A16
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Thursday, April 8, 2021
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Pregnancy changes dynamic
of women’s friendship
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
B.C.
BY JOHNNY HART
PICKLES
BY BRIAN CRANE
BEETLE BAILEY
BY MORT WALKER
Dear Abby: I’m in my late 20s,
labor job in a skilled trade. Abby, it
married and happily child-free. My
seems like every other day he picks
best friend recently became preg-
a fight with me because he thinks I
nant, and I am having a hard time
should have the house clean, chores
with it. I don’t enjoy children, and it
done and dinner cooked when he
feels like I am losing my best friend.
returns from work, despite the fact
All she wants to talk about is the
that I have been working at my job
baby. I’ve tried hinting that I’ll be
all day.
Jeanne
here when she and her husband need
He equates my being home to
Phillips
a break from being “Mom and Dad,”
me being able to take care of all the
ADVICE
but she continues to talk on and on
chores. He criticizes me and calls
me lazy and other names all the
about the all-consuming baby.
time. Regardless of what he thinks,
I know this is a big change and a
I have a demanding job in an IT field, which
huge part of her life, but I also know she has
plenty of other support for this child. I would
is no less demanding because I’m home. It
hope she realizes that I do not care for chil-
involves numerous conference calls all day.
I have an opportunity now where some of
dren or wish to be around them. How can I
let her know — without offending her — that
us can come back to the office, but because
the last thing I want to hear about are diapers
I have an autoimmune disease, I’m hesitant.
and prams? — Child-Free in Wisconsin
Should I go back to the office to keep the
peace or remain working from home, which
Dear Child-Free: I am sorry you feel so
I actually enjoy? I have talked to him about
negative about the topics of babies and chil-
dren, because your intolerance will eventu-
this repeatedly, and it not only doesn’t seem
ally isolate you from friends and peers. If you
to be getting any better, it’s getting worse.
voice what you are thinking, you will alienate
Your thoughts? — Telecommuting in Flor-
your best friend, who is rightly thrilled to be
ida
Dear Telecommuting: Your physical
embarking on the adventure of parenthood.
Because her talk about babies, diapers and
health must come first. If returning to the
the process she’s going through affects you
office will endanger your health, you must
like nails on a chalkboard, limit the conver-
stay home and protect it.
sations and visits you have with her. Do not
Your mental health comes next. Your
fiance appears to be having a chauvinistic
write her off, however, because it is possible
fever dream in which he has been trans-
that in time she will be reaching out to you,
craving conversation that goes beyond the
ported back to the 1950s. For the last quarter
playpen.
of a century — and more — men have been
Dear Abby: As the pandemic has forced
helping their partners with the “chores” he’s
many to work remotely, I feel certain I’m not
harassing you about. If he can’t dig deep and
the only person with this dilemma. I have
find it in his heart to chip in, then for the sake
been working from home since last March.
of your health and your sanity, please rethink
this engagement, because it is unhealthy.
My fiance, on the other hand, has a manual
DAYS GONE BY
From the East Oregonian
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY JIM DAVIS
100 Years Ago
April 8, 1921
Harold Hatton, Pendleton boy who is now
in Portland, is winning notice as a swimmer
and is entered in two events in the annual
Amateur Athletic Association national diving
meet to be held tomorrow night at the Mult-
nomah Athletic club pool. Young Hatton is
entered in the 50 yards junior, for boys 16
years and under, and also in the 100 yards
junior. Collie Wheeler, former of this city, is
entered in the 200 yards.
50 Years Ago
April 8, 1971
A solution of the vexatious McKay Creek
bridge problem apparently was reached at
a meeting of the Umatilla County Court
Wednesday. Residents of the area, who have
been trying for 3½ years to get the county to
provide them with a new, public bridge, will
pay Gilbert J. Struve, who says the bridge on
SW Kirk is a private bridge that the owns, to
erect a new structure in place of the present
one. Struve, in turn, will pay the county to
install the bridge, a railroad flatcar.
25 Years Ago
April 8, 1996
A new subdivision being developed in an
effort to ease the housing crunch in Heppner is
the first subdivision planned for the city since
1977. The small town in south Morrow County
has seen an influx of people in the last year or
so, tying up the existing housing market and
sending real estate values climbing rapidly.
Most of the new residents are senior citizens or
people who are looking for the quiet rural life-
style, said City Administrator Gary Marks. To
meet the new need for housing, the Heppner
Economic Development Corporation is work-
ing with the Port of Morrow to develop a piece
of land next to the Heppner cemetery over-
looking Willow Creek Lake.
BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE
TODAY IN HISTORY
DILBERT
THE WIZARD OF ID
LUANN
ZITS
BY SCOTT ADAMS
BY BRANT PARKER AND JOHNNY HART
BY GREG EVANS
BY JERRY SCOTT AND JIM BORGMAN
On April 8, 1864, the
United States Senate passed,
38-6, the 13th Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution
abolishing slavery. (The
House of Representatives
passed it in January 1865; the
amendment was ratified and
adopted in December 1865.)
In 1820, the Venus de
Milo statue was discovered
by a farmer on the Greek
island of Milos.
In 1911, an explosion at
the Banner Coal Mine in
Littleton, Alabama, claimed
the lives of 128 men, most
of them convicts loaned out
from prisons.
In 1952, President Harry
S. Truman seized the Amer-
ican steel industry to avert
a nationwide strike. (The
Supreme Court later ruled
that Truman had overstepped
his authority, opening the
way for a seven-week strike
by steelworkers.)
In 1963, “Lawrence of
Arabia” won the Oscar for
best picture at the Acad-
emy Awards; Gregory Peck
won best actor for “To Kill
a Mockingbird” while Anne
Bancroft received best
actress honors for “The Mira-
cle Worker.”
In 1974, Hank Aaron of
the Atlanta Braves hit his
715th career home run in a
game against the Los Ange-
les Dodgers, breaking Babe
Ruth’s record.
In 1987, Al Campa-
nis, vice president of player
personnel for the Los Ange-
les Dodgers, resigned after
saying on ABC’s “Night-
line” that Blacks might lack
some of the “necessities” for
becoming baseball manag-
ers.
In 1990, Ryan White, the
teenage AIDS patient whose
battle for acceptance had
gained national attention,
died in Indianapolis at age 18.
In 1993, singer Marian
Anderson died in Portland,
Oregon, at age 96.
In 1994, Kurt Cobain,
singer and guitarist for the
grunge band Nirvana, was
found dead in Seattle from
an apparently self-inflicted
gunshot wound; he was 27.
In 2009, Somali pirates
hijacked the U.S.-flagged
Maersk Alabama; although
the crew was able to retake
the cargo ship, the captain,
Richard Phillips, was taken
captive by the raiders and
held aboard a lifeboat. (Phil-
lips was rescued four days
later by Navy SEAL snipers
who shot three of the pirates
dead.)
Today’s Bir thdays:
Comedian Shecky Greene is
95. “Mouseketeer” Darlene
Gillespie is 80. Singer
Peggy Lennon (The Lennon
Sisters) is 80. Rock musician
Mel Schacher (Grand Funk
Railroad) is 70. Actor John
Schneider is 61. “Survivor”
winner Richard Hatch is 60.
Singer Julian Lennon is 58.
Rapper Biz Markie is 57.
Actor Robin Wright is 55.
Actor Patricia Arquette is 53.
Actor Emma Caulfield is 48.
Actor Katee Sackhoff is 41.
Actor Kirsten Storms is 37.
Actor Sadie Calvano is 24.
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE