6B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATuRDAY, DECEmBER 12, 2020
COFFEE BREAK
Daughter’s new kitten brings comfort, conflict to household
DEAR ABBY: My 34-year-old
daughter lives with me to get
ahead on her student loans. She
has a good job, pays rent and
has a serious boy-
friend. My niece,
her cousin, recently
died by suicide, and
naturally, we are
all devastated, but
my daughter took the news espe-
cially hard. I had to be out of
town for three weeks, and during
this time she has been spending
time with my sister-in-law’s
family as they all navigate this
tragedy.
My niece left behind several
pets — dogs and a mama cat with
kittens. My daughter called me,
announced she had brought a
kitten home and declared that this
kitten has helped her in her grief
process.
I am livid that she didn’t ask
me first (she knew the answer
would be a firm “no”). She’s now
claiming that I don’t care about
her grief.
I feel emotionally blackmailed,
and I’m dreading the confron-
tation when I get
home. This kitten
DEAR
has taken this dev-
astating tragedy to
ABBY
a new level. How
should I handle
this?
— FAMILY GRIEF
DEAR FAMILY GRIEF:
While I understand your feelings,
handle it by being less hard-nosed
about the fact that your daughter
didn’t follow protocol by asking
permission before bringing home
the kitten. Allow her to keep it,
and during those times when
she can’t be home because she’s
working, etc., encourage her to
leave the little furball with her
boyfriend.
Make plain that the crea-
ture is — and will be — HER
responsibility, meaning she will
“Hey, I like your photo and want
to know more about you.” This
reinforces my decision that I want
nothing to do with men.
— LEAVE ME ALONE
DEAR LEAVE ME ALONE:
And your question is? If you are
asking me to validate a decision
you made out of frustration after
a year of terrible luck, I can’t
in good conscience do that. We
can’t run from life because we are
afraid of the pain of being open.
That is the coward’s choice.
If men are showing an interest,
allow them to get to know you
and vice versa, instead of hiding.
Be present and live your life in
situations that include available
people, which sometimes yields
better results than the pressure of
online dating.
DEAR ABBY: The world
seems bleak to many of us who
are self-quarantined. I ordered
quarts of ice cream from a local
ice cream company, picked them
be responsible for feeding, vet
bills, litter box, etc. And, most
important of all, try not to fall in
love with it because when your
daughter leaves, Kitty will be
going with her.
DEAR ABBY: I am a straight
female. I have been divorced
for 10-plus years and recently
decided, after five years of trying
to attract a new man through
online dating, that I want to be
single and celibate for the rest of
my life.
Literally days after I wrote the
decision in my journal, guys are
coming at me out of the wood-
work, chatting me up, even giving
unsolicited hugs. I’m bewildered.
I subscribed to a dating site for
a full-year membership and got
not one single reply to any of my
messages. Not one!
I also tried a different dating
site, where my friend met her
spouse. It yielded crickets. No
man ever messaged me to say,
up at the store with coolers and
ice packs in my car and delivered
them to the front doors of several
friends. As I was driving away,
I called and told them to check
their porch. They were all sur-
prised and pleased to have a little
pick-me-up for their day.
Last night, one of these friends
dropped off cinnamon rolls. She
knocked and left. She wanted
them to be at our house for break-
fast today. Neither of these were
big, expensive items, but they
brought a smile when there isn’t
much to smile about these days.
— PAY IT FORWARD
DEAR PAY IT: Comfort food
comes in many forms — ice
cream, baked goods of every
variety, chocolate. And it’s all the
more tasty when shared among
friends as you have described. All
of these quick fixes work, at least
for a little while. I am now trying
to repent from my torrid affair
with pralines ‘n’ cream ice cream.
News of the Weird
Japanese space officials
eager to analyze asteroid
samples
TOKYO — Japanese space
officials said they are excited
about the return of a capsule
that landed safely in the Austra-
lian Outback on Sunday, Dec. 6,
while carrying soil samples from
a distant asteroid, and that they
are eager to begin analyzing the
“treasure” inside.
The capsule’s delivery by
Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft
completes its six-year sample-re-
turn mission and opens the door
for research into finding clues to
the origin of the solar system and
life on Earth.
“We were able to land the
treasure box” onto the sparsely
populated Australian desert
of Woomera as planned, said
Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project
manager at the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency, or JAXA,
adding that the capsule was in
perfect shape. “I really look for-
ward to opening it and looking
inside.”
The capsule will be packed in
a container as soon as its prelim-
inary treatment at an Australian
lab is finished and brought back
to Japan this week, Satoru Naka-
zawa, a project sub-manager,
said during an online news con-
ference from Woomera.
Hayabusa2 left the asteroid
Ryugu, about 180 million miles
from Earth, a year ago. After it
released the capsule on Saturday,
Dec. 5, it set off on a new expe-
dition to another distant asteroid.
Tsuda said Hayabusa2’s
successful completion of its
inter-planetary round trip is the
world’s first and that he hoped
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency via AP, File
A member of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency retrieves a capsule from Hayabusa2 in Woomera,
southern Australia, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020. A Japanese capsule carrying the first samples of asteroid sub-
surface successfully landed in the remote Australian Outback, completing a mission to provide clues to the
origin of the solar system and life on Earth.
to use the expertise gained in
future planetary exploration,
possibly Japan’s MMX mission
to Mars’ moons beginning in
2024.
Scientists say they believe the
samples, especially ones taken
from under the asteroid’s sur-
face, contain valuable data unaf-
fected by space radiation and
other environmental factors.
They are particularly interested
in organic materials in the sam-
ples to find out how they are dis-
tributed in the solar system and
related to life on Earth.
“And then the sample will
start to tell its stories and reveal
to us some wonderful signs
about how water arrived on our
Earth and how we even may
weather
samples will be handled in clean
chambers to avoid any impact on
the samples. Initial research is
planned in the first six months,
and the samples will be distrib-
uted to NASA and other key
international research groups,
with about 40% stored for future
technological advancement to
resolve unanswered questions.
More than 70 JAXA staff had
been working in Woomera to pre-
pare for the sample return. They
set up satellite dishes at several
locations in the target area inside
the Australian Air Force test field
to receive the signals.
The pan-shaped capsule,
about 40 centimeters (15 inches)
in diameter, was found inside
the planned landing area and
have been formed, such as our
organics, carbon-based animals,
humans and plants,” said Megan
Clark, head of the Australian
Space Agency, who was also at
the news conference.
The return of the capsule with
the world’s first asteroid subsur-
face samples comes weeks after
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space-
craft made a successful touch-
and-go grab of surface samples
from the asteroid Bennu. China,
meanwhile, announced recently
that its lunar lander collected
underground samples and sealed
them within the spacecraft for
return to Earth, as space devel-
oping nations compete in their
missions.
JAXA officials said the Ryugu
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
40/49
Kennewick
37/48
St. Helens
38/45
35/40
32/38
39/45
37/49
Condon
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
A bit of late-
night snow
A rain or snow
shower
Mostly cloudy
A little wintry
mix
Low clouds
26 37 24
38 22
37 28
40 28
Eugene
4
0
4
39/51
40 28
39 35
42 37
3
0
2
La Grande
26 38 30
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
3
0
24 37 30
Comfort Index™
3
44 35
4
1
5
ALMANAC
THURSDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Thursday
Low Thursday
High: 85°
Low: -5°
Wettest: 0.66”
44°
14°
40°
16°
43°
20°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Thursday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
0.00
0.00
0.32
3.22
9.49
0.00
0.03
0.62
16.04
15.52
0.05
0.14
1.08
33.93
21.83
HAY INFORMATION SUNDAY
50%
S at 10 to 20 mph
0.4
0.06
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Friday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
8% of capacity
32% of capacity
45% of capacity
24% of capacity
24% of capacity
43% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Thursday)
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
High: 51°
Low: 6°
Wettest: 0.29”
Brookings
Burns
Florence
WEATHER HISTORY
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
Zapata, Texas
Jackson, Wyo.
Phoenix, Ariz.
An arctic wind surged deep into the South
on Dec. 12, 1962. The temperature at
Greensboro, N.C., failed to get above 22
degrees, tying the record for the lowest
maximum temperature there in December.
SUN & MOON
SAT.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
7:23 a.m.
4:10 p.m.
4:51 a.m.
2:51 p.m.
SUN.
7:24 a.m.
4:10 p.m.
6:12 a.m.
3:30 p.m.
MOON PHASES
869 cfs
2 cfs
10 cfs
78 cfs
N.A.
60 cfs
New
Dec 14
First
Dec 21
Full
Dec 29
Last
Jan 6
20/34
25/38
27/43
Florence
47/53
25/38
Beaver Marsh
27/37
Roseburg
Powers
Brothers
39/49
Coos Bay
44/49
Burns
Jordan Valley
20/35
Paisley
21/39
Frenchglen
24/37
30/39
Hi/Lo/W
49/40/r
42/29/sn
38/27/c
51/42/r
35/20/sn
52/40/r
50/37/r
28/20/sf
38/32/c
51/42/r
38/30/c
40/36/sh
38/32/sn
38/27/c
33/29/sn
39/31/sn
39/27/r
41/24/c
Hi/Lo/W
50/41/r
45/27/c
37/25/pc
51/42/pc
37/15/pc
54/41/pc
49/39/r
30/17/sn
41/30/sf
50/40/pc
43/31/c
44/36/c
41/28/c
38/23/c
37/25/c
43/29/c
37/24/pc
38/18/c
Grand View
Arock
19/39
19/38
Lakeview
24/41
McDermitt
18/35
RECREATION FORECAST SUNDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Astoria
Bend
Boise
Brookings
Burns
Coos Bay
Corvallis
Council
Elgin
Eugene
Hermiston
Hood River
Imnaha
John Day
Joseph
Kennewick
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
Diamond
21/36
23/37
Klamath Falls
Shown is Sunday’s weather. Temperatures are Saturday night’s lows and Sunday’s highs.
MON.
Boise
26/38
Fields
Medford
SUN.
21/35
Silver Lake
29/39
38/46
47/51
Juntura
19/35
43/53
Brookings
Ontario
23/37
26/39
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Huntington
19/36
27/42
Oakridge
9/28
23/36
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
Council
26/37
John Day
31/46
Sisters
45/52
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.
23/38
Baker City
Redmond
47/53
Halfway
Granite
35/50
Newport
45/50
38 35
28/38
37/46
38/49
44/51
40 28
0
Corvallis
Enterprise
24/37
26/38
Monument
29/38
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
0
Elgin
28/38
La Grande
28/37
Maupin
4
27/36
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
28/40
Hood River
27/36
TIllamook
Comfort Index™
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Walla Walla
30/39
Vancouver
36/45
41/50
Baker City
retrieved by a helicopter team
from JAXA.
Hayabusa2 released the cap-
sule Dec. 5 from 36,700 miles
away in space, sending it toward
Earth. About 12 hours after the
release, the capsule reentered
the atmosphere at 75 miles away
from Earth, seen as a fireball
cutting across the night sky.
For Hayabusa2, it’s not the
end of the mission. It is now
heading to a small asteroid
called 1998KY26 on a journey
slated to take 11 years one way,
for possible research into plan-
etary defense, such as finding
ways to prevent meteorites from
hitting Earth.
Since its Dec. 3, 2014, launch,
the Hayabusa2 mission has been
fully successful. It touched down
twice on Ryugu despite the
asteroid’s extremely rocky sur-
face, and successfully collected
data and samples during the 1½
years it spent near Ryugu after
arriving there in June 2018.
In its first touchdown in Feb-
ruary 2019, it collected surface
dust samples. In a more chal-
lenging mission in July that year,
it collected underground sam-
ples from the asteroid for the
first time in space history after
landing in a crater that it created
earlier by blasting the asteroid’s
surface.
Asteroids, which orbit the
sun but are much smaller than
planets, are among the oldest
objects in the solar system and
therefore may help explain how
Earth evolved.
Ryugu in Japanese means
“Dragon Palace,” the name
of a sea-bottom castle in a
Japanese folk tale.
— Associated Press
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
SUN.
MON.
Hi/Lo/W
40/33/sf
48/41/r
32/27/sn
46/37/r
51/43/r
47/38/r
37/26/c
38/31/sn
36/30/sn
45/41/r
53/42/r
46/30/sn
49/41/r
49/42/r
35/29/sf
38/35/sn
33/31/sn
36/32/sn
Hi/Lo/W
42/32/sn
47/43/r
36/26/c
44/34/pc
49/42/r
48/40/r
38/22/pc
41/31/c
42/33/c
48/40/r
53/41/pc
44/28/c
48/42/pc
50/41/c
34/28/c
42/34/c
37/27/sn
38/31/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, 1-3”
Snow, 3-6”
30
17
34
23
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Snow, 1-3”
Snow, 1-2”
33
28
34
21
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
A bit of snow
Snow, 1-2”
30
19
31
28
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Snow, 1-2”
Snow and sleet
33
29
36
31
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Cloudy
Rain/snow shower
37
24
38
30