COFFEE BREAK
8B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THuRSDAY, JunE 10, 2021
Woman spurred to action by grandkids’ plight
but more so with his mom. They
were raised in a very Christian
home. There were always weight
issues for the entire family
because they eat most of their
meals out. My daughter-in-law
rarely cooks, and the house
resembles a “Hoarders” home.
In the past, I tried talking
with my son and his wife but
they have a convenient excuse
for everything I bring up. During
my last conversation with my
grandson, he was so unhappy
he mentioned suicide. Please
can you help me? How can I get
through to my son and his wife?
— Distraught Grandma in
Texas
Dear Grandma: Do your
son and his wife know their
son is depressed to the point
of talking about suicide? If
Dear Abby: I have a grandson
(25) and granddaughter (22)
who are both extremely over-
weight (300 pounds each). They
not only have health issues, but
also mental issues. Both work
part time at the same company
as their mom and dad — and still
live at home. They don’t date,
don’t drive and are very depen-
dent on their parents because
their parents encourage it. My
granddaughter is being treated
with meds; my grandson is not.
I’m very close to him, and
he shares a lot with me. He has
issues with both of his parents,
tradition used to involve a young
woman going directly from her
parents’ house to that of her
husband.
More recently, young people
have postponed marriage, estab-
lished themselves in the work-
place and achieved economic
independence before coupling up.
This is a positive step because if
the marriage fails or the spouse
dies, the widowed spouse isn’t
left without the tools to support
themselves and their family.
While you may think the
couple “already has everything
they need,” take a peek at their
bridal registry because it may be
an eye-opener. And remember, if
you cannot celebrate happily with
the couple, no rule of etiquette
dictates that you must attend the
wedding.
happening these days. Young
people live together for several
years, get pregnant and go to the
justice of the peace to get legally
married. Then, a year or more
later, they sometimes decide
to have a formal wedding cer-
emony. Friends throw them a
shower, and the wedding is often
elaborate.
I thought a shower gift or
wedding gift was to help the new
couple to get their household set
up. These couples already have
everything in their house. I feel
this is a slap in the face of tra-
dition. What are your thoughts?
— Old-Fashioned
Dear Old-Fashioned: Yes,
it’s a break with tradition. These
changes have occurred because
of changes in social mores, the
economy and gender roles. The
they are unaware, put them on
notice. While you’re at it, give
him the number of the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline,
1-800-273-8255.
Because you have already
tried talking to his parents and
found them unreceptive, would
you consider inviting your
grandson to live with you for
a while? It would be a way of
teaching him healthier eating
habits, and if he needs medica-
tion, you might be able to see that
his doctor prescribes it. Living
apart from his parents might
also be an incentive for him to
become more independent in
other ways, such as continuing
his education if he is able, which
would improve his employment
prospects.
Dear Abby: There is a trend
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
China’s wandering elephants becoming international stars
Elephants are given the top
level of protection in China,
allowing their numbers to steadily
increase even as their natural hab-
itat shrinks, and requiring farmers
and others to exercise maximum
restraint when encountering them.
Government orders have told
people to stay inside and not to
gawk at them or use firecrackers
or otherwise attempt to scare them
away.
So far, more passive means are
being used to keep them out of
urban areas, including the parking
of trucks and construction equip-
ment to block roads and the use of
food drops to lure them away.
As of June 8, the herd remained
on the outskirts of Kunming, a
city of 7 million, with one of the
males having moved away on his
own, creating even more excite-
ment — and worry — for those
attempting to keep tabs on them.
A statement June 7 from a pro-
vincial command center set up to
monitor the group said the ele-
phants appeared to be resting,
while more than 410 emergency
response personnel and police
personnel, scores of vehicles and
14 drones were deployed to mon-
itor them. Area residents were
evacuated, temporary traffic con-
trol measures implemented, and 2
tons of elephant food put in place.
Another objective was to
“maintain silence to create con-
ditions for guiding the elephant
group to migrate west and south,”
the command center said.
Asian elephants, the conti-
nent’s largest land animal, are
declining overall, with less than
50,000 left in the wild. Habitat
loss and resulting human-wildlife
conflict are their biggest threats,
along with poaching and popula-
tion isolation.
The Associated Press
BEIJING — Already famous
at home, China’s wandering ele-
phants now are becoming interna-
tional stars.
Major global media are chron-
icling the herd’s more than year-
long, 300-mile trek from their
home in a wildlife reserve in
mountainous southwest Yunnan
province to the outskirts of the
provincial capital of Kunming.
Twitter and YouTube are full of
clips of their various antics, par-
ticularly those of two calves who
slipped into an irrigation ditch
and had to be helped out by older
members of the group.
“We should be more like the
elephant and be more family
oriented, take family vaca-
tions and help and care for and
protect each other,” read one
comment on YouTube signed
MrDeterministicchaos.
The elephants have been
trending for days on China’s
Weibo microblogging service
with photos of the group sleeping
attracting 25,000 posts and 200
million views Monday night, June
7.
The 15-member herd has been
caught at night trotting down
urban streets by security cam-
eras, filmed constantly from the
air by more than a dozen drones
and followed by those seeking to
minimize damage and keep both
pachyderms and people out of
harm’s way.
They’ve raided farms for food
and water, visited a car dealership
and even showed up at a retire-
ment home, where they poked
their trunks into some of the
rooms, prompting one elderly man
to hide under his bed.
While no animals or people
Yunnan Forest Fire Brigade via AP
In this photo taken June 4, 2021, and released by the Yunnan Forest Fire Brigade, a migrating herd of elephants on June 4, 2021,
graze near Shuanghe Township, Jinning District of Kunming city in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province. Already famous at
home, China’s wandering elephants are now becoming international stars. Major global media, including satellite news sta-
tions, news papers and wire services are chronicling the herd’s more-than year-long, 300 mile trek from their home in a wildlife
reserve in mountainous southwest Yunnan province to the outskirts of the provincial capital of Kunming.
have been hurt, reports put
damage to crops at more than $1
million.
Sixteen animals were origi-
nally in the group, but the govern-
ment says two returned home and
a baby was born during the walk.
The herd now is composed of
six female and three male adults,
three juveniles and three calves,
according to official reports.
What exactly motivated them
to make the epic journey remains
a mystery, although they appear
to be especially attracted to corn,
tropical fruit and other crops that
are tasty, plentiful and easy to
obtain in the lush tropical region
that is home to about 300 of the
weather
| Go to AccuWeather.com
that in their search for new hab-
itat, they got lost along the way
and kept going.”
Authorities have been working
to avoid negative interactions
and “must determine what the
best next steps here are and keep
human-elephant conflict at bay,”
Jayasinghe wrote.
Kunming is to host the
upcoming Convention on Bio-
logical Diversity’s Convention
of Parties to discuss topics such
as human-wildlife conflict, and
“this is a real-time example of
the importance of addressing
the issue and its root causes for
the benefit of both wildlife and
people,” she wrote.
animals. Others have speculated
their leader may be simply lost.
Asian elephants are loyal to
their home ranges unless there
have been disturbances, loss of
resources or development, in
which case they may move out,
according to Nilanga Jayasinghe,
manager for Asian species conser-
vation at the World Wildlife Fund.
“In this case, we don’t really
know why they left their home
range, but do know that there has
been significant habitat loss due to
agriculture and conversion of for-
ests into plantations within that
range in the last few decades,”
Jayasinghe wrote in an email.
“What possibly happened here is
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
50/61
Kennewick
51/63
St. Helens
54/66
TIllamook
52/65
54/71
54/66
50/66
Condon
TONIGHT
FRI
SAT
SUN
MON
Considerable
cloudiness
Nice with clouds
and sun
Mostly sunny
and warmer
Warm with lots
of sun
76 45
89 52
92 52
Eugene
49/67
Comfort Index™
La Grande
9
46 72 49
Comfort Index™ 10
Enterprise
9
7
6
4
78 51
91 53
90 55
10
4
4
10
40 67 48
Comfort Index™
10
89 53
86 55
10
4
4
10
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Tuesday
Low Tuesday
High: 107°
Low: 25°
Wettest: 6.15”
73°
42°
73°
49°
79°
48°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Tuesday
Trace
Month to date
Trace
Normal month to date 0.38
Year to date
2.23
Normal year to date
4.91
0.00
Trace
0.49
5.90
8.29
Trace
Trace
0.56
14.21
12.48
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION FRIDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
40%
SW at 6 to 12 mph
5.6
0.14
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Wednesday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
Powers
51/63
17% of capacity
83% of capacity
47% of capacity
93% of capacity
51% of capacity
88% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Tuesday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
3720 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
92 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
102 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
100 cfs
Minam River at Minam
1300 cfs
Powder River near Richland
28 cfs
Presidio, Texas
Bodie State Park, Calif.
Batesville, Miss.
OREGON
High: 83°
Low: 31°
Wettest: 0.11”
Ontario
Crater Lake
Bend
A woman was sucked through a window
in her home in El Dorado, Kan., by a pow-
erful tornado on June 10, 1958, and car-
ried 60 feet. A broken record found next to
her was entitled “Stormy Weather.”
SUN & MOON
THU.
FRI.
5:04 a.m. 5:04 a.m.
8:40 p.m. 8:40 p.m.
5:08 a.m. 5:50 a.m.
9:19 p.m. 10:14 p.m.
MOON PHASES
New
Jun 10
First
Jun 17
Full
Jun 24
41/60
Beaver Marsh
38/54
51/69
Last
Jul 1
Jordan Valley
Paisley
Frenchglen
43/68
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
61/51/r
62/42/sh
76/55/c
57/51/r
69/40/c
62/52/r
64/50/sh
72/49/c
71/48/c
67/52/sh
78/53/c
65/52/sh
68/51/c
66/47/sh
65/47/c
78/55/pc
62/39/c
64/39/pc
Hi/Lo/W
69/57/sh
80/53/pc
82/59/pc
62/54/sh
78/48/pc
67/56/sh
74/55/c
78/49/pc
78/53/pc
76/58/pc
86/55/pc
80/61/c
78/50/pc
77/50/pc
73/55/pc
86/60/pc
78/48/pc
79/44/pc
Grand View
Arock
47/82
45/72
45/74
Klamath Falls
41/62
Lakeview
37/64
McDermitt
Shown is Friday’s weather. Temperatures are Thursday night’s lows and Friday’s highs.
SAT.
Diamond
43/67
Fields
Medford
FRI.
Boise
44/68
40/64
40/61
51/68
49/57
46/72
49/76
51/68
Brookings
Juntura
41/69
Silver Lake
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Ontario
49/78
Burns
41/59
43/73
RECREATION FORECAST FRIDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
WEATHER HISTORY
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
Brothers
47/66
Roseburg
Huntington
42/62
Bend
Coos Bay
41/72
52/74
Seneca
43/62
Oakridge
Council
41/70
46/66
43/63
Elkton
TUESDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
40/59
John Day
42/66
Sisters
Florence
51/59
43/70
Baker City
Redmond
49/56
51/62
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.
ALMANAC
Newport
Halfway
Granite
47/64
52/69
75 53
48/70
46/60
51/66
Corvallis
Enterprise
40/67
46/72
Monument
51/72
Idanha
Salem
Cloudy and cool
41 70 42
Elgin
42/71
La Grande
46/68
Maupin
Baker City
52/73
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
49/77
Hood River
46/73
49/59
Lewiston
Walla Walla
53/78
Vancouver
52/65
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
FRI.
SAT.
Hi/Lo/W
77/55/c
63/55/sh
69/49/c
68/52/sh
56/50/r
61/49/sh
78/57/c
77/55/pc
73/51/pc
66/55/sh
63/52/sh
66/41/sh
69/54/sh
66/54/sh
69/49/c
71/52/sh
64/41/sh
73/53/c
Hi/Lo/W
82/57/pc
77/59/c
77/51/pc
83/63/s
62/54/sh
74/54/c
82/57/pc
85/58/pc
82/55/pc
75/61/c
70/60/sh
82/51/pc
80/59/pc
74/59/c
75/54/c
82/63/c
75/43/pc
83/61/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
A shower or two
A p.m. shower
42
31
61
43
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Cloudy
Cloudy
55
44
73
54
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Cloudy and chilly
Cloudy
50
37
62
40
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Mostly cloudy
Mostly cloudy
65
47
72
48
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Cloudy
Cloudy
70
42
72
49