8B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2021
COFFEE BREAK
Surprise revelation of twins’ paternity is a family bombshell
DEAR ABBY: My son’s new
wife — who has a daughter —
insisted that his two children are
not biologically his. After a DNA
test, it turns out she was right.
They aren’t. My son,
my husband and I
are heartbroken.
His twins are 10,
and they don’t
understand what’s
going on.
My husband and I are trying
to gently remain in their lives with
phone calls and limited visits. My
son’s wife refuses to visit with us
until we stop communicating with
the children, promise never to talk
about them and display no pic-
tures in our home.
She’s trying to convince our
son to stop seeing us, as well.
What to do?
— DISAPPOINTED IN TEXAS
DEAR DISAPPOINTED:
Those children, regardless of who
their birth father is, were raised
believing you and
your husband are
their grandparents.
DEAR
If you love them, do
ABBY
not knuckle under to
your son’s new wife
or it will be only the
beginning of how she will attempt
to control you.
She does not have the right to
dictate who you (or your son, for
that matter) see and communicate
with. She also does not have the
right to order you to remove any
object from your home.
If your son opts to turn his
back on those children, that’s a
decision only he can make. If he
also chooses to turn his back on
you, then you raised a milquetoast
instead of a man.
DEAR ABBY: I’m a married
man, and I love my wife. We’re not
living together at the moment due
to unfortunate circumstances.
Being far away from her, I
get extremely lonely. I have a
co-worker who became a good
friend, and I have feelings for her.
I have told her how I feel, and
we have hung out a few times —
nothing sexual. Now she’s moving
away, and I feel heartbroken.
How should I deal? I’m fi ghting
back tears for someone I’m not
even with. What do I do?
— HEARTBROKEN
DEAR HEARTBROKEN: A
relationship does not have to be
with our boss and two colleagues.
When “Joan” came on the call,
“something” was hanging from
one of her nostrils. She may have
had a cold. I scratched my nose
and mustache a few times, trying
to alert her of what was hap-
pening, to no avail. She didn’t
react. No one else said anything.
What would the correct pro-
tocol have been? Should I have
left it alone or was I right to try to
let her know? I did what I would
have done in person. Should I
have privately texted her? Please
advise.
— TELECOMMUTING WOES
DEAR TELECOMMUTING:
If the person with the leaky nose
had been you, wouldn’t you
have wanted to know? Yes, you
should have texted her.
sexual to be meaningful, and your
co-worker was fi lling a space in
your life that was empty. That
you feel a sense of loss and sad-
ness that she is moving is not
surprising.
Not knowing the unfortunate
circumstances that caused the
separation between you and your
wife, I can only advise you to
start looking for a way to mend
fences or change those circum-
stances so you can live together
again, because clearly, you’re not
doing well on your own.
If that’s not possible, start
giving serious thought to how
you plan to live the rest of your
life, because this way isn’t
working.
DEAR ABBY: The other day
I was on a video conference call
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Ancient shell horn can
still play a tune after
18,000 years
WASHINGTON — A large
conch shell overlooked in a
museum for decades is now
thought to be the oldest known
seashell instrument — and it still
works, producing a deep, plaintive
bleat, like a foghorn from the dis-
tant past.
The shell was found during the
1931 excavation of a cave with
prehistoric wall paintings in the
French Pyrenees and assumed
to be a ceremonial drinking cup.
Archaeologists from the Univer-
sity of Toulouse recently took a
fresh look and determined it had
been modifi ed thousands of years
ago to serve as a wind instrument.
They invited a French horn player
to play it.
“Hearing it for the fi rst time,
for me it was a big emotion — and
a big stress,” said archaeologist
Carole Fritz.
She feared that playing the
12-inch shell might damage it,
but it didn’t. The horn produced
clear C, C sharp and D notes.
The researchers say it is around
18,000 years old. Their fi ndings
were published Wednesday in the
journal Science Advances.
Carole Fritz via AP
This combination of photos in February 2021 shows two sides of a
12-inch conch shell discovered in a French cave with prehistoric wall
paintings in 1931. Using modern microscopy techniques to examine
how the shell was modifi ed and hiring a French horn player to test it
out, researchers found the shell could produce C, C sharp and D notes.
Using carbon dating of related artifacts in the cave, researchers esti-
mate the age to be around 18,000 years, making it the world’s oldest
seashell instrument known.
Conch shells have been used
widely in musical and ceremonial
traditions, including in ancient
Greece, Japan, India and Peru.
The shell instrument found in the
Marsoulas cave is now the oldest
known example. Previously, a
conch shell instrument found in
weather
Syria had been dated to about
6,000 years old, said another
Toulouse archaeologist, Gilles
Tosello.
The discovery was made after
a recent inventory at the Natural
History Museum of Toulouse.
The researchers noticed some
Astoria
Longview
38/48
Kennewick
37/48
St. Helens
36/43
34/46
Cloudy
A few morning
fl urries
Chilly with
snow, 2-4”
A snow squall in Clouds and sun;
the p.m.
chilly
33 28
41 H
27 H H 42
28
H H
3
3
42 28 40 27
Baker City
27 38 16
Comfort Index™
La Grande
0
30 37 13
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
1
0
0
Comfort Index™
0
35 30
0
26 33
FRI
0
7
5
40 23
38 28
0
1
3
0
ALMANAC
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High: 90°
Low: -50°
Wettest: 2.12”
30°
5°
32°
8°
32°
16°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
0.02
0.14
0.29
0.51
1.09
0.33
1.12
0.55
2.16
2.18
0.12
1.30
1.19
5.61
4.36
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION WEDNESDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
55%
WNW at 6 to 12 mph
0.4
0.04
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Monday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
9% of capacity
49% of capacity
50% of capacity
45% of capacity
38% of capacity
95% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Sunday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
1320 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
59 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
11 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
110 cfs
H H H H H
Minam River at Minam
N.A.
Powder River near Richland
78 cfs
Titusville, Fla.
Ely, Minn.
Fort Myers, Fla.
OREGON
High: 54°
Low: 5°
Wettest: 0.63”
North Bend
Meacham
Astoria
WEATHER HISTORY
On Feb. 16, 1958, a storm brought heavy,
windblown snow to the northern and
mid-Atlantic states. Accumulations from
Washington, D.C., through Philadelphia
and New York City to Boston exceeded
12 inches.
SUN & MOON
TUE.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
WED.
6:52 a.m. 6:51 a.m.
5:21 p.m. 5:23 p.m.
9:20 a.m. 9:40 a.m.
10:41 p.m. 11:44 p.m.
MOON PHASES
First
Feb 19
Full
Last
Feb 27
Mar 5
$
New
Mar 13
30/37
Monument
Baker City
Redmond
Eugene
Sisters
35/50
23/44
27/36
Huntington
21/32
Beaver Marsh
17/36
Roseburg
36/55
Brothers
33/45
Coos Bay
37/50
Jordan Valley
22/31
Paisley
22/38
Frenchglen
24/34
Hi/Lo/W
48/38/c
42/25/pc
37/17/pc
53/43/c
36/14/pc
53/40/c
49/35/c
34/6/sf
37/11/sf
50/38/c
44/25/s
43/25/sn
38/15/sf
36/16/pc
31/8/sf
40/19/s
44/22/pc
38/17/pc
Hi/Lo/W
47/42/sh
44/34/r
37/31/c
51/43/r
36/31/sf
50/41/sh
48/42/sh
33/24/sn
36/33/sn
49/42/sh
39/33/r
37/35/r
39/32/c
37/33/r
35/28/sn
35/29/i
41/31/sh
39/31/c
Klamath Falls
20/44
McDermitt
19/34
RECREATION FORECAST WEDNESDAY
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
WED.
THU.
Hi/Lo/W
38/19/pc
48/34/c
35/11/sf
51/37/pc
48/41/c
47/33/c
42/18/pc
38/23/s
40/20/pc
47/35/c
55/40/c
44/23/pc
50/39/c
49/36/c
33/20/c
45/30/c
34/10/pc
37/23/pc
Hi/Lo/W
37/35/sn
41/39/sh
36/31/c
47/40/r
49/43/r
43/40/r
37/30/sf
35/31/c
39/36/sh
44/41/sh
52/40/r
45/31/sh
50/43/r
46/41/sh
35/30/sn
38/34/r
35/34/sf
34/34/r
ANTHONY LAKES
PHILLIPS LAKE
Morning fl urries
Mostly cloudy
18
7
33
$ 500
TM
on select BEAUTYREST® HARMONY LUX
mattresses and adjustable sets.*
14
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Morning fl urries
Morning fl urries
25
11
37
10
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Morning fl urries
Morning fl urries
23
0
30
8
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Morning fl urries
Some sun; chilly
31
8
39
22
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Rather cloudy
Morning fl urries
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice
UP TO
H H H H H
28/42
Lakeview
18/38
38
16
37
SAVE
on se
Grand View
Arock
28/40
Fields
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
24/33
Shown is Wednesday’s weather. Temperatures are Tuesday night’s lows and Wednesday’s highs.
THU.
Boise
24/37
25/38
34/51
WED.
26/38
Silver Lake
21/42
Medford
Brookings
Juntura
24/36
37/54
37/53
27/42
Burns
21/41
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Ontario
23/31
25/42
Oakridge
18/34
26/41
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
Council
27/38
John Day
26/43
Florence
Powers
24/38
27/33
33/42
39/48
40/50
Halfway
Granite
29/39
34/49
Newport
SUNDAY EXTREMES
High Sunday
Low Sunday
Sunday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
Salem
35/49
Corvallis
Enterprise
26/33
La Grande
28/35
29/40
Idanha
36/53
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
Condon
37/45
36/47
33/47
35/52
36 28
Elgin
Pendleton
The Dalles
H H H Portland
H H
SAT
3
31/37
34/40
Newberg
Lewiston
32/38
Hood River
Maupin
THU
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Walla Walla
27/40
Vancouver
33/45
TIllamook
WED
COPENHAGEN, Denmark —
Norwegian authorities deported a
truck driver who was stopped by
police twice within an hour for
driving without mandatory snow
chains near a city north of the
Arctic Circle.
The man, who has been
banned from returning to Norway
for two years, was “careless of
the conditions, which represents a
great danger,” police spokesman
Per Oeyvind Skogmo said in a
statement Thursday, Feb. 11.
Police said offi cers fi rst
stopped the driver as he headed to
downtown Tromsoe and ordered
him to put chains on his tires. A
little while later, offi cers pulled
him over again on a nearby
bridge.
In Norway, heavy vehicles
are required to use snow chains
from mid-November until the
end of March regardless of the
road conditions in the Scandina-
vian country. Skogmo said that
because the man’s truck did not
have chains, “we found grounds
to open a deportation case
against the foreign driver.”
— The Associated Press
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
39/49
TONIGHT
Norway deports truck
driver for not using
snow chains
unusual holes in the shell. The tip
of the shell was broken off, cre-
ating a hole large enough to blow
through. Microscopic inspec-
tion revealed the opening was the
result of deliberate craftsmanship,
not accidental wear, according to
Tosello.
By inserting a tiny medical
camera, they found that another
hole had been carefully drilled in
the shell’s inner chamber. They
also detected traces of red pig-
ment on the mouth of the conch,
matching a pattern found on the
wall of Marsoulas cave.
“This is classic, really solid
archaeology,” said Margaret
Conkey, an archaeologist at the
University of California, Berkeley,
who was not involved in the
research. “This discovery reminds
us that their lives were much
richer and more complex than just
stone tools and big game.”
Marsoulas cave is not located
near an ocean, so the prehistoric
people must have either moved
around widely or used trading
networks to obtain the shell,
Conkey and the researchers said.
Using a 3D replica, the archae-
ologists plan to continue studying
the horn’s range of notes. They
hope to hear the shell played in
the cave where it was found.
13
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