehicle with proceeds going to the OPVA. Cruisers of any legal motorized vehicle will visit granges along the route where they can buy raffle tickets, draw poker cards along the way for prizes, buy snacks, visit an old fashioned country market, listen to live music, play bingo and other games, enjoy arts and crafts displays, etc. at the various granges hosting it. Unfortunately, Lorane Grange is not on the route this year as they were last year, but the ones that are participating are Irving, Elmira, Central, Spencer Creek and back to Crow. Go to http://www.Cruise-N-Ride-Benefit.org for more information.