6B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THuRSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2020
COFFEE BREAK
Cross-dressing causing fracture in a solid longtime marriage
DEAR ABBY: My husband and
I have been together for 11 years,
married for eight. We have been
through a lot together, which has
served to strengthen
our marriage. My
husband is my
Prince Charming
and my happily for-
ever after.
Recently, he has
discovered that he likes wearing
women’s clothes. It started with
him wearing women’s underwear
under his clothes, which didn’t
bother me. I even bought him a
few pair I liked. It has progressed
quickly.
He assures me that he isn’t
gay, he does not want to become
a woman or want to dress in
women’s clothes full time. How-
ever, some of his behaviors have
changed, and his wearing wom-
en’s clothing has increased. When
I tried discussing
my concerns with
DEAR
him, he said I was
being irrational.
ABBY
We fought, and I
thought we had
worked some things
out, but he still has an attitude.
I’m terrified that this is the
beginning of the end of my mar-
riage, and I don’t want to lose
him. But I also don’t know just
how much of this I can accept or
how far he wants to go. He says if
I can’t accept it, he will stop doing
it. But we will both know that he
has that desire, and I don’t want
to stifle something that seems to
mean so much to him. I have no
one I can talk to about this, Abby.
Please help.
— STRUGGLING
DEAR STRUGGLING: Take
the opportunity to learn all you
can about cross-dressing. More
men than you may think engage
in it, and the majority are het-
erosexual. An excellent sup-
port group for cross-dressers
and wives of men who need (not
“LIKE”) to cross-dress is The
Society for the Second Self (Tri
Ess). Its website is tri-ess.org. Go
there and you will find the support
and answers you’re looking for.
Keep the lines of communi-
cation with your husband open
and honest. Only the two of you
head over heels for him. He has
become everything I’ve always
wanted. Our son wasn’t crazy
about it at first (he’s 18), but now
loves it. Earl’s mother said she
knew it would end up this way.
My parents have reservations.
Do you think we have a fighting
chance?
— NEW EXPAT IN NEVADA
DEAR NEW EXPAT: Earl
is not the person he was and,
frankly, neither are you. Do
the two of you have a fighting
chance? Absolutely. However,
before marrying anyone again, it
is important that you discuss this
with an attorney and have in place
a signed prenuptial agreement.
While it may not seem romantic,
it’s the intelligent thing to do.
can determine how to navigate
through this. For many couples,
it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker.
DEAR ABBY: When I was 21,
I got pregnant with “Earl,” a guy
who had nothing to his name but
a bicycle. It was three weeks after
we met. Earl was 24. Two years
later we split. I was working and
he was a stay-at-home dad, and I
couldn’t stand it.
Five years later, I married
a very wealthy man, moved to
another country and lived a life
of luxury. Thirteen years later we
split. I left our small island and
moved back, still well off on my
own.
Earl was my rock and is a
totally different man now. Six-
teen years later, I have fallen
News of the Weird
Fake asteroid? NASA
expert IDs mystery
object as old rocket
“Some more data would
be useful so we can know
for sure,” she said in an
email. “Asteroid hunters
from around the world
will continue to watch this
object to get that data. I’m
excited to see how this
develops!”
The Harvard-Smith-
sonian Center for Astro-
physics’ Jonathan
McDowell noted there
have been “many, many
embarrassing incidents of
objects in deep orbit ... get-
ting provisional asteroid
designations for a few days
before it was realized they
were artificial.”
It’s seldom clear-cut.
Last year, a British
amateur astronomer, Nick
Howes, announced that
an asteroid in solar orbit
was likely the abandoned
lunar module from NASA’s
Apollo 10, a rehearsal
for the Apollo 11 moon
landing. While this object
is likely artificial, Chodas
and others are skeptical of
the connection.
Skepticism is good,
Howes wrote in an email.
“It hopefully will lead to
more observations when
it’s next in our neck of the
woods” in the late 2030s.
Chodas’ latest target
of interest was passed
by Earth in their respec-
tive laps around the sun in
1984 and 2002. But it was
too dim to see from 5 mil-
lion miles away, he said.
He predicts the object
will spend about four
months circling Earth once
it’s captured in mid-No-
vember, before shooting
back out into its own
orbit around the sun next
March.
Chodas doubts the
object will slam into Earth
— “at least not this time
around.”
By Marcia Dunn
AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL,
Fla. — The jig may be up
for an “asteroid” that’s
expected to get nabbed
by Earth’s gravity and
become a mini moon next
month.
Instead of a cosmic
rock, the newly discov-
ered object appears to be
an old rocket from a failed
moon-landing mission 54
years ago that’s finally
making its way back home,
according to NASA’s
leading asteroid expert.
Observations should help
nail its identity.
“I’m pretty jazzed about
this,” Paul Chodas told
The Associated Press. “It’s
been a hobby of mine to
find one of these and draw
such a link, and I’ve been
doing it for decades now.”
Chodas speculates that
asteroid 2020 SO, as it is
formally known, is actu-
ally the Centaur upper
rocket stage that success-
fully propelled NASA’s
Surveyor 2 lander to the
moon in 1966 before it
was discarded. The lander
ended up crashing into
the moon after one of its
thrusters failed to ignite on
the way there. The rocket,
meanwhile, swept past the
moon and into orbit around
the sun as intended junk,
never to be seen again —
until perhaps now.
A telescope in Hawaii
last month discovered the
mystery object heading
our way while doing a
search intended to protect
our planet from doomsday
rocks. The object promptly
was added to the Inter-
national Astronomical
San Diego Air and Space Museum via AP
An Atlas Centaur 7 rocket stands on the launchpad in September 1966 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA’s leading as-
teroid expert, Paul Chodas, speculates that asteroid 2020 SO, as it is formally known, is actually a Centaur upper rocket
stage that propelled NASA’s Surveyor 2 lander to the moon in 1966 before it was discarded.
Union’s Minor Planet Cen-
ter’s tally of asteroids and
comets found in our solar
system, just 5,000 shy of
the 1 million mark.
The object is estimated
to be roughly 26 feet based
on its brightness. That’s
in the ballpark of the old
Centaur, which would
be less than 32 feet long
including its engine nozzle
and 10 feet in diameter.
What caught Chodas’
attention is that its
near-circular orbit around
the sun is quite similar to
Earth’s — unusual for an
asteroid.
“Flag number one,” said
Chodas, who is director of
the Center for Near-Earth
Object Studies at NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Southern California.
The object is also in
the same plane as Earth,
weather
designated as an asteroid,
and left Earth’s orbit in
2003.
The latest object’s
route is direct and much
more stable, bolstering his
theory.
“I could be wrong on
this. I don’t want to appear
overly confident,” Chodas
said. “But it’s the first
time, in my view, that all
the pieces fit together with
an actual known launch.”
And he’s happy to note
that it’s a mission that
he followed in 1966, as a
teenager in Canada.
Asteroid hunter Carrie
Nugent of Olin College of
Engineering in Needham,
Massachusetts, said
Chodas’ conclusion is “a
good one” based on solid
evidence. She’s the author
of the 2017 book “Asteroid
Hunters.”
fake asteroids out there,
but their motions are too
imprecise or jumbled to
confirm their artificial
identity, said Chodas.
Sometimes it’s the other
way around.
A mystery object in
1991, for example, was
determined by Chodas
and others to be a regular
asteroid rather than debris,
even though its orbit
around the sun resembled
Earth’s.
Even more exciting,
Chodas in 2002 found
what he believes was the
leftover Saturn V third
stage from 1969′s Apollo
12, the second moon
landing by NASA astro-
nauts. He acknowledges
the evidence was circum-
stantial, given the object’s
chaotic one-year orbit
around Earth. It never was
not tilted above or below,
another red flag. Aster-
oids usually zip by at
odd angles. Lastly, it’s
approaching Earth at 1,500
mph (2,400 kph), slow by
asteroid standards.
As the object gets closer,
astronomers should be able
to better chart its orbit and
determine how much it’s
pushed around by the radi-
ation and thermal effects of
sunlight. If it’s an old Cen-
taur — essentially a light
empty can — it will move
differently than a heavy
space rock less susceptible
to outside forces.
That’s how astrono-
mers normally differen-
tiate between asteroids
and space junk like aban-
doned rocket parts, since
both appear merely as
moving dots in the sky.
There likely are dozens of
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
47/61
Kennewick
45/61
St. Helens
44/64
TIllamook
Hood River
43/66
41/70
46/65
42/66
Condon
FRI
SAT
SUN
MON
Mainly clear
Sunny and
warmer
A blend of sun
and clouds
A passing
morning shower
Mostly cloudy
69 42
63 35
61 34
Eugene
10
9
8
41/69
66 44
64 41
66 44
10
8
9
Comfort Index™
La Grande
10
32 69 47
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
8
5
10
31 64 47
Comfort Index™
5
61 40
63 42
9
9
10
9
ALMANAC
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Tuesday
Low Tuesday
High: 104°
Low: 15°
Wettest: 4.38”
67°
41°
63°
38°
60°
36°
0.01
0.01
0.22
3.00
7.86
Trace
0.01
0.42
13.40
12.00
Trace
1.58
0.52
27.62
16.45
PRECIPITATION (inches)
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION FRIDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
30%
W at 7 to 14 mph
8.6
0.12
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Wednesday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
9% of capacity
22% of capacity
41% of capacity
38% of capacity
14% of capacity
5% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Tuesday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
1080 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
16 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
17 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
70 cfs
Minam River at Minam
121 cfs
Powder River near Richland
24 cfs
Palm Springs, Calif.
Wolcott, Colo.
Rockland, Maine
OREGON
High: 76°
Low: 32°
Wettest: 0.67”
Medford
Meacham
Hood River
Powers
49/77
SUN & MOON
THU.
FRI.
7:10 a.m.
6:05 p.m.
6:46 a.m.
6:28 p.m.
MOON PHASES
New
Oct 16
First
Oct 23
Full
Oct 31
Grants Pass
Last
Nov 8
Jordan Valley
29/65
Paisley
28/74
31/74
Frenchglen
32/72
43/82
Brookings
40/79
Grand View
Arock
29/68
27/71
30/74
Klamath Falls
29/75
Lakeview
25/74
McDermitt
Shown is Friday’s weather. Temperatures are Thursday night’s lows and Friday’s highs.
26/70
RECREATION FORECAST FRIDAY
SAT.
City
Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
Astoria
61/53/sh 60/51/r
Bend
75/43/s 72/45/pc
Boise
65/46/s 69/46/pc
Brookings
79/57/s 75/53/s
Burns
73/35/s 73/34/pc
Coos Bay
68/50/s 65/51/s
Corvallis
68/49/s 67/48/pc
Council
60/41/s 63/42/pc
Elgin
68/50/s 65/46/pc
Eugene
69/48/s 65/50/pc
Hermiston
75/57/s 74/54/pc
Hood River
66/55/pc 68/53/pc
Imnaha
69/48/s 66/50/c
John Day
70/46/s 69/43/pc
Joseph
65/45/s 61/43/c
Kennewick
75/54/s 74/54/pc
Klamath Falls 75/34/s 75/35/s
Lakeview
74/32/s 75/34/s
Diamond
31/71
Fields
Medford
60/79
Boise
36/65
Silver Lake
Chiloquin
FRI.
Hurricane Hazel hit near Myrtle Beach,
S.C., on Oct. 15, 1954, with 150-mph wind
gusts. The storm brought record rain to
the central Carolinas. Winds gusted to a
record 98 mph at Washington, D.C.
7:09 a.m.
6:06 p.m.
5:24 a.m.
6:01 p.m.
42/73
29/75
27/75
REGIONAL CITIES
WEATHER HISTORY
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
Beaver Marsh
Juntura
21/73
31/71
28/73
Roseburg
Ontario
30/66
Burns
Brothers
44/73
Coos Bay
Huntington
31/68
38/75
Oakridge
29/60
32/64
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
TUESDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
Tuesday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
Florence
47/68
Comfort Index takes into account how the weather will feel based on a combination of factors. A rating of 10 feels
very comfortable while a rating of 0 feels very uncomfortable.
38/70
35/76
Council
27/68
John Day
31/76
Sisters
43/72
63 43
30/67
Baker City
Redmond
46/64
48/65
Halfway
Granite
29/64
39/70
42/67
Corvallis
33/73
41/68
Newport
Enterprise
31/64
32/69
Monument
38/73
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
27 68 40
31/68
La Grande
40/69
Maupin
Baker City
Elgin
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
41/70
44/69
41/73
42/64
Lewiston
Walla Walla
43/75
Vancouver
44/61
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
FRI.
SAT.
Hi/Lo/W
70/52/s
61/53/pc
68/48/s
79/46/s
64/51/s
61/51/sh
66/38/s
73/52/s
73/56/s
65/55/pc
77/52/s
76/40/s
73/48/s
67/48/pc
61/46/s
70/53/pc
67/46/s
69/54/s
Hi/Lo/W
67/53/pc
64/52/c
63/44/pc
78/46/s
61/52/pc
61/48/c
71/41/pc
72/51/pc
70/52/pc
67/52/c
77/52/s
72/41/pc
73/49/pc
68/50/pc
60/42/pc
71/50/pc
65/43/c
69/51/pc
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice
ANTHONY LAKES
PHILLIPS LAKE
Sunshine
Sunny and milder
50
34
66
45
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Sunshine; milder
Mostly sunny
58
43
66
41
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Mostly sunny
Plenty of sun
52
36
65
46
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Warmer
Sunny and warmer
65
45
74
55
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Sunny and pleasant
Sunny and warmer
68
40
69
47