COFFEE BREAK
8B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
TuESDAY, MAY 4, 2021
Overbearing boyfriend ruins family get-togethers
DEAR ABBY: We get our chil-
dren and grandchildren together
twice a year. Our oldest daughter
is divorced and, unfortunately,
has a significant
other the rest of
our family cannot
stand. He’s an arro-
gant, competitive
know-it-all.
We have been
around him only twice — the last
two times the family got together.
The second time was a disaster
for the rest of us. Should we tell
her we don’t want to invite him
this year, and how do we say it?
Or should we not tell her?
— TENTATIVE IN FLORIDA
DEAR TENTATIVE: Talk to
your daughter about this. When
you do, have handy a list of the
ways he offended your family
members at the gathering. Her
significant other may be so
self-centered he
doesn’t realize he’s
being obnoxious.
DEAR
Ask her to ask
him to dial back his
ABBY
need to compete,
impress, cover for
his own insecurity — whatever
drives him. Then give him one
more chance. If that fails, do not
invite him again, and tell her why.
You can always see your daughter
separately, I assume, and so can
her siblings.
DEAR ABBY: I had a relation-
ship with a wonderful woman
for almost six years. During the
promise of a proposal of marriage.
In the case of your former girl-
friend, it didn’t pan out. Because
the two of you still communi-
cate, why not mention to her that
you have the stone and ask if
she would like to have it. If she
says no, you can always offer it
to someone else, although I can’t
promise the lady will be eager
to receive a souvenir of a failed
relationship.
DEAR ABBY: A friend of mine
has a 70-pound dog that behaves
badly. When I visit her, it sprints
out of the front door, barking, and
jumps on my car. It has left deep
scratches on two of my vehicles.
She yells at it, and eventu-
ally the dog stops, but not before
jumping on me and leaving me
course of our relationship, I pur-
chased a rather expensive pre-
cious stone — exactly what she
wanted — with the intent of giving
it to her as a promise ring. (Nei-
ther of us are fans of the institu-
tion of marriage.) We have since
gone our separate ways, but we
still communicate.
Because it was purchased
for her, I am tempted to give
her the stone. At the same time,
I have entertained the notion of
keeping it and giving it to my
future life partner, should I meet
someone I care for that deeply.
Your guidance would be greatly
appreciated.
— ROMANCING THE STONE
DEAR ROMANCING:
Promise rings symbolize the
muddied and snagged.
This friend is due to have
a baby, and I am sure she will
be inviting me over to meet the
baby soon. How can I avoid
further damage to my car and
clothing without damaging my
friendship?
— ASSAULTED IN AUSTIN
DEAR ASSAULTED: The
obvious answer is to find the
courage to tell your friend you
are willing to visit only if she
confines her dog so it won’t
cause further damage to you
and your property. And while
you are at it, mention that you
are concerned about her baby’s
safety. Her dog’s lack of disci-
pline poses a distinct danger to
her little one.
News of the Weird
Girl Scout cookies
take flight in Virginia
drone deliveries
CHRISTIANSBURG,
Va. — Missing out on
Thin Mints in the pan-
demic? A Google affiliate
is using drones to deliver
Girl Scout cookies to peo-
ple’s doorsteps in a Virginia
community.
The town of Christians-
burg has been a testing
ground for commercial
delivery drones operated
by Wing, a subsidiary of
Google’s corporate parent
Alphabet.
Now the company is
adding the iconic boxed
cookies to the more mun-
dane drugstore offerings,
FedEx packages and local-
ly-made pastries, tacos and
cold brew coffees it’s been
hauling to a thinly popu-
lated area of residential sub-
divisions since 2019.
Wing said it began
talking to local Girl Scout
troops because they’ve been
having a harder time selling
cookies during the pan-
demic, when fewer people
are out and about. The orga-
Sam Dean/Wing LLC via AP
In this photo from April 14, 2021, Girl Scouts Alice, right, and Gracie pose with a Wing delivery drone in
Christiansburg, Virginia. The company is testing drone delivery of Girl Scout cookies in the area.
nization jumped on the new
twist to its skills-building
mission.
“I’m excited that I get to
be a part of history,” said
11-year-old Gracie Walker,
of the Girl Scouts of Vir-
ginia Skyline Troop 224.
“People are going to realize
and be, like, ‘Hey, this is
better for the environment
and I can just walk out-
side in my pajamas and get
cookies.’”
It’s the latest attempt to
build public enthusiasm
for drone delivery as Wing
competes against Amazon,
Walmart, UPS and others
to overcome the many tech-
nical and regulatory chal-
lenges of flying packages
over neighborhoods.
Federal officials started
weather
| Go to AccuWeather.com
rolling out new rules in mid-
April that will allow opera-
tors to fly small drones over
people and at night, poten-
tially giving a boost to com-
mercial use of the machines.
Most drones will need to
be equipped so they can be
identified remotely by law
enforcement officials.
The 10-pound Wing
drone that made the first
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
42/69
Kennewick
41/79
St. Helens
45/83
45/79
43/82
46/80
45/80
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
Mainly clear
Clouds and sun;
warmer
Not as warm in
the p.m.
A shower or
two; cooler
Mostly cloudy,
showers
76 38
55 32
57 31
Eugene
9
1
1
42/78
73 39
53 36
57 35
10
0
0
La Grande
37 76 55
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
10
9
10
34 72 55
Comfort Index™ 10
49 31
51 34
8
2
0
9
ALMANAC
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Sunday
Low Sunday
High: 104°
Low: 17°
Wettest: 2.88”
58°
34°
60°
39°
61°
38°
0.00
0.03
0.08
1.69
3.13
0.00
0.02
0.12
5.86
5.93
0.00
0.03
0.14
13.74
9.83
PRECIPITATION (inches)
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION WEDNESDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
25%
SSE at 8 to 16 mph
6.0
0.21
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Monday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
23% of capacity
99% of capacity
56% of capacity
97% of capacity
63% of capacity
100% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Sunday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
7950 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
39 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
236 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
1040 cfs
Minam River at Minam
1210 cfs
Powder River near Richland
103 cfs
Medford
Sunriver
Eugene
Frost occurred as far south as Baton
Rouge, La., on May 4, 1812, while snow
accumulated from Philadelphia to Boston.
Snow fell in Baltimore on May 4, 1893,
and in northern Texas on the same date
in 1917.
SUN & MOON
TUE.
WED.
5:35 a.m.
8:04 p.m.
3:34 a.m.
1:58 p.m.
MOON PHASES
New
First
Full
Last
May 11 May 19 May 26
Jun 2
$ 200
Coos Bay
MAX AND MIKE
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RECLINERS
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CCESSO
ACCESSORY
34/75
Beaver Marsh
32/76
Roseburg
45/74
Brothers
44/82
46/82
Burns
Silver Lake
33/73
Paisley
36/81
Frenchglen
Diamond
37/76
City
Astoria
Bend
Boise
Brookings
Burns
Coos Bay
Corvallis
Council
Elgin
Eugene
Hermiston
Hood River
Imnaha
John Day
Joseph
Kennewick
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
Hi/Lo/W
69/49/c
82/50/pc
76/55/pc
60/47/c
76/42/pc
63/47/pc
76/47/pc
72/46/pc
75/51/pc
78/47/pc
85/55/pc
79/54/pc
73/46/pc
73/50/pc
71/56/pc
85/53/pc
79/42/pc
78/40/pc
Hi/Lo/W
56/44/r
65/35/pc
82/46/pc
56/44/sh
74/33/pc
57/43/r
61/43/r
78/42/pc
70/39/pc
62/44/r
76/42/pc
65/44/r
80/40/pc
74/37/pc
73/34/pc
78/46/pc
62/30/pc
69/27/s
40/79
35/78
Fields
Klamath Falls
36/79
Lakeview
32/78
McDermitt
Shown is Wednesday’s weather. Temperatures are Tuesday night’s lows and Wednesday’s highs.
THU.
Grand View
Arock
36/75
36/78
47/88
WED.
Boise
Jordan Valley
31/79
38/77
Medford
Brookings
Juntura
37/77
41/76
46/89
47/60
Ontario
40/78
30/76
33/74
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
79/50/pc
79/51/c
74/54/pc
88/50/pc
61/47/c
71/45/c
78/50/pc
83/51/pc
82/54/pc
80/53/pc
74/47/pc
82/45/pc
82/47/pc
78/49/pc
71/49/pc
82/54/pc
75/47/pc
78/58/pc
Hi/Lo/W
78/48/pc
58/44/r
70/39/pc
66/42/sh
54/44/r
59/40/r
85/49/c
77/48/pc
71/40/pc
64/46/r
61/42/sh
66/35/pc
63/45/sh
61/44/r
72/43/c
68/46/pc
67/34/pc
72/46/pc
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
Not as cool
Clouds and sun
50
45
69
44
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Warmer
Clouds and sun
63
53
76
45
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Not as cool
Partly sunny
56
40
71
50
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Warmer
Partly sunny
71
56
82
54
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Warmer
Some sun; warmer
73
44
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32/69
40/82
Oakridge
37/72
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Seneca
REGIONAL CITIES
WEATHER HISTORY
5:36 a.m.
8:03 p.m.
3:07 a.m.
12:50 p.m.
36/73
Bend
Grants Pass
OREGON
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
34/82
Council
29/73
38/82
Elkton
Powers
36/73
31/67
John Day
Chiloquin
Zapata, Texas
Bridgeport, Calif.
Aurora, Neb.
High: 70°
Low: 30°
Wettest: 0.06”
Sisters
Florence
46/62
Halfway
Granite
Baker City
Redmond
44/61
SUNDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
Sunday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
Newport
44/63
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.
Monument
36/78
43/76
46/80
74 35
37/76
44/77
45/78
Corvallis
Enterprise
La Grande
40/75
42/81
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
9
Elgin
35/75
34/72
Condon
Maupin
Comfort Index™
44/78
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
43/79
Hood River
41/82
TIllamook
29 73 44
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Walla Walla
42/85
Vancouver
42/80
41/69
Baker City
weight and power needed
to transport goods safely in
populated places, Vos said
the tech industry also needs
a cultural shift.
In particular, he said, it
needs to bring on people
from the traditional avi-
ation industry who have
experience building “safe-
ty-critical systems” that
meet strict performance
standards.
Wing’s drones are
able to navigate autono-
mously — without a human
pilot controlling them
remotely — and are pow-
ered by two forward pro-
pellers on their wings and
12 smaller vertical propel-
lers. When a drone reaches
its destination, it hovers
above the front lawn as a
tether releases to drop the
package.
“It was so smooth and it
didn’t shake,” said Walker,
who, before her troop added
drones to its sales strategy,
would don a mask and set
up a cookie booth outside a
home improvement store.
“They look like a helicopter
but also a plane.”
— Associated Press
deliveries in Christiansburg
in fall 2019 is already an
artifact held at the Smithso-
nian National Air and Space
Museum. Whether it will go
down in history as a revolu-
tionary innovation or a uto-
pian flop remains to be seen.
Amazon has also been
working on drone delivery
for years. In 2013, Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos said in
a TV interview that drones
would be flying to custom-
er’s homes within five years,
but that deadline has long
since passed. The com-
pany did win government
approval to deliver pack-
ages by drones last August,
but Amazon said it was
still testing them and hasn’t
started delivering goods to
shoppers yet.
David Vos, an aerospace
engineer who led Google’s
Wing project until 2016,
said he’s been surprised that
drone delivery ventures hav-
en’t taken off more quickly.
“I thought it was com-
pletely doable to be up
and going by 2021,” Vos
said. While he still thinks
drone technology is getting
closer to delivering the size,
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