COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL February 25, 2015
7A
C ALENDAR
Continued from page 3A
Time share kitty
OFFICE DUTIES (According to her.)
“I have run a tax accounting business out
of my home for 17 years,” said Kent. “There
is an offi ce entrance for clients, but they are
not the only ones who use the door!
Several years back, a neighbor’s beautiful
black-and-white cat made herself welcome
in my offi ce. Her ‘work’ name became
Paperweight because she plopped herself
unceremoniously down onto the papers I
was working on. Paperweight visited each
morning for fi ve years, until a neighbor at
the end of the street moved out, and appar-
ently so did my co-worker kitty, never to be
seen again.
Almost immediately, another black-and-
white cat showed up. She was younger,
but just as purrs-istent. I never learned Pa-
perweight’s ‘real’ name, nor do I know the
new arrival’s name, so the newbie’s ‘offi ce’
name became Apprentice. It is obvious that
Paperweight had told her about the snacks
to be had and the comfy cat napping loca-
tions. So, when Apprentice applied for the
‘job’ she was hired along with all the fringe
benefi ts.
Ms Apprentice, as I do not know if she
is married or not, is very punctual and ar-
rives as I open the doors at 5 a.m. As far as
she is concerned there are no holidays, she
does not take days off, and she shows up for
treats every day. She is well groomed for her
paws-ition, and also believed to be owned
by neighbors. Just like her predecessor she
wanders in and plops down precisely on the
papers that I am working on. In order to re-
claim my work area I “bribe” her with cat
treats, and eventually had to ‘present’ her
with a designated employee cloth cat bed.
At fi rst Apprentice refused the bed, still
purr-furr-ing the papers or my chair. So I
put two and two together and sat on her bed
so it would remind her of me. Then I had to
build a special back for the chair, for her and
her bed, so they would not slide out. I did
not have a camera handy, because it caught
both of us by surprise. But, one moment, all
was well, she was sleeping, and unceremo-
niously she and the bed slid out from under
the back of the chair. Stunned, sitting on
the fl oor, she gave me ‘that look’! In no un-
certain terms, it meant that I had to quickly
remedy the situation. If not, her ‘look’ was a
hint at blackmailing me with a quick return
to snoozing on tax papers.
This is a full service offi ce, if you are a
cat. Apprentice arrives with an appetite. I
give her a treat, a drink of water, and some
attention. In the summer she enjoys greeting
1. Look cute.
2. Demand clients’ attention.
3. Purr when given attention.
4. Protect the fl ower bed from roving
bugs.
5. Only eat the treats I love.
6. Command ‘subjects’ when to let me in/
out of the offi ce.
7. Loudly voice disapproval from having
disrupted the offi ce and snack routine when
Kent returns from vacation.
TIPS
Courtesy Photo
Tax Accountant Kent with his non-
deductible offi ce staff, Apprentice,
who must belong to a secret cat
union. When she learned she was
not going to be paid for this photo,
she immediately began a wiggle
protest.
clients, and changes things up by sleeping
just outside the door, either in the shade or
the sun. After ‘my’ visitation time is up, she
continues her day, wandering off checking
out the rest of her trap line.
Having a visiting cat and not owning
one has all the advantages and none of the
disadvantages. She is a TIME SHARE cat
who does Day-cations at my home. When
I go on holidays, I know that she is fed and
groomed by her pet parents who love her.
I don’t have to pay for a cat sitter, or incur
any vet bills on her behalf. All she costs me
is a cat bed and treats.
I tried training Apprentice to answer the
phone, take messages, and shred paper. She
walks over the phone dialing wildly, stands
on the answering machine deleting mes-
sages, and even the ‘tools’ (her claws) she
brings into the offi ce have not shredded one
piece of paper - just the side of my desk.
Apprentice plainly feels that manual work is
for others. She reminds me that dogs have
owners and are trainable, but cats have ser-
vants and do their own thing as they please
- when they please.”
Feline Facts:
- Cats have the largest eyes in the mam-
mal kingdom.
- Cats have more bones and ribs in their
body than humans. Cats - 230, humans -
206.
- Petting a cat relieves stress.
- Egyptians are the fi rst known to employ
cats to control mice, protecting their grain.
- Family cats can run 30 mph, but for a
very short distance.
- A cat’s tail is used for its balance skills.
- At night, cats’ eyes see six times better
than human eyes.
- A cat’s hearing is more acute than a
dog’s or a human’s.
Kitty Obit
The results of our rescue kitty, Mini
Purrl, ravages of her abandonment and sub-
sequent starvation played havoc on her little
fi ve pound body.
Last fall, she passed away with the loving
help of a gentle vet.
What has your FUNNY pet done?
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anyway.
“We thought it would be best
not to create extra work for our-
selves,” Linoz said. “We’ll fi g-
ure out in future years what to
do going forward.”
Star Riding Group 339 seems
to be in about the same hold-
ing pattern with its annual Bike
Fest, which has drawn motor-
cyclists and cycle enthusiasts to
Cottage Grove in the late-spring
for a number of years.
The group enjoyed the best-
ever turnout for the Bike Fest in
2014, according to Star’s John
Logan. The event featured per-
formances by a motorcycle stunt
team, in addition to the regular-
ly scheduled bike games, and it
found an ideal home at Bohemia
Park. The Bike Fest has raised
over $15,000 for local nonprofi t
Parent Partnership’s ‘Youth on
their Own’ effort.
“We just had our 10th year,
and it was the biggest and best
yet,” Logan said. “But the plan
is to take a year off and regroup,
to see how big we really want
this thing to get. There’s a core
group of about 20 people that
make it happen, and we have to
decide if we want to have a big-
ger event less often or just keep
letting it grow.”
Also noticeably absent from
the 2015 schedule is the Cottage
Grove Board of Realtors’ Wie-
ner Dog Races and Pet Fest, a
wildly popular event in recent
years that features what may be
the most exciting few seconds in
the yearly calendar. Held since
2007, the races were one of the
fi rst events to take place in the
heat of the Cottage Grove sum-
mertime, and the 2013 version
raised funds for the South Lane
Dental Clinic.
Still, event organizer Shane
May said last week that he’s had
little luck shopping the races to
other people or organizations in
the community that may wish
to plan such an involved event.
After attempts to transition the
races into a fundraiser for Re-
lay for Life or an event run by
the Chamber of Commerce, the
races were not held in 2014, and
it appears that, unless an inter-
ested organizer or group steps
forward, there will be no races
this year, either.
NASA visit, Home
Show, standbys
still on
Though these three key events
are a no-go this year, Cottage
Grove still boasts a packed
schedule of both recurring and
one-time offerings:
Organizers at the Cottage
Grove Library are excited about
this year’s Star Party, scheduled
for Monday, March 16. NASA
Astronomer Teena Della and
the Eugene Astronomical Soci-
ety (and their telescopes) will be
on hand for the event, which be-
gins at 7:30 p.m. A total of nine
astronomy workshops will also
be held at Cottage Grove High
School and Lincoln Middle
School on Monday and Tues-
day, March 16-17.
Early April brings KNND’s
Home Show and Gathering of
Gardeners juggernaut, sched-
uled for April 11-12 at Cottage
Grove High School. And of
course, standbys such as Bohe-
mia Mining Days (July 16-19
this year), Relay for Life (June
19-20) and perhaps the most
packed day on the summer cal-
endar, July 25, which features
the Tri at the Grove triathlon,
Main Street Chili Cook-off and
Rock, Roll and Rumble Car
Cruise, can be found in their
usual spots on the calendar, as
can the Jim Wright Memorial
Stearman Fly-in, scheduled for
July 31-Aug. 2.
Recurring events such as
the Concerts in the Park series
(beginning June 17 and taking
place Wednesday evenings from
6:30-8 p.m. until Sept. 9) and
the Growers Market, which has
been moved to Saturdays at the
Coast Fork Farm Stand begin-
ning May 23, will help ensure
that there’s always something to
look forward to this summer in
Cottage Grove.
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF
4 FOUJOFM
Our Community Newspaper
since 1889
Three common childhood dental health concerns
When your baby’s fi rst teeth come in, everyone rejoices;
it’s a sign that all is progressing as it should. But as your
child ages, various dental concerns can come along as
well. Some issues are genetic and will require orthodon-
tic work a bit later on, but there are others you can pre-
pare for right now.
1. BABY BOTTLE TOOTH DECAY
Prevent early childhood caries, or cavities, by nursing or
putting only mother’s milk and formula in your baby’s
bottles. Don’t let your baby fall asleep with the nipple in
the mouth; gently wipe your infant’s teeth with a sterile
gauze pad be fore sleep
time.
2. THUMB SUCKING
Thumb sucking is gen-
erally accepted to be a
harmless habit in young
children; sucking is a
natural refl ex in babies,
and for toddlers it is
Douglas G. Maddess, DMD
Brightening Lives One Smile at a Time
Welcoming New Patients
Call for an appointment today!
914 South 4th St.
#' s
douglasgmaddessdmd.com
an effective self-soothing strate-
gy. However, the American Dental
Association says that thumb suck-
ing after the age of four can affect
the alignment of your child’s teeth
and jaw. Talk to your pediatrician for
advice about thumb sucking.
3. ACCIDENTAL TRAUMA TO THE TEETH
A blow to the mouth, cheek, or jaw
may cause damage to teeth above
or below the gum line. Take your
child to the dentist’s or to the hospital
emergency room if a tooth is cracked
or knocked out or if an object gets
caught in the mouth or between the teeth. In the case of
a knocked-out tooth, try to recover it and bring it to the
dentist or hospital. Keep the tooth moist, ideally in the
child’s mouth; if your child is old enough to not swal-
low it, place it between the teeth and gums or in the gap
from where it fell out. You can also place the tooth in a
cup of milk.
Shane Parsons, DMD
New patients welcome
605 Jefferson Ave. • Cottage Grove
Please call for an appointment.
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm
Emergency appts. available daily
www.shaneparsonsd md.com
541
942-9171
Brent Bitner, DDS
Dentistry with Family in Mind
C ALL U S T ODAY !
541.942.7934
350 E. W ASHINGTON A VENUE • C OTTAGE G ROVE
WWW.CGSMILES.COM