COFFEE BREAK
B6 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2022
Friend gets conﬂ icting info about his inclusion in will
his late sister’s estate), but it hurts
knowing I’ve been eliminated
from his will with no explana-
tion. I earn a six-ﬁ gure income
and don’t need his money, but it
bothers me. If I ask about it, I will
appear grasping. If I say nothing,
it will gnaw away at me. What
do I do? — PROMISE WITH-
DRAWN IN TEXAS
DEAR PROMISE: Quit wor-
rying about appearances and ask
him the question you should have
asked when he told you he had
changed his will and eliminated
you. Do it now. He’s 90 and in
failing health, and you may not
have long to get the answer to the
question.
DEAR ABBY: I have a close
friend, “Renee,” whom I’ve
DEAR ABBY: For 15 years
I’ve maintained a close friendship
with a wealthy older man who has
become a kind of mentor. He’s
90 years old now and in failing
health. He told me on several
occasions that I was named in his
will, but when we met for lunch
the other day, he informed me his
entire estate will go to his live-in
caregivers.
I was never in this friendship
for the money (he only recently
became wealthy after inheriting
known for several years. She
often comes to my home in the
evenings for an hour or so to get
away from her house. She’s a
single parent who lives at home
with her mom and two children,
so she considers it an escape.
While I don’t mind her coming
over most days, a somewhat sen-
sitive issue has come up. Renee
often wears tennis shoes without
socks, or shoes for a very long
time without washing them.
When she takes them oﬀ , they
stink. She then tries to hide
her smelly feet underneath the
blankets I keep on my couch.
It doesn’t help. I can still smell
them, and my blankets stink when
she leaves.
This issue is embarrassing, and
MEMORIAL
you have an overview of
much of the 85,000-acre
unit of the wilderness,
which in all covers about
121,000 acres.
(The three other units
are Tower Mountain to the
north, Baldy Creek to the
east, and Greenhorn to the
south.)
We parked a couple
miles short of Silver Butte,
since we were there to hike.
Continued from Page B1
The last documents the
year Congress passed a bill
that created or expanded
more than 10 wilderness
areas in Oregon, including
the new North Fork John
Day.
I have found a few other
memorials in similarly
unexpected places, and in
each case I felt a powerful
emotion as I read the words.
The setting aﬀ ected
me, I think, as much as the
sentiment.
Reading the epitaphs
among the rows of a cem-
etery, such as Baker City’s
ﬁ ne Mount Hope, can be a
memorable experience, too.
But a decidedly diﬀ erent
one, it seems to me.
When I stroll among the
gravestones I feel the accu-
mulated weight of so many
lives, the great sorrow when
they were concluded, and
the comfort that we feel
when we visit those we will
always mourn.
But placing a memo-
rial in a spot such as Silver
Butte, where comparatively
few people will ever see it,
strikes me as a particularly
meaningful expression of
love.
It’s as though the survi-
vors, in addition to a tra-
ditional remembrance,
felt compelled to also pay
homage in a place far more
personal than the compa-
rably crowded conﬁ nes of a
cemetery.
This is a more perma-
nent and tangible version,
I suppose, of spreading
someone’s ashes in a
favorite site.
As I stood on the summit
with my wife, Lisa, and
our kids, Olivia and Max, I
pondered the setting.
I thought of the many
hundreds of days that have
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
The Elkhorn Mountains seen from the summit of Silver Butte.
passed since the memorial
was set in its bed of mortar,
how many times the sun has
risen over the Elkhorns, how
many times it has dropped
below the horizon, and
almost always with no one
to see the ﬁ ery spectacle, no
sound save for the wind.
I imagined the ﬂ akes of
snow from the ﬁ rst great
autumn storm, whisking
across the words and then
beginning to stick, ﬁ lling in
the tiny valleys left by the
engraver’s tools and then,
inevitably, covering the slab
itself.
I wondered whether any
elk hunters have ever come
here, in the snowy chill of
November, and not known
the memorial was there.
It was a strange sen-
sation, somber but also
inspiring.
I felt a twinge of sad-
ness, that such a beautiful
tribute is so little known,
so infrequently seen and
appreciated.
Yet I recognized too that
it is a wonderful thing, that
the memory of two people,
long-lived and well-loved,
lingers on this lonely knoll.
It seemed to me that their
presence, these two who I
never met, is palpable. A
traveler who makes it to
this remote spot is not truly
alone.
It was hot there on Silver
Butte, on a sunny August
afternoon. But of course a
place is no good for a ﬁ re
lookout if it is cloaked by a
dense forest. We didn’t stay
long.
I was glad we had come.
The North Fork John
Day is nothing like its
fellow wilderness, the Eagle
Cap. They are in many
ways opposites. The Eagle
Cap is mostly an alpine wil-
derness, boasting a larger
share of Oregon’s 9,000-
foot peaks than any other
range, richly endowed with
deep cold lakes and can-
yons excised by glacial ice
and high passes where the
views take in three states.
The North Fork John
Day, and in particular the
largest of its four units,
which includes Silver Butte,
is much lower, mainly
below 6,000 feet, and dis-
tinguished not by limpid
lakes and sculpted peaks of
granite and limestone but
by forests and its namesake
river.
Although the wilderness
doesn’t quite include Silver
Butte.
The dirt road that leads
almost all the way to the
summit — you have to hike
a few hundred yards — fol-
lows a narrow corridor, less
than a quarter-mile wide,
that pierces for several
miles into the wilderness.
At Silver Butte the nonwil-
derness section expands
to a roughly rectangular
chunk, rather like the lol-
lipop at the end of its stick.
From the lookout site
weather
| Go to AccuWeather.com
The access road —
Umatilla National Forest
Road 5225 — passes sev-
eral trails between its start
at Road 52, the paved Blue
Mountain Scenic Byway,
and its end near Silver
Butte.
One of those paths,
which starts near the
lookout site, drops more
than 2,000 feet to the North
Fork John Day River at the
SATURDAY - FREE Cowboy Breakfast
7 - 10 AM Cook Shack
SUN
MON
Sunny and
warmer
Baker City
43 79 40
Comfort Index™ 10
La Grande
DAILY
Mule Race Kids Pig Scramble
Exhibits All Weekend
Livestock Show
SATURDAY & SUNDAY
9 PM Youth Dance at PV Grange
- After the Rodeo -
Cowboy Dinners Live Music Adult Dance
Comfort Index™ 10
Enterprise
44 77 44
Monday - Veterans FREE admission
Reserved Seating $15
General Admission $12
Kids 6 to 12 $6
www.HalfwayFairAndRodeo.com Kids 0 to 5 Free
Longview
Kennewick
57/75
St. Helens
56/77
Hood River
56/79
Comfort Index™ 10
Condon
59/84
58/78
52/79
99 56
6
4
2
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Thursday
Low Thursday
High: 114°
Low: 30°
Wettest: 4.50”
91°
54°
92°
52°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Thursday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
0.00
0.26
0.34
4.73
6.33
0.00
0.24
0.55
9.22
11.21
0.07
0.45
0.52
18.21
15.75
HAY INFORMATION SUNDAY
25%
NW at 6 to 12 mph
9.3
0.21
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Friday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
5% of capacity
42% of capacity
18% of capacity
71% of capacity
3% of capacity
19% of capacity
High: 102°
Low: 43°
Wettest: 0.13”
The Dalles
Sunriver
Baker City
Over 1,000 people drowned when a
storm surge accompanying a hurricane
inundated Charleston, S.C., on Aug. 27,
1893. Such events led to the adoption
of hurricane safety plans by emergency
offi cials.
SUN & MOON
SAT.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
6:08 a.m.
7:39 p.m.
6:14 a.m.
8:17 p.m.
SUN.
6:09 a.m.
7:37 p.m.
7:22 a.m.
8:36 p.m.
MOON PHASES
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
WEATHER HISTORY
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
Death Valley, Calif.
Bodie State Park, Calif.
Lafayette, La.
576 cfs
68 cfs
106 cfs
45 cfs
108 cfs
45 cfs
New
Aug 27
First
Sep 3
Full
Sep 10
Last
Sep 17
41/83
Roseburg
53/74
55/85
Silver Lake
Jordan Valley
48/84
Paisley
43/86
44/85
Frenchglen
48/85
Medford
43/86
49/87
McDermitt
46/89
RECREATION FORECAST SUNDAY
MON.
Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
71/55/pc 78/58/s
82/49/s 91/56/s
86/58/pc 93/63/s
72/53/s 65/54/pc
84/46/s 92/52/s
70/54/s 73/56/s
78/55/pc 88/57/s
83/49/pc 90/54/s
77/44/pc 91/54/s
80/52/pc 91/57/s
82/51/s 93/57/s
79/60/s 92/63/s
80/55/pc 90/61/s
82/49/s 89/58/s
78/44/pc 86/56/s
82/54/s 91/58/s
86/46/s 89/48/s
85/45/s 91/51/s
55/88
Lakeview
42/85
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
Grand View
Arock
48/89
Klamath Falls
Shown is Sunday’s weather. Temperatures are Saturday night’s lows and Sunday’s highs.
SUN.
Diamond
48/84
Fields
55/90
55/72
Boise
56/86
53/88
Brookings
50/86
40/84
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Juntura
42/84
41/78
Beaver Marsh
54/70
Ontario
57/85
Burns
Brothers
50/79
Coos Bay
Huntington
43/80
45/82
Oakridge
Council
49/83
57/86
Seneca
Bend
54/80
THURSDAY EXTREMES
47/82
44/81
Elkton
Powers
46/83
43/79
John Day
42/83
Sisters
Florence
54/67
Halfway
Granite
42/76
Baker City
97 56
3
Monument
47/82
Redmond
91 50
4
48/80
48/77
53/79
52/65
51/80
ALMANAC
88°
52°
Corvallis
Enterprise
44/77
51/78
Newport
5
6
45/77
La Grande
50/77
52/82
Idanha
Salem
5
10
Elgin
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
54/82
54/78
50/79
8
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.
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Walla Walla
56/82
Vancouver
55/78
Eugene
98 56
OREGON
SATURDAY 7PM
SUNDAY 7PM
MONDAY 2:30PM
95 52
92 57
HALFWAY
ICA Sponsored Rodeo
Astoria
WED
88 54
Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker
City Herald.
MONDAY
9 AM Youth Livestock Auction
12:30 PM Parade on Main Street
93 51
9
█
2022
SUNDAY
10 AM Jackpot Team Roping
2 PM Queen's Court Tryouts
4 PM Pie Auction
86 47
9
48 80 44
TUE
Sunny and very Partly sunny and
hot
very hot
mouth of Granite Creek.
Road 5225 also runs
through a classic moun-
tain grassland — Moon
Meadow.
This is ideal back-
packing country, the net-
work of trails making pos-
sible all manner of loops
and routes.
SEPTEMBER
3, 4 & 5
Sponsored by Safeway
Maupin
Mostly sunny
and nice
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren,
also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was
founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips.
Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com
or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
101 st ANNUAL
57/71
TIllamook
Mainly clear
█
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
54/71
TONIGHT
DEAR KID: Tell your parents
you want to talk to them about an
allowance. Ask what things you
could do to help around the house
in order to earn one and how
much they are willing to pay you
for doing them. As to how much
to expect, this will depend on
what your parents may be able to
aﬀ ord. Ask them if you can nego-
tiate to ﬁ nd an amount you all
agree upon. And if you need more
money, doing similar chores for
a relative or neighbor might be a
good place to start.
I don’t want to hurt her feelings
but, honestly, I’m sick of having
to wash my blankets every time
she comes over. Any suggestions
on how I should handle this? —
SUFFERING IN SILENCE
DEAR SUFFERING: Handle
this by asking your friend to
please keep her shoes on and her
feet on the ﬂ oor when she’s at
your house. If she asks why, tell
her the truth and suggest she start
washing her shoes — and her feet
— regularly.
DEAR ABBY: I am a
9-year-old girl. Right now I don’t
do chores or get an allowance, but
I want to. How should I ask my
parents? And how much money
should I ask for? — KID WHO
NEEDS CASH
SUN.
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
MON.
Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
82/56/s 90/61/s
75/56/c 85/59/s
75/42/s 87/49/s
90/58/s 97/62/s
65/53/pc 67/54/s
76/52/pc 83/55/pc
85/55/pc 93/60/s
82/52/s 91/59/s
79/52/s 90/60/s
78/60/pc 90/62/s
74/54/pc 80/57/s
83/47/s 92/53/s
85/58/s 94/60/s
79/55/pc 90/58/s
76/55/s 84/60/s
84/61/s 94/65/s
76/41/s 86/49/s
78/57/s 88/62/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
Partly sunny
Partly sunny
60
38
77
42
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Mostly sunny
Partly sunny
68
41
84
47
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Turning out cloudy
Sunny and pleasant
66
34
70
37
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Periods of sun
Sunny and pleasant
78
44
80
52
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Partly sunny; nice
Mostly sunny; nice
79
40
80
44