The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current, December 10, 2020, Page 20, Image 20

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    6B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020
COFFEE BREAK
Man wonders if larger house could signal bigger problem
DEAR ABBY: My fi ancee,
“Diane,” and her two sons live
in a nice home. I also have a nice
home, newly constructed. It’s
located 1,200 miles
away, near my par-
ents, my son and
my job. Diane has
no job nor family
within 500 miles of
her town. Her boys’
father (whom she shares custody
with) lives within 50 miles of me.
My job and the custody arrange-
ment for my son preclude me from
living where Diane does.
Together, she and I would have
three sons. The spacious fi ve-bed-
room house I own is more than
adequate. Diane has made clear
that if I sell my home and buy my
neighbor’s, which is a larger sev-
en-bedroom manor, she will be
on the next fl ight. If not, she won’t
leave. We could buy the manor
with cash if I sell my home and
she sold hers and
put her savings into
the purchase, but
DEAR
she doesn’t want to
use her savings.
ABBY
Diane is my
everything, but it
feels like I may just be chasing
a dream. I worry that if I’m not
enough, will I be enough when I
own a manor?
— IT’S COMPLICATED
DEAR IT’S COMPLICATED:
I’m proud of you. You are seeing
things clearly, which is unusual
when emotions are involved. It
appears your dream girl, the fair
Diane, is attempting to blackmail
some form of dementia. We want
nothing more than to protect her
interests, but our hands are tied.
We have all spoken to her about
the situation, but she insists that
no one is going to tell her what to
do. Any advice would be greatly
appreciated.
— JUST TRYING TO HELP
DEAR JUST TRYING:
Believe me, you have my sym-
pathy. Instead of telling your
mother what to do, perhaps it’s
time to reframe the conversation.
Ask her what she would like
done in the event of an emer-
gency. Does she want “extraor-
dinary measures” taken, such as
CPR, and exactly what that means
— a defi brillator, dialysis, treat-
ment in an intensive care unit.
Explain what all of them entail
you. If she can’t be the “lady of
the manor,” she’s not interested in
uprooting her life. If you give in
to her now, do not do it without
an ironclad prenuptial agreement.
Please stay strong, because if you
don’t, you may regret it for a long
time.
DEAR ABBY: My sisters and
I are beside ourselves trying to
deal with our 90-year-old mother.
She doesn’t live in the same state
as any relatives. She needs help
paying bills, managing money,
personal hygiene, taking medi-
cation and understanding things
she reads. She refuses to give
anyone power of attorney over
her fi nances or to create a health
care directive. She claims she’s
not going to die.
At the very least, she likely has
in detail. You should also ask, in
a separate conversation, if she
wants “the state” to take a chunk
of her assets and decide FOR her
to whom they should be distrib-
uted, or whether she would prefer
to make her wishes clear while
she’s still able. Point out that NO
ONE lives forever.
If your mother is really as
demented as you fear she is, you
may need the help of a social
worker to ensure that she’s get-
ting proper care. Failure to do that
could be considered elder abuse.
TO MY READERS: The eight
days of Hanukkah begin at sun-
down. (A bit early this year!)
Happy Hanukkah, everyone!
A joyous Festival of Lights to
all of us.
— Love, ABBY
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Scene from ‘Elf’ comes
to life as Buddy meets
dad in Boston
BOSTON — Just like a real-
life movie, the story of Buddy the
Elf meeting his biological father
has come to life, just in time for
the holidays.
Doug Henning wore a cos-
tume like the one actor Will Fer-
rell’s character wore in “Elf”
while meeting his father face to
face for the fi rst time last month at
Boston’s Logan Airport. He even
broke into the same awkward
song from the 2003 movie —
sample lyrics: “I’m here, with my
dad. And we never met, and he
wants me to sing him a song!”
“When he came out of the air-
port, he probably thought I was
a lunatic,” Henning, 43, of Eliot,
Maine, told Boston.com. “It was a
really good way to break the ice.”
His biological father didn’t
get the joke because he hadn’t
seen the movie, which is about a
man raised at the North Pole who
THEME PARK
Continued from Page 1B
the money was needed to
cover expenses such as pay-
roll, insurance, taxes and
maintenance performed
on rides while Enchanted
Forest closes for the winter.
In a video posted to
Facebook on Wednesday,
Dec. 2, Roger Tofte, the
park’s creator, appeared
with his daughters Mary
Tofte and Sue Vaslev to
announce they would be
staying open.
“We want to thank
everyone for supporting
us so much,” said Roger
Tofte, sitting in one of the
park’s buildings.
Cleveland corrects
location of John Heisman
landmark
CLEVELAND — After more
than 40 years, the city of Cleve-
land has granted landmark status
to the correct birthplace of John
Heisman, the namesake of college
football’s most prestigious player
award.
The city council and Mayor
Frank Jackson have corrected a
42-year-old error that mistakenly
marked a residence three blocks
away from the site granted land-
mark status as Heisman’s birth
site, Cleveland.com reported.
Heisman, a College Football
Rebecca Taylor Henning via AP
Doug Henning, right, who was adopted as a baby, poses with his bio-
logical father after meeting face to face for the fi rst time on Tuesday,
Nov. 24, 2020, at Logan International Airport in Boston. Henning, of
Eliot, Maine, wore a costume like the one actor Will Ferrell’s character
wore in the movie “Elf” while meeting his father.
meets his dad for the fi rst time.
But that didn’t stop him from
giving his son a big hug.
Henning said he was raised by
As of Thursday, Dec. 4,
the park’s GoFundMe has
raised $361,043 from about
6,600 supporters — short
of its $500,000 goal.
Vaslev told Salem
Reporter that Enchanted
Forest has found other
ways of raising money
that will keep it afl oat.
She pointed to how ear-
lier this year, the park
began an online auction
of old plans of the park as
well as Roger Tofte’s art-
work depicting scenes of
Enchanted Forest and other
memorabilia.
She didn’t have a fi gure
for how much the auc-
tions have raised but said
some items sold for more
than $1,000. Auction sales
“amazing” adoptive parents but he
was excited when cousins he met
through ancestry.com helped to
put him in touch with his biolog-
Mobile Service
Between the GoFundMe
(which people can still
donate to) and online sales,
Vaslev said the park should
be able to reopen for its
season on March 19. While
the U.S. is preparing to
widely distribute Covid
vaccines, Vaslev said it’s
possible the park will still
have to cope with reduced
capacity to control the
spread of the virus.
In the meantime, she
said the Tofte family is
grateful for the community
support.
“It has just amazed us,”
she said. “Boy, I had no
idea it meant so much to so
many people. It seems like
they are really taking pride
in saving us.”
have slowed and the park
will move collectible items
to its online store that
includes T-shirts, fi gu-
rines, plush toys and other
items, said Vaslev. The last
item to be auctioned will
be a rare vinyl pressing of
music composed by Vaslev
that’s played throughout
the park, she said.
Vaslev said Enchanted
Forest has promoted its
online store and increased
the number items sold
there.
Fans of the park can
now pay $250 to “Buy A
Brick,” allowing them to
have a message engraved
on one of the bricks that
line the pathways in
Enchanted Forest, she said.
weather
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AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
37/45
Kennewick
37/44
St. Helens
37/45
Hood River
36/43
33/43
39/44
38/45
Condon
FRI
SAT
SUN
MON
A couple of
fl urries late
Mostly cloudy,
fl urries
Cloudy
A rain or snow
shower
A little wintry
mix
39 27
37 27
38 24
Eugene
3
0
4
38/47
38 30
41 30
40 28
3
1
3
La Grande
25 39 29
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
3
3
0
25 38 29
Comfort Index™
4
41 28
40 27
4
2
4
2
ALMANAC
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Tuesday
Low Tuesday
High: 89°
Low: -10°
Wettest: 0.99”
49°
23°
45°
39°
51°
38°
0.00
0.00
0.26
3.22
9.43
0.00
Trace
0.50
16.01
15.40
0.00
0.08
0.89
33.87
21.64
PRECIPITATION (inches)
HAY INFORMATION FRIDAY
55%
S at 6 to 12 mph
0.4
0.03
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Wednesday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
8% of capacity
31% of capacity
44% of capacity
24% of capacity
24% of capacity
41% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Tuesday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
Burnt River near Unity
Umatilla River near Gibbon
Minam River at Minam
Powder River near Richland
OREGON
North Bend
Burns
Astoria
Powers
41/48
On Dec. 10, 1982, record warmth spread
across the East. On the same day, northern
Arizona was hit by heavy snow with 9
inches accumulating at Flagstaff.
SUN & MOON
THU.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
7:21 a.m.
4:09 p.m.
2:12 a.m.
1:52 p.m.
FRI.
7:22 a.m.
4:09 p.m.
3:30 a.m.
2:19 p.m.
MOON PHASES
898 cfs
2 cfs
10 cfs
71 cfs
N.A.
64 cfs
New
Dec 14
First
Dec 21
Full
Dec 29
39/46
Last
Jan 6
Jordan Valley
20/35
Paisley
19/37
20/38
Frenchglen
21/38
39/45
Brookings
34/42
City
Astoria
Bend
Boise
Brookings
Burns
Coos Bay
Corvallis
Council
Elgin
Eugene
Hermiston
Hood River
Imnaha
John Day
Joseph
Kennewick
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
SAT.
Hi/Lo/W
45/37/sh
42/24/c
38/24/pc
47/41/r
36/17/c
50/41/sh
45/35/sh
31/17/sn
40/31/sn
47/37/sh
43/27/c
43/36/sh
38/29/c
37/23/sn
38/26/sf
42/30/pc
37/26/c
37/22/sn
Hi/Lo/W
46/43/r
41/32/c
36/28/sn
54/47/sh
36/23/c
57/45/r
46/42/r
31/15/sn
39/32/c
50/45/r
41/32/c
41/36/c
39/33/c
38/31/c
36/26/c
37/30/c
39/32/c
39/29/c
Grand View
Arock
19/40
16/40
22/39
Klamath Falls
22/37
Lakeview
20/37
McDermitt
Shown is Friday’s weather. Temperatures are Thursday night’s lows and Friday’s highs.
FRI.
Diamond
20/36
Fields
Medford
39/47
Boise
22/38
Silver Lake
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
19/39
22/37
19/38
RECREATION FORECAST FRIDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
WEATHER HISTORY
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
Oceanside, Calif.
Fraser, Colo.
Bellingham, Wash.
High: 64°
Low: 9°
Wettest: 0.75”
Beaver Marsh
Juntura
18/36
22/36
19/35
Roseburg
Ontario
20/41
Burns
Brothers
36/43
Coos Bay
Huntington
18/35
25/42
Oakridge
15/31
19/42
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
39/50
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.
21/37
26/43
Council
23/37
John Day
26/41
Sisters
40/48
40 29
21/40
Baker City
Redmond
40/47
43/48
Halfway
Granite
18/36
37/41
36/45
Corvallis
26/42
34/45
Newport
Enterprise
25/38
25/39
Monument
29/42
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
3
28/40
La Grande
27/39
Maupin
Comfort Index™
Elgin
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
30/39
28/37
29/41
40/47
23 37 23
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Walla Walla
30/42
Vancouver
35/43
TIllamook
Baker City
Hall of Fame inductee, is regarded
as the father of the forward pass
and considered one of the greatest
innovators of football.
Over four decades, Heisman
coached at Oberlin College,
Buchtel College — now the Uni-
versity of Akron — Auburn,
Clemson, Georgia Tech, Penn,
Washington & Jefferson and Rice.
Karl Brunjes, an offi cial with
Cleveland’s Landmarks Commis-
sion, said questions surrounding
Heisman’s birthplace started soon
after the marker was erected in
1978. Brunjes told the city council
the confusion was caused by ordi-
nances that changed how streets
were numbered in the late 19th
and early 20th century.
The historic marker, which has
yet to be made, also will correct
Heisman’s birthdate.
The original marker listed it
as Oct. 3, 1869, but a family Bible
listed it as Oct. 23 of that same
year, Brunjes said. Heisman died
in 1936 in New York.
— Associated Press
ical father. Just like the movie, the
father didn’t know about his son.
The two met on Zoom and
Henning’s dad was able to fl y to
Boston for Thanksgiving.
Henning said he was inspired
to dress as the character from
“Elf” after watching the movie
before the meetup.
FRI.
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
SAT.
Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
39/31/sn 40/30/c
44/37/sh 44/40/r
35/24/sn 34/26/c
42/35/c 45/41/sh
47/39/sh 52/47/r
45/30/sh 41/38/r
41/23/pc 38/23/sn
41/30/pc 36/30/c
41/29/sh 36/31/c
44/36/sh 42/40/r
48/43/r 55/47/r
41/26/c 41/32/r
46/40/c 48/46/r
45/36/sh 46/43/r
31/24/sn 32/26/c
43/33/sh 39/32/c
34/24/sn 34/30/c
37/27/sn 36/31/c
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
Snow showers
A fl urry or two
31
18
36
21
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
A few fl urries
Snow showers
35
27
34
19
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
A little snow
A bit of a.m. snow
31
15
33
23
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Morning fl urries
A p.m. shower
38
26
42
30
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Mostly cloudy
A few fl urries
37
23
39
29