6B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATuRDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2020
COFFEE BREAK
Too much togetherness tires hen-pecked man’s patience
DEAR ABBY: Since the coro-
navirus lockdown began, my
wife and I have been cooped
up together all day, every day.
Though we have
lived together for
35 years, she’s now
discovering that I
“don’t cook vegeta-
bles correctly.” (It
goes without saying
that I’m no longer allowed to pre-
pare the entrees.)
I don’t sort the trash the way
she thinks it should be, so I can’t
take out the garbage without her
first inspecting it. Not only do I
not wash the dishes properly, I
don’t even wash my face right.
Thus far the only thing I seem to
be able to do is go to the restroom
without her supervision, but I
lock the door now just in case she
decides to kibitz.
I realize that
during this tense
DEAR
time, people feel
a loss of control
ABBY
over their own
lives and try to
compensate how-
ever they can. I’m able to hang
on to my patience almost all the
time, but occasionally I want to
either scream at her or look for
an apartment of my own. Do you
have any advice for either or both
of us?
— KEEPING CALM IN THE
WEST
that isn’t sufficient, the two of you
should discuss what’s going on
with her physician.
DEAR ABBY: I am instinctively
tight-fisted with money. It’s also
necessary because my brother
and I have been in business for
ourselves for only a few years,
and we are just now starting to
turn a decent profit. My girlfriend
earns a good living as a nurse.
She is pretty thrifty, but not when
it comes to food.
My question is, how much
of the bill should I be expected
to foot for an expensive dinner
I didn’t want to go out to, or an
overpriced breakfast burrito
from some snobby food truck? If I
don’t look enthusiastic about the
DEAR KEEPING CALM: You
are far from the only spouse who
is experiencing this. Your com-
ment about your wife’s hypervig-
ilance and fault-finding being her
way of coping with her anxieties
is perceptive. If you haven’t talked
with her (calmly) about how her
behavior is affecting you, please
do it before you explode.
Being cooped up together all
day, every day, isn’t healthy for
either of you. You both should
be getting out separately for at
least 30 minutes of walking (60
could be even better) and sun-
light every day. The exercise and
change of scenery would not only
be healthy, but may lower both
of your stress levels. However, if
prospect of going to one of these
places, she says not to worry
because she’ll pay for it, which
makes me feel insecure. Any tips
on how to handle this?
— PROUD GUY IN
WASHINGTON
DEAR PROUD GUY: Yes.
You appear to be an old-fashioned
guy who is dating a contemporary
woman. Accept her generosity
and quit tying your masculinity to
how she chooses to spend her own
hard-earned money. That said, if
you are thinking of marrying her,
it would be in both your interests
to have premarital counseling to
ensure that disagreements about
money don’t cause serious prob-
lems in your marriage.
News of the Weird
Feisty Tasmanian
devils roaming
mainland Australian
again
By Victoria Milko
Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia —
Tasmanian devils, the car-
nivorous marsupials whose
feisty, frenzied eating
habits won the animals car-
toon fame, have returned
to mainland Australia for
the first time in some 3,000
years.
“Seeing those devils
released into a wild land-
scape — it’s a really emo-
tional moment,” said Liz
Gabriel, director of conser-
vation group Aussie Ark,
which led the release effort
in partnership with other
conservation groups.
The 11 most recently
released devils began
exploring their new home
once they were freed from
round white cages at the
nearly 1,000-acre Bar-
rington Tops wildlife
refuge in New South Wales
state, about 120 miles north
of Sydney.
Tasmanian devils, which
were once called Sarcoph-
ilus satanicus or “Satanic
flesh-lover,” went extinct in
mainland Australia before
the arrival of Europeans.
Scientists believe the intro-
duction of carnivorous din-
goes, a surge in the indige-
nous human population and
a devastating dry season
caused by a prolonged El
Nino contributed to the
devils’ migration to pres-
ent-day Tasmania, said
University of Tasmania
ecologist Menna Jones.
“I think any one of those
three factors alone prob-
ably wouldn’t have caused
extinction — but the three
of them together likely
Cristian Prieto/WildArk via AP
Members of a conservation group release Tasmanian devils into the wild at Barrington
Tops, New South Wales state, Australia, on Sept. 10, 2020. Tasmanian devils, the carniv-
orous marsupials whose feisty, frenzied eating habits won the animals cartoon fame,
returned to mainland Australia for the first time in some 3,000 years.
AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File
In this Dec. 21, 2012, photo, Big John the Tasmanian devil
growls from the confines of his tree house as he makes his
first appearance at the Wild Life Sydney Zoo in Sydney,
Australia. Conservation groups recently released some
cancer-free devils in a wildlife refuge on the mainland.
caused the devil to become
extinct on the mainland,”
she said.
Devils have been pro-
tected in Australia since
1941, and conservation-
ists have worked to bolster
their populations for years,
citing their importance as
top predators that can sup-
press invasive species —
like foxes and feral cats —
and in turn protect smaller
species and biodiversity.
One of the biggest blows
to conservation efforts
came in the 1990s when
a communicable cancer
called devil facial tumor
disease — which passes
between devils through
their bites while mating
and causes large tumors
that prevent them from
eating — reduced the pop-
ulation from some 140,000
to as few as 20,000.
In response, researchers
established an insurance
population of cancer-free
devils in wild-type enclo-
sures in Australia’s island
state of Tasmania. But the
releases in July and Sep-
tember are the first time the
squat mammals — all of
which have tested negative
for the contagious cancer
— have been released on
the mainland in a protected
wild landscape.
Gabriel said Aussie Ark
aims for devils eventually
to live in non-protected
areas in mainland Aus-
tralia, with the hope the
devils will contribute to
keeping cat and fox popu-
lations under control.
Some experts question
whether the introduction
would have that hoped-for
level of impact.
Nick Mooney, an Aus-
tralia conservationist who
has worked with Tasmanian
devils for some 40 years,
said feral felines are likely
to return to hunting for a
food source rather than
weather
OKC jailers face
cruelty charge for
playing ‘Baby Shark’
on loop
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY —
Two former detention offi-
cers and their supervisor
were charged Monday,
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
52/59
Kennewick
51/57
St. Helens
52/58
Hood River
48/58
48/62
52/58
49/57
Condon
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
A few showers
A passing
shower or two
Mostly cloudy, a
shower
Cloudy with a
few showers
A shower
possible
61 34
62 37
64 32
Eugene
47/61
La Grande
40 54 44
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
3
0
0
7
9
60 38
58 45
59 43
4
3
7
0
35 49 40
Comfort Index™
7
58 42
55 41
7
5
7
ALMANAC
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Thursday
Low Thursday
High: 104°
Low: 14°
Wettest: 7.61”
81°
32°
80°
35°
81°
34°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Thursday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
0.00
0.00
0.14
2.99
7.78
0.00
0.00
0.24
13.39
11.82
0.00
0.00
0.29
26.04
16.22
HAY INFORMATION SUNDAY
50%
SW at 6 to 12 mph
0.3
0.07
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Friday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
9% of capacity
21% of capacity
41% of capacity
41% of capacity
13% of capacity
5% of capacity
OREGON
High: 84°
Low: 21°
Wettest: 0.01”
Rome
Lakeview
Florence
A World Series game was snowed out in
Baltimore, Md., on Oct. 10, 1979. The early
snowstorm dumped 12 inches on Webster
County, W.Va. Over 2 inches accumulated
at Philadelphia.
SUN & MOON
SAT.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
SUN.
7:02 a.m. 7:04 a.m.
6:15 p.m. 6:14 p.m.
none 12:19 a.m.
3:21 p.m. 4:02 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
Ocotillo Wells, Calif.
Walden, Colo.
Baton Rouge, La.
WEATHER HISTORY
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
Florence
50/62
726 cfs
16 cfs
15 cfs
45 cfs
62 cfs
20 cfs
New
Oct 16
First
Oct 23
Full
Oct 31
Last
Nov 8
34/53
Beaver Marsh
31/50
Roseburg
Powers
Brothers
47/56
Coos Bay
48/65
Jordan Valley
36/53
Paisley
31/58
Frenchglen
37/57
Klamath Falls
31/60
Hi/Lo/W
59/52/r
57/48/r
59/47/pc
62/52/c
57/35/s
60/55/r
60/49/r
51/40/pc
52/44/sh
61/52/r
66/52/sh
58/52/r
52/43/pc
56/47/sh
49/39/sh
66/54/pc
60/37/s
58/31/pc
Hi/Lo/W
62/53/r
62/43/pc
65/43/s
64/54/pc
63/29/s
64/51/r
65/47/r
59/37/pc
59/39/c
66/48/r
69/50/pc
63/48/r
62/38/c
61/41/pc
55/34/pc
72/49/pc
65/34/pc
65/27/s
Grand View
Arock
41/64
37/60
Lakeview
27/58
McDermitt
34/60
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
37/55
38/61
Shown is Sunday’s weather. Temperatures are Saturday night’s lows and Sunday’s highs.
MON.
Boise
41/59
Fields
44/65
SUN.
39/61
Silver Lake
35/55
Medford
Brookings
Juntura
27/57
47/66
50/62
Ontario
40/62
Burns
33/58
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Huntington
32/51
38/57
Oakridge
34/51
39/61
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
THURSDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
42/56
37/55
Council
36/57
John Day
34/59
Sisters
51/60
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.
38/56
Baker City
Redmond
52/59
54/60
Halfway
Granite
35/47
46/52
47/59
49/63
58 36
0
Corvallis
42/57
46/60
Newport
Enterprise
35/49
40/54
Monument
45/61
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
0
39/52
La Grande
44/55
Maupin
Comfort Index™
Elgin
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
46/61
47/59
48/61
53/60
36 57 42
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Walla Walla
51/66
Vancouver
49/57
TIllamook
Baker City
Oct. 5, after an investi-
gation found inmates at
the Oklahoma County jail
were forced to listen to the
popular children’s song
“Baby Shark” on a loop at
loud volumes for extended
periods of time.
At least four inmates
were subjected to the
“inhuman” discipline in an
attorney visitation room
of the jail last November
and December, according
to the charge. The inmates
were forced to stand the
entire time, hands cuffed
behind them and secured to
the wall, the investigation
found.
Charged were Gregory
Cornell Butler Jr., 21, of
Edmond; Christian Charles
Miles, 21, of Oklahoma
City; and Christopher Ray-
mond Hendershott, 50, of
Wellston.
District Attorney David
Prater charged them with
misdemeanor counts of
cruelty to a prisoner and
conspiracy.
released in coming years
won’t go into the wild
just yet. Instead they will
receive supplementary
feedings and be monitored
by remote cameras, with
some devils tagged with
GPS trackers to learn more
about how they adjust in
their new environment,
said Gabriel.
“We dream of many
more sanctuaries with
devils in them and really
growing the numbers
of the species to pro-
tect that species, but also
the animals in the envi-
ronment around them,”
she said. “This is just the
beginning.”
relying on carrion in com-
petition with the devils.
“There is an argument
that by putting devils into
a situation where you stop
the other carnivores scav-
enging is that those ani-
mals, like cats and foxes,
will simply start hunting.
You could actually make
a conservation problem
where it didn’t exist
before,” said Mooney.
There’s also a matter of
reputation. While devils
tend to feed on small mam-
mals they’re also known to
eat the carcasses of cattle
and sheep, potentially
making them a nuisance to
farmers.
“When you do big
interventions like this,
there needs to be buy-in
from the community, par-
ticularly those who are
affected in the commu-
nity,” said Jones. “There
needs to be consultation.”
For now, the devils
released this year and
those expected to be
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
61/50/pc
57/52/r
49/43/sh
65/49/pc
59/54/r
56/48/r
62/45/pc
67/48/pc
61/51/pc
58/55/r
62/57/c
59/45/r
65/54/pc
59/53/r
57/43/sh
62/53/r
50/41/r
59/51/sh
Hi/Lo/W
63/44/c
63/48/r
57/38/pc
70/44/s
62/54/r
61/45/r
68/40/s
70/46/pc
65/47/pc
66/52/r
70/50/pc
62/42/pc
70/50/pc
64/49/r
58/40/c
65/47/c
57/35/pc
64/47/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
A p.m. shower
Rain and drizzle
34
28
49
42
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
A shower or two
A stray shower
43
37
56
42
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
A stray shower
A shower or two
38
33
48
40
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
A shower or two
Rain and drizzle
49
39
60
50
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
A stray shower
A shower or two
57
42
54
44