COFFEE BREAK
B8 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
TuESDAY, FEBRuARY 22, 2022
Best friend feels uneasy as wedding bells approach
deserve it. That privilege should
belong to the best man.
DEAR ABBY: My wife and I
have friends — a married couple
— we socialize with every few
weeks. “Charles” is kind-hearted,
pleasant and enjoyable, always
with a good balance between
speaking and listening during
conversations. His wife, “Claire,”
on the other hand, isn’t interested
in hearing about our lives.
When we try to initiate a con-
versation, Claire cuts us off and
switches the subject to a non-
related, self-centered topic. She
also interrupts Charles while
he’s talking. She goes on and on
describing at length the minutiae
of her activities and, worse, the
something heartfelt since she’s
my close friend. I get anxious just
thinking about it. Please give me
some advice. — RELUCTANT
FRIEND IN INDIANA
DEAR RELUCTANT
FRIEND: When you write your
speech, start by saying how long
you and Sophie have been friends
and how close the two of you
are. Share a couple of anecdotes
about what a caring, loyal, fun
friend Sophie is, and state how
lucky “Brian” is to be marrying
her. Then toast the happy couple,
wish them a lifetime of happiness
together (even if you feel it won’t
turn out that way) and “drop the
mic.” You do not have to sing Bri-
an’s praises if you feel he doesn’t
DEAR ABBY: My best friend,
“Sophie,” just became engaged to
her longtime boyfriend, “Brian.”
I want to be happy for her, but he
doesn’t deserve her. She knows it,
but she won’t leave.
My problem is, I may very well
be asked to be maid of honor at
her wedding, and I dread the idea
of having to write a speech about
their relationship. How do I write
a speech when I have nothing
good to say about it?
I know Sophie will expect
lives of her friends (who we don’t
know or have any interest in). We
no longer enjoy her company, but
we hate to lose the connection
with Charles. Any suggestions?
— BORED IN MISSOURI
DEAR BORED: It may be
time for you and Charles to see
each other without wives in tow
— for lunch or a sporting event.
That way you will be off the hook
having to tolerate Claire, and your
wife won’t have to put up with
her because she can socialize
with friends whose company she
enjoys. I don’t have a crystal ball,
but I have a strong hunch you and
your wife won’t be the first to do
this.
DEAR ABBY: I met a very
nice guy while I was at a bar.
Because I was slightly drunk, he
drove me home. We exchanged
numbers and, since then, we have
been out once. I’m pretty sure
we will be going out again. The
problem is I have no idea what
his name is! We didn’t exchange
social media contacts. I feel awk-
ward asking his name now. Any
suggestions? — UNKNOWN IN
THE WEST
DEAR UNKNOWN: Yes. The
next time he gets in touch, ask
him for the correct spelling of his
first and last names “to enter into
your contact list.” It may manage
to get you off the hook without
embarrassing yourself, unless his
name is John Smith.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Alaska auction to feature huge opal stashed away for years
pieces, which von Brandt
said was a practice used
decades ago to prove gem
quality.
Von Brandt said the stone
has been in his family since
the late 1950s, when his
grandfather bought it from
an Australian opal dealer
named John Altmann.
Von Brandt said the
opal for decades was in
the care of his father, Guy
von Brandt, who decided it
had been “locked up long
enough, that it’s time to
put it back out in the world
and see what interest it can
generate.”
“He entrusted me to
figure out which direction
we wanted to go to part with
the stone,” von Brandt told
The Associated Press.
The family, with roots
in California, exhibited
the stone at gem shows for
years, until the early 1980s,
he said. His father then
branched out into furniture
and displayed it at his shop.
Guy von Brandt eventually
moved to Oregon and kept
the stone “kind of tucked
away” for many years, von
Brandt said.
The Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska —
Nick Cline gets calls about
all kinds of items people
want to sell through the
Anchorage auction house
where he works. But he was
caught off-guard by a call
he got last fall from a man
saying he had “one of the
largest opals in the world.”
“I was extremely skep-
tical but extremely excited,”
said Cline, a partner and
appraisal specialist with
Alaska Premier Auctions &
Appraisals.
According to the auc-
tion house, the opal, dubbed
the “Americus Australis,”
weighs more than 11,800
carats and is one of the
largest gem-quality opals in
existence. It also has a long
history.
Most recently, it was
kept in a linen closet in a
home in Big Lake, north
of Anchorage, by Fred von
Brandt, who mines for gold
in Alaska and whose family
has deep roots in the gem
and rock business.
The opal is larger than a
brick and is broken into two
father, in his business deal-
ings, made regular trips to
Europe and the U.S.
Altmann said when
Cline emailed her, she
was skeptical; the name
of the stone, in particular,
threw her. But she said she
started digging and discov-
ered “something with my
grandfather’s handwriting
with the picture of the opal
with the word ‘Americus
Australis.’”
“I with 100% certainty
know that their provenance
information is 100% accu-
rate” because it lines up
with information she has,
she said.
The auction house said
the stone was discovered
in the same field in Aus-
tralia as the opal known as
the “Olympic Australis,”
which weighs 17,000 carats
and is on permanent dis-
play in Altmann’s shop. The
Olympic had been among
the stones that John Alt-
mann and partner Rudi
Cherny acquired in 1956,
according to Altmann’s
company.
The auction company is
seeking minimum bids of
Mark Thiessen/The Associated Press
Dan Newman, left, the founder of Alaska Premier Auctions and
Appraisals, and Nick Cline, a business partner, pose Friday, Feb. 18,
2022, in Anchorage, Alaska, with the “Americus Australis,” thought
to be one the largest gem-quality opals in existence. The gem was
offered at auction Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022, with an opening bid set at
$125,000.
held Sunday, Feb. 20.
Cline said the family has
documentation surrounding
the provenance of the opal.
As part of his research, he
contacted Fiona Altmann,
granddaughter of John Alt-
mann and general manager
of Altmann + Cherny in
Sydney, Australia.
Altmann said her grand-
Von Brandt said he
brought it with him to
Alaska over a year ago as he
weighed the best approach
to a possible sale. He said
he went with Alaska Pre-
mier Auctions & Appraisals
because he thought it would
get more attention from the
newer company than a larger
auction house. The sale was
weather
| Go to AccuWeather.com
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
21/40
Kennewick
17/38
St. Helens
15/33
20/38
Condon
18/38
21/38
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
Mainly clear
and frigid
Partly sunny;
very cold
Clouds and sun;
very cold
Sunshine;
turning colder
Mostly cloudy
and chilly
29
34 11
Eugene
0
16/38
Comfort Index™
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
9
30
0
5
4
23
0
4
1
35
0
19
0
1
0
23
0
-6
Comfort Index™
0
0
4
La Grande
26
8
39 20
1
0
28
0
0
0
1
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Sunday
Low Sunday
High: 85°
Low: -14°
Wettest: 1.99”
39°
22°
43°
28°
44°
30°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Sunday
Trace
Month to date
Trace
Normal month to date 0.42
Year to date
0.38
Normal year to date
1.12
0.09
0.50
0.87
1.77
2.54
0.24
1.10
1.69
5.03
4.96
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION WEDNESDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
Powers
40%
NNW at 6 to 12 mph
0.9
0.03
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Monday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
3% of capacity
32% of capacity
22% of capacity
41% of capacity
25% of capacity
48% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Sunday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
1970 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
1 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
7 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
231 cfs
Minam River at Minam
150 cfs
Powder River near Richland
42 cfs
SUN & MOON
TUE.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
WED.
6:43 a.m. 6:41 a.m.
5:30 p.m. 5:31 p.m.
none 12:45 a.m.
9:36 a.m. 10:07 a.m.
MOON PHASES
Last
Feb 23
New
Mar 2
First
Mar 10
Beaver Marsh
Grants Pass
Full
Mar 17
Burns
Jordan Valley
9/29
Frenchglen
Paisley
2/25
2/27
Hi/Lo/W
40/29/pc
25/6/s
31/17/s
51/32/s
30/9/pc
41/22/s
39/19/s
28/4/pc
23/8/pc
38/20/s
31/21/s
33/21/pc
25/14/pc
25/13/c
19/5/pc
32/22/pc
38/8/s
32/8/s
Hi/Lo/W
45/30/pc
38/17/c
36/14/pc
54/35/c
36/9/s
46/28/c
44/24/c
26/-1/c
30/0/sn
43/25/c
39/16/s
44/21/pc
29/5/sn
31/7/pc
21/1/sn
38/14/s
45/12/s
39/12/s
Grand View
Arock
20/34
14/32
Fields
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
5/38
4/32
McDermitt
13/31
RECREATION FORECAST WEDNESDAY
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
4/27
Shown is Wednesday’s weather. Temperatures are Tuesday night’s lows and Wednesday’s highs.
THU.
Boise
17/31
12/28
14/45
WED.
8/35
Silver Lake
2/36
Medford
Brookings
Juntura
4/30
15/50
31/51
Ontario
17/36
-3/29
Chiloquin
The Dalles
Crater Lake
Meacham
On Feb. 22, 1980, Toledo, Ohio, was
shrouded in fog for the seventh consecu-
tive day. Fog is common in many parts of
the country when winter snow melts.
0/23
16/38
18/43
OREGON
Huntington
-3/23
Brothers
-3/33
Roseburg
0/28
13/29
Seneca
1/25
Oakridge
20/41
WEATHER HISTORY
1/25
11/38
Coos Bay
Naples, Fla.
Antero Reservoir, Colo.
Stampede Pass, Wash.
High: 55°
Low: 23°
Wettest: 0.69”
-2/27
Council
3/21
John Day
Bend
17/40
1
-3/21
-1/27
Elkton
SUNDAY EXTREMES
ALMANAC
Sisters
Florence
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.
1/23
Baker City
Redmond
23/40
23/40
Halfway
Granite
14/39
Newport
34 17
2/26
10/35
19/41
Corvallis
Enterprise
-6/19
4/23
Monument
11/30
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
3
Elgin
0/23
La Grande
7/23
Maupin
21
10/26
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
21/37
Lewiston
12/28
Hood River
9/26
19/40
3
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Walla Walla
17/32
Vancouver
17/39
TIllamook
Baker City
$125,000 during Sunday’s
auction. Cline said it’s a “cal-
culated risk,” with the com-
pany going with what it sees
as a conservative approach
in hopes of garnering the
most attention. It has targeted
a sales price of $250,000 to
$350,000, Cline said.
The sale includes a
smaller piece of the opal
that von Brandt said his
father cut off to be worn or
displayed.
A spokesperson for the
Gemological Institute of
America said they could
not comment on the opal
as they had not seen it. The
AP reached out to others
who did not respond or
were unfamiliar with the
stone.
Altmann and von Brandt
said they would love to
see the opal end up in a
museum. Von Brandt said
he thinks the auction will
be “both exciting and diffi-
cult, more for my dad than
myself.”
His father was a child
when the family acquired
the stone, and he has a
“deeper connection than
even I do,” he said.
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
28/19/pc
38/23/s
23/10/pc
45/16/pc
40/30/pc
40/23/s
36/16/s
34/20/pc
26/16/s
38/25/s
43/21/s
27/4/s
38/21/pc
41/22/s
24/14/pc
38/23/pc
19/7/s
26/18/pc
Hi/Lo/W
32/16/c
39/26/pc
29/2/pc
48/21/s
44/33/c
42/24/pc
40/16/pc
37/15/s
33/13/pc
42/28/pc
49/28/pc
39/15/pc
45/26/pc
46/24/c
29/13/pc
45/21/s
27/2/pc
31/15/pc
ANTHONY LAKES
PHILLIPS LAKE
Bitterly cold
Sunshine and cold
9
-2
24
5
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Bitterly cold
Very cold
13
8
29
9
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Bitterly cold
Very cold
10
-6
14
1
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Frigid
Very cold
19
5
22
15
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Very cold
Quite cold
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice
21
3
23
9
Luxurious
Stanton sofa
only
$
Lay-Z-Boy
Recliner
$
®
649
Dresser,
Mirror,
Queen Bed
3 Pc.
999
• Free Delivery
• In-Store Credit
only
Bedroom
$
999
HOURS:Mon. - Fri. 9:30 am-6:30 pm
Sat. 9:30 am-5:30 pm Sun. 12 noon-4 pm
(541) 963-4144 • 888-449-2704
• 70 Store Buying Power
• Decorating Assistance
1520 ADAMS AVENUE
La GRANDE, OREGON 97850