COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL |
MARCH 18, 2021 | 5A
Humor at the Speed of Life
James Kazad — (Remembrances of life before COVID)
we do! What kind of
parents would we be
if we didn’t enjoy the
lighthearted banter
we share each day,
such as when I say:
“You need to wash
your plate.”
And without skip-
ping a beat, they re-
ply:
“You’re ruining my
entire LIFE!”
Ha! Ha! That’s
why they are called
“kids!” Not because they
are like stubborn baby
goats who, given the
chance, will run horns-
first into your knee caps.
No! It’s because they’re
kidd-ers! So who are we,
as parents, to selfishly
deny them from spread-
ing that kind of joy to
others for five whole days
during spring break?
Five days without cranky
teenagers at home
(Can I get a Halleluja?)
They say absence
makes the heart grow
fonder. With that in
mind, the thought of our
three teenagers being
gone for most of spring
break makes us love them
beyond words.
In fact, the only way we
could love them more is
if they each found jobs
and an apartment while
they were gone.
Don’t get me wrong.
It’s not that we don’t en-
joy spending time with
our kids. Of COURSE
Needless to say, having
the house to ourselves for
a week is going to take
some getting used to.
For example, we’ll have
to get used to opening the
refrigerator and finding
more than just an emp-
ty carton of orange juice
and some spilled ketchup
that has dried into some-
thing resembling a fruit
roll-up.
Plus
maybe
someone’s gym
sock.
We’ll also have
to get used to tak-
ing warm show-
ers since, without
three teens using
enough water to
hose down the
entire Budweiser
Clydesdale team,
we’ll actually have
more than 90 sec-
onds before a lack
of hot water turns our
morning shower into an
audition for So You Think
You Can Dance?
And I’m not sure how
we’ll get used to turn-
ing on the television and
not having a minor heart
attack because the vol-
ume was apparently set
for someone who lands
fighter planes on an air-
craft carrier.
That’s assuming we can
get used to finding the
TV remote at all since
those kidd-ers won’t be
here to leave it some-
where — such as between
the couch cushions, in a
different room complete-
ly, or in the shower.
Actually, that might
explain why the volume
was so high.
Yes, not having our
teens at home for a week
will take some getting
used to. In order to pre-
pare ourselves for what
we know will be a diffi-
cult transition, my wife
and I have spent time
talking together about
our feelings. This has
been extremely helpful.
Once the giddiness
passes, anyway — which
I blame on the wine. Not
to mention that cart-
wheel I attempted.
But hey, we needed an
excuse to get a new coffee
table anyway!
I’m sure it will be dif-
ferent when, before long,
they leave home to find
their own way into the
world. Suddenly, all the
things we’ve come to ac-
cept and experience on a
daily basis as parents will
end.
Once again, not having
them here will take some
getting used to. Especial-
ly knowing it’s for good.
When that day comes,
there will be tears. There
will be hugs.
And no, there won’t be
any cartwheels.
Not with what we just
paid for that new coffee
table.
Their teachers are con-
necting with them.
• The Lady Cougars
have resumed playing
volleyball and games are
live on Facebook. Check
with the school If you
need a schedule.
• The middle school
art class needs your help.
If you have any of the
following items, please
send them to the office
or send with a student.
Old lonely socks, wiggle
eyes, pipe cleaners, yarn,
scrapes of fabric, buttons,
craft Poms, rickrack and
anything else that might
go on a sock puppet.
• Even with the low-
ered risk levels, Lorane
Grange will not have any
fundraisers until after
discussions at its next
meeting on Thursday,
April 1, beginning at
7 p.m. (No, that is not
a joke — we really are
meeting on April 1)
• Thank you Lorane
Christian Church for
continuing Sunday ser-
vice both in church and
in car each week. It is
really helpful for all not
quite ready to go inside.
Masks and distancing
are practiced by all.
• If weather cooperates,
Lane County plan to re-
sume working on Stoney
Point in May.
When it begins, we
will be notified.
LORANE COUNTRY NEWS
Contributed by
Lil Thompson
for The Sentinel
• Well, after waiting so
long, school is back in
session this week at all
Crow-Applegate-Lorane
Schools.
For
middle/high
school students, they are
in two different cohorts.
Cohort A students are
in class on Mondays and
Wednesdays and Cohort
B attends Tuesdays and
Thursdays.
Students will still have
planned lessons and
homework for days not
on site. There are some
students still doing on-
line learning and are on a
different schedule.
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Two Cottage Grove Businesses Develop
Innovative Partnership Despite
Challenging Conditions
By JON STINNETT
B
y mid-morning on a brisk,
sunny Saturday, the takeout
orders are starting to stack up
at Buster’s Main Street Café.
Alerted that the next order is ready
to go, Steve Lawn loads up both his
arms with bags of food. Without
hesitation, he’s out the café’s front
door. The restaurant offers curbside
pickup, but Lawn doesn’t stop at any
cars parked nearby. He continues
well past Buster’s, in fact, waiting
patiently to cross fi rst Highway 99
and then Main Street.
Soon, Lawn reaches his
destination – the spacious indoor
seating area of Covered Bridge
Brewing Group, a combined coffee
shop/brewpub located several blocks
away. There, nearly everyone seated
looks up as he announces what he’s
brought. Two tables recognize their
orders and are all smiles as Lawn
delivers their food to them.
Behind his mask, Lawn is smiling
too, but he doesn’t linger to chat.
Before long, he’s back at Buster’s,
gathering up another order as he
prepares to make the same walk
again. The restaurant has only been
open for a half-hour or so, but
already this isn’t his fi rst trip, and it
certainly won’t be his last.
Such has been a frequent scene
between Buster’s and the Covered
Bridge since last summer. Back
then, a conversation between the two
businesses’ respective owners led
to a fruitful partnership, one borne
of necessity and cooperation in the
face of a global pandemic and the
measures taken to try and curb it.
Chrissy Chapman, who opened
Covered Bridge Brewing Group
last summer along with her partner,
Brewer Nate Sampson, and Dave
Barclay of Laurel Mountain Coffee
Roasting, recalls that a visit from
Buster’s owner Paul Tocco back then
led to an important conversation.
“He started talking about his
limited seating due to the size of his
restaurant and the lockdown, and
we mulled over the idea of having
people come here,” she said. “He
said that Buster’s could deliver to
customers here free of charge, so we
decided to try it, and it’s been very
successful.”
In fact, both Tocco and Chapman
characterized the arrangement as a
“win-win” for all parties. Covered
Bridge hosts food carts that begin
serving around lunchtime, though
that means they don’t have food to
offer (particularly breakfast fare)
during the peak morning hours when
they’re serving coffee.
“What it really came down to was
that, during those hours, they had
lots of seating and no food to offer,”
Tocco explained, “while we had lots
of food to offer and no seating.”
For the fi rst few months – before
the November “freeze” that again
closed restaurants for indoor dining
in an effort to curb the Coronavirus
pandemic – the arrangement
performed fantastically, with Tocco
estimating an average of 30-40
customers enjoying Buster’s fare
at the Covered Bridge on weekend
mornings.
“I tell people when they order
from us that they need to buy
a beverage from them, and I
want Chrissy to tell me if they
don’t,” Tocco said. “We want the
arrangement to help them, too.”
Now, with restaurants again
open for limited indoor seating
and weather improving for outdoor
dining, it’s believed that deliveries
will again pick up (in the short time
since the limited reopening, in fact,
this has already begun to happen.)
Tocco said he looks forward to a
full reopening, when the Covered
Bridge will be able to accommodate
about four times its current capacity.
And despite the challenges the last
year has brought, he said he’s still
optimistic about the future of his
business, which could certainly have
been in jeopardy due to the limited
indoor seating in Buster’s historic
downtown building.
“We’ve been reinventing what we
do according to what’s happened,”
he said. “Before, on the weekends,
we never did takeout. The restaurant
would be full and there would be 30
people sitting in the hallway. Now,
we’ve had months where takeout
was all we could do, and we’ve built
up a pretty good business.”
New tools to facilitate online
ordering have improved this process,
Tocco says.
For Chapman and her partners at
the Covered Bridge, who opened
their business under extremely
challenging circumstances last June,
the partnership with Buster’s has
entailed a bit of coaching for the
local restaurant-going public.
“Some people fi nd it an
inconvenience until they understand
how it works,” she says. “Those who
have used the system love it.”
Chapman says she also sees
the partnership as more proof that
the group did the right thing in
converting all possible space in the
former auto body shop to restaurant
use.
“As we were building this, I
thought for a while that we went too
big for Cottage Grove,” she said.
“But that’s not the case. In fact, all
this extra space really turned out to
be a blessing.”