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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2021)
8B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD THuRSDAY, JAnuARY 21, 2021 COFFEE BREAK Colleague refuses payment for help above and beyond DEAR ABBY: My colleagues and I were recently notified that our company is closing next month. My work partner and I have collaborated closely for four years, and he’s an expert at the software I need to know to get a job in my field. When I asked if he would give me a couple of les- sons via Zoom, I was thinking it’d be about a three-hour com- mitment for him. But he was enthusiastic and designed a 20-plus-hour curriculum for me. He keeps saying he doesn’t want me to pay him, but I want to find an appropriate way to express my gratitude. What would be an appropriate amount to compensate him without getting too steep (which is why I didn’t do the full-price software training in the first place. It was $2K)? Thanks for any advice. — THANKFUL IN ILLINOIS DEAR THANKFUL: If you know of any interests, hob- bies, a sport, etc. your partner has outside the workplace, con- sider going online to see if you can find something connected to that activity he would enjoy that’s within your budget. DEAR ABBY: Every year on Facebook’s “National Daugh- DEAR ter’s Day,” my daughter’s moth- ABBY er-in-law professes her love, respect and admiration for her own daughter, but never acknowl- edges her daughter-in-law (my daughter). Yet on “National Son’s Day,” she posts glowing tributes not only to her sons, but also to her son-in-law. We all live within miles of each other, and this recurring slight makes it difficult to act like everything is fine when, in truth, this is hurtful to my daughter and to our family. Should I address this issue with the mother-in-law or continue to bite my tongue? — DISMISSED IN TEXAS DEAR DISMISSED: If you are smart, rather than address the issue with your daughter’s mother-in-law, who either has the emotional intelligence of an oyster or really doesn’t care for your daughter, mention it to your son-in-law and point out to him that being slighted is hurtful. There may be a better result if HE brings it up to his mother. DEAR ABBY: I battle with a double chin, and I loathe it. My chin hides itself only if I am under 126 pounds. Anything over that and it’s there. I’m not overweight, but my double chin makes me feel that way. I have read that dermal fillers in the chin can discreetly get rid of this issue. The problem? My husband. He’s against any type of plastic surgery. He doesn’t like my double chin either, but he wants me to only get rid of it “natu- rally.” Normally I would agree. I have been exercising (running four times a week) without suc- cess. I don’t feel comfortable looking this way. I think I deserve this shortcut. Should I get the filler without my husband’s blessing, or should I continue this struggle? — TAKING IT ON THE CHIN things have grown progres- sively worse. My son and her mother married when she was 7 and divorced when she was 13. Over the years, I worked hard to develop and maintain a relationship with her. Now, she has told the other grandmother that she will never speak to me again. Was what I did so bad, and what should I do now? — OTHER GRANDMOTHER IN NORTH CAROLINA DEAR OTHER: What you said wasn’t “bad,” but it was misinformed and heavy-handed. While same-sex relationships do happen in high school and col- lege, young people don’t usually indulge unless they are already at least bi-curious. Even then, straight people don’t suddenly “turn gay.” Your granddaughter may still be trying to figure out her sexual orientation, which could be why she has reacted so strongly. If you are wise, you will allow her the time she needs to sort it out, rather than push or panic. DEAR TAKING IT: You are an adult, and it’s your body. You do not need permission to do something that will help you feel better about yourself. If your husband is against any type of plastic surgery (and by the way, fillers do not qualify as plastic surgery), HE should forgo having it when his frown lines begin to look like tractor furrows and he develops a wattle. DEAR ABBY: My col- lege-aged granddaughter is no longer speaking to me, answering my phone calls or allowing her other grand- mother (who raised her) to post anything on Facebook where I can see what she is doing. My granddaughter came to live with me last summer because she worked a summer job here. I asked her if she was gay, not because I think she is but as a prelude to a con- versation about not allowing other girls to recruit her into a same-sex relationship as I saw in college and while teaching public school. Although I tried to explain, News of the Weird Beetle keeps rivals off scent of food buried for offspring MANSFIELD, Conn. — Some beetles go to great — and disgusting — lengths for their children. They scout for a dead mouse or bird, dig a hole and bury it, pluck its fur or feathers, roll its flesh into a ball and cover it in goop — all to feed their future offspring. Now scientists think that goo might do more than just slow decay. It also appears to hide the scent of the decomposing bounty and boosts another odor that repels competitors. “It helps them to hide their resource from others,” said Stephen Trumbo, who studies animal behavior at the University of Con- necticut and led the new research, published Jan. 14 in The American Naturalist. “They try to keep everyone away.” The beetles — called burying beetles — aren’t the only creatures who try to deceive their compet- itors or prey with subtle, sneaky tactics. Large blue butterflies, for example, will imitate certain sounds to manipulate ants. Corpse flowers produce rotting odors to attract insect pollinators that feed on Police: Thief berated mom for leaving kid in car he stole Vanessa R. Lane via AP This November 2020 photo shows a Nicrophorus orbicollis beetle in Georgia. Burying beetles scout for a dead mouse or bird, dig a hole and bury it, pluck its fur or feathers, roll its flesh into a ball and cover it in goop — all to feed their future offspring. Now scientists think that goo appears to hide the scent of the decomposing bounty and boosts another odor that repels competitors. decomposing matter. The importance of these interactions are being rec- ognized more and more, said Alexandre Figue- iredo, a biologist at Univer- sity of Zurich, who was not involved in the new study. Burying beetles and other things that feed on dead animals — including vultures, opossums and maggots — race each other to track down carcasses. BEAVERTON — A car thief who found a toddler in the backseat of a stolen vehicle drove back and chastised the mother for leaving the child unattended before taking off again, police in Oregon said. The woman went into a grocery store about 15 feet from the car Saturday, Jan. 16, leaving her 4-year-old child inside with the engine running and the vehicle unlocked, said Beaverton police spokesperson officer Matt Henderson. also prevented rivals from picking up the scent. To find out, they col- lected the gases wafting off dead hairless mice pre- served by a kind of burying beetle that is found in for- ests across North America. The researchers then com- pared the gases to those from untouched carcasses. The beetle-prepped ones gave off much less of an onion-smelling com- Competition is stiff even among burying beetles, which use special antennae to detect the remains from afar. Burying beetles are rel- atively large, about an inch long, and black with orange markings. The gut secre- tions they spread on a car- cass are antibacterial, and slow down decomposition. Trumbo and his colleagues wondered whether they weather AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION Astoria Longview 38/47 Kennewick 38/47 St. Helens 37/45 37/44 36/43 37/49 38/47 Condon FRI SAT SUN MON A snow squall; cloudy Areas of low clouds Mostly sunny and chilly Cloudy with a bit of snow Cloudy 26 39 22 40 18 34 23 37 21 Eugene 39/46 La Grande 29 37 25 Comfort Index™ Enterprise 0 1 1 37 23 35 26 36 24 3 0 3 1 29 36 25 Comfort Index™ 0 35 27 36 25 3 2 3 1 TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin NATION (for the 48 contiguous states) High Tuesday Low Tuesday High: 81° Brownsville, Texas Low: -15° West Yellowstone, Mont. Wettest: 1.02” Gilmer, Texas 41° 17° 41° 15° 39° 18° PRECIPITATION (inches) 0.00 0.31 0.53 0.31 0.53 0.00 0.95 1.08 0.95 1.08 0.00 4.07 2.05 4.07 2.05 AGRICULTURAL INFO. HAY INFORMATION FRIDAY Lowest relative humidity Afternoon wind Hours of sunshine Evapotranspiration 60% NNW at 4 to 8 mph 0.1 0.02 RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Wednesday) Phillips Reservoir Unity Reservoir Owyhee Reservoir McKay Reservoir Wallowa Lake Thief Valley Reservoir 8% of capacity 42% of capacity 48% of capacity 40% of capacity 32% of capacity 84% of capacity STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Tuesday) Grande Ronde at Troy 1930 cfs Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder 9 cfs Burnt River near Unity 15 cfs Umatilla River near Gibbon 251 cfs Minam River at Minam 154 cfs Powder River near Richland 43 cfs OREGON High: 62° Low: 9° Wettest: none Brookings Rome Powers 41/48 In 1994, Jan. 21 set a new record low of 21 below zero in Scranton, Pa. The next year, however, temperatures remained continuously above freezing for 10 days and nights, a new January record. SUN & MOON THU. FRI. 7:24 a.m. 7:23 a.m. 4:44 p.m. 4:45 p.m. 11:38 a.m. 12:02 p.m. 12:54 a.m. 1:57 a.m. MOON PHASES Full Jan 28 Last Feb 4 New Feb 11 41/48 First Feb 19 Jordan Valley 25/38 Paisley 24/39 27/39 Frenchglen 26/38 39/49 37/46 43/52 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 47/31/pc 35/20/pc 40/25/sf 52/40/c 38/19/sn 51/37/c 47/31/pc 33/18/c 37/26/c 46/34/c 41/24/pc 44/31/s 39/27/sn 37/22/c 36/24/sf 42/23/pc 39/23/pc 39/21/c Hi/Lo/W 47/39/pc 40/24/s 38/23/pc 54/38/c 37/14/s 50/39/s 46/33/pc 29/10/s 37/25/s 46/35/pc 43/26/s 46/35/pc 37/20/c 35/18/s 34/19/pc 41/26/s 40/21/s 36/14/s Grand View Arock 26/41 25/40 26/38 Klamath Falls 28/39 Lakeview 25/39 McDermitt Shown is Friday’s weather. Temperatures are Thursday night’s lows and Friday’s highs. FRI. Diamond 25/36 Fields Medford Brookings Boise 28/40 Silver Lake Chiloquin Grants Pass 26/38 26/34 24/39 RECREATION FORECAST FRIDAY REGIONAL CITIES WEATHER HISTORY Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset Beaver Marsh Juntura 25/38 26/30 24/37 Roseburg Ontario 31/41 Burns Brothers 37/43 Coos Bay Huntington 23/34 26/35 Oakridge 17/33 28/40 Seneca Bend Elkton TUESDAY EXTREMES ALMANAC Tuesday Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Normal year to date Florence 42/51 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. 29/37 27/36 Council 26/39 John Day 27/36 Sisters 42/51 35 23 26/39 Baker City Redmond 42/49 Halfway Granite 23/35 38/47 Newport 39/47 3 30/37 33/43 36/45 Corvallis Enterprise 29/36 29/37 Monument 33/40 Idanha Salem TONIGHT 2 Elgin 30/37 La Grande 28/34 Maupin 1 30/36 Pendleton The Dalles Portland Newberg Lewiston 34/38 Hood River 30/37 TIllamook Comfort Index™ Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021 Walla Walla 31/42 Vancouver 36/48 37/48 Baker City A store employee told authorities the woman was in the market for a few min- utes before someone began driving away with the SUV. Once the thief realized the toddler was in the back- seat, he drove back, berated the woman for leaving her child unattended, told the woman to take the child and drove away in the stolen vehicle. “He actually lectured the mother for leaving the child in the car and threatened to call the police on her,” Hen- derson said. Henderson said the woman did nothing wrong and was within sight and sound of the child. He said the incident served as a “good reminder to take extra precaution” with children. “Obviously, we’re thankful he brought the little one back and had the decency to do that,” Hen- derson said. The vehicle was found a few hours later in Port- land, but police still are earching for the thief. The suspect was said to be in his 20s or 30s with dark brown or black braided hair and a multi-colored face mask. Police said anyone with information on the theft should contact the department. — Associated Press pound that usually attracts burying beetles to fresh remains. They also dis- covered an increase in another gas from decay that’s known to deter other insects that feed on dead animals. Next, they dropped off the dead mice in a Con- necticut forest. They found the beetle’s rivals were less likely to discover the ones covered in goop. “If you can deter other scavengers, even for a little bit of time, it can buy you a lot,” said Daniel Rozen, a biologist at Leiden Uni- versity in the Netherlands who was not involved in the new study. 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 38/30/sn 47/33/s 34/21/c 46/34/pc 47/35/pc 45/28/pc 41/29/sn 42/23/pc 37/26/sn 49/33/pc 48/37/pc 36/22/c 48/37/c 45/30/pc 35/19/s 43/28/s 32/20/pc 36/25/sn Hi/Lo/W 38/24/pc 47/37/pc 33/20/s 47/30/s 46/38/pc 44/34/pc 42/21/s 39/26/s 39/26/s 46/38/pc 49/36/s 41/20/s 47/35/c 44/35/pc 31/24/pc 46/32/s 32/21/s 36/26/s 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 Mostly cloudy Partly sunny 30 13 35 19 MT. EMILY REC. BROWNLEE RES. Partly sunny A snow shower 34 23 33 18 EAGLE CAP WILD. EMIGRANT ST. PARK A bit of p.m. snow Partly sunny 30 12 32 19 WALLOWA LAKE MCKAY RESERVOIR A few fl urries A snow squall 36 24 36 26 THIEF VALLEY RES. RED BRIDGE ST. PARK Periods of sun Partly sunny 39 22 37 25
