COFFEE BREAK B6 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2022 Diff erence of opinion ends longtime friendships I are contending with concerns our 8-year-old daughter. She has been best friends with my (former) best friend’s daughter since birth. There have been eight years of sleepovers, birthdays, park visits, get-togethers and everything in between. We haven’t seen them in six months. We can’t keep telling our daughter the pandemic is the reason she can’t see her best friend. This situation is so simple and so complicated. What do I tell my daughter about her best friend? — VICTIM OF THE TIMES DEAR VICTIM: Tell your daughter the truth — that her friend’s parents will no longer allow it. Then explain why. That way she won’t think that this is in any way her fault. DEAR ABBY: The pandemic has put a strain on relationships. Last year, I lost my best friend of 40 years over the COVID vac- cines. I believe the vaccine helps to keep me safe, as well as helps my family and friends. This friend decided he and his family would not take the jab. He quit his job rather than get vaccinated. This caused a rift so wide that, in his eyes, he and his family could not continue being friends with our family. I’m sad about it. The big problem my wife and DEAR ABBY: I was recently contacted by my graduating class to help organize a reunion. Since then, one of the organizers has decided that our committee is an inseparable trio who must get together regularly by Zoom and occasionally in person. We were not in touch before the reunion and we have little in common, but I can tell she’s lonely, so I’ve indulged her so far. However, she now wants to con- vene periodically for long week- ends at a nearby inn. I do not want to leave my spouse for long weekends or spend money and time on a person whom I don’t care to befriend. When I’ve tried to demur with “unavailability” excuses, she insists we are a trio and we simply will wait a few weeks until I can fi nd an open date. I don’t want to be rude, but I can’t fi gure out how to politely tell her that I have no interest in accepting her sug- gestions for an extended slumber party. How should I handle this? — RELUCTANT ALUMNA IN THE WEST DEAR ALUMNA: Handle it by being frank with this needy individual. Tell her, “This isn’t going to happen. I do not wish to leave my husband for a weekend. I don’t mind helping with the reunion, but your demands on my time have increased to the point where they are too much for me.” DEAR ABBY: The season of pleasant weather and outdoor con- certs is approaching. Invariably, we end up sitting by the chatter- boxes. These folks seem obliv- ious to anyone else, including the performers and the rest of us who want to enjoy the performance. I realize these are free concerts, but I don’t want to have to listen to these rude people. Any sug- gestions for silencing them so we can hear what the rest of us came for? — DISGUSTED IN SOUTH CAROLINA DEAR DISGUSTED: Keep your tone civil. You might ask, “Would you please talk more qui- etly? We are trying to enjoy the performance.” However, if they aren’t receptive to your sugges- tion, consider moving as far away from them as possible. NEWS OF THE WEIRD Spain probes private taxidermy museum with 1,000 animals 10, in a statement, adding that its owner could be charged with traffi cking and other crimes against the environment. It said the fi nding was the largest of protected stuff ed specimens in Spain. Investigating agents found the stuff ed ani- mals in two warehouses extending over 50,000 square meters on the out- skirts of Bétera, a small town north of the eastern coastal city of Valencia. Of the 1,090 stuff ed ani- mals found, 405 belonged The Associated Press MADRID — Spain’s Civil Guard says it is inves- tigating a businessman in the eastern Valencia region who owned a private taxi- dermy collection with more than 1,000 stuff ed ani- mals, including just over 400 from protected species and at least one specimen of a North African oryx, already extinct. The collection would fetch $31.5 million on the black market, the Civil Guard said Sunday, April to specimens protected by the CITES convention on wildlife protection. They included the scim- itar oryx, also known as the Sahara oryx, which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, declared extinct in the wild in 2000, and at least two more species nearly extinct: the addax, or white antelope, originally from the Sahara desert and the Bengal tiger. The agents also recorded stuff ed specimens of cheetah, leopard, lion, lynx, French bulldogs was mis- takenly released from jail and is being sought, author- ities said Friday, April 8. James Howard Jackson, 19, was facing an attempted murder charge when he was released from Los Angeles County’s jail on April 6 “due to a clerical error,” the county Sheriff ’s Depart- ment said in a statement. The sheriff ’s Major Crimes Bureau is Major Crimes Bureau is working on fi nding him, the state- ment said. Jackson is one of fi ve polar bear, snow panther and white rhinoceros, among others, as well as 198 large ivory tusks from elephants. The Civil Guard said it would investigate whether any documents exist justi- fying the ownership of the collection. Accused shooter in Lady Gaga dog theft mistakenly freed LOS ANGELES — A gunman accused of shooting and seriously wounding Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her two people arrested in connec- tion with the Feb. 24, 2021, attack in Hollywood. Prose- cutors said Jackson and two other alleged gang mem- bers had driven around looking for expensive French bulldogs to steal, then spotted, tailed and robbed Ryan Fischer as he walked Lady Gaga’s dogs near Sunset Boulevard. During a violent struggle, Fischer was hit, choked and then shot in an attack captured by the doorbell camera of a nearby home. M ICHAEL 541-786-8463 M. Curtiss PN-7077A CCB# 183649 A C ERTIFIED M ASTER A RBORIST 215 Elm Street La Grande • (541) 963-5440 northwestfurnitureandmattress.com weather | Go to AccuWeather.com AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION Astoria Longview 34/47 Kennewick 35/48 St. Helens TIllamook 32/47 36/48 33/49 36/49 35/48 Condon WED THU FRI SAT Mostly cloudy and cold Cold with snow showers Cold; a morning shower An afternoon shower A.M. rain, then a shower 41 24 45 27 46 25 Eugene 0 0 0 35/49 44 26 45 36 47 29 0 1 0 17 39 19 La Grande 0 18 42 18 Comfort Index™ Enterprise 0 0 0 14 34 14 Comfort Index™ 0 43 30 44 28 0 1 1 0 ALMANAC TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin NATION (for the 48 contiguous states) High: 103° Low: 4° Wettest: 1.26” 41° 20° 42° 28° 39° 30° PRECIPITATION (inches) Sunday Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Normal year to date 0.01 0.05 0.26 0.72 2.32 Trace 0.08 0.57 2.46 5.19 0.16 0.97 0.81 8.16 8.67 AGRICULTURAL INFO. 38/49 HAY INFORMATION WEDNESDAY Lowest relative humidity Afternoon wind Hours of sunshine Evapotranspiration 45% W at 6 to 12 mph 0.5 0.05 RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Monday) Phillips Reservoir Unity Reservoir Owyhee Reservoir McKay Reservoir Wallowa Lake Thief Valley Reservoir 10% of capacity 70% of capacity 43% of capacity 74% of capacity 40% of capacity 96% of capacity STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Sunday) Grande Ronde at Troy 3060 cfs Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder 1 cfs Burnt River near Unity 5 cfs Umatilla River near Gibbon 237 cfs Minam River at Minam 372 cfs Powder River near Richland 22 cfs Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset TUE. WED. 6:13 a.m. 7:34 p.m. 3:00 p.m. 4:52 a.m. 6:11 a.m. 7:36 p.m. 4:11 p.m. 5:14 a.m. MOON PHASES Full Apr 16 Last New Apr 23 Apr 30 Beaver Marsh First May 8 35/50 Grants Pass Juntura 15/40 19/43 Jordan Valley 19/35 Paisley 22/39 Frenchglen Diamond 18/38 Klamath Falls 23/39 Lakeview 17/37 McDermitt Hi/Lo/W 47/36/pc 43/29/sn 44/27/sf 48/42/r 40/17/sf 50/39/r 47/34/sh 40/19/sf 41/16/sf 49/36/r 51/28/sn 47/31/c 43/20/sf 38/19/c 37/17/sf 52/29/c 39/27/c 37/24/sf Hi/Lo/W 49/36/c 47/27/r 47/33/c 51/37/r 43/24/sn 50/37/sh 48/31/pc 42/27/pc 43/27/pc 50/37/c 50/30/c 48/35/sh 45/23/c 43/26/sf 41/21/c 53/34/pc 45/28/c 42/30/c 16/36 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 21/46 20/40 Fields Shown is Wednesday’s weather. Temperatures are Tuesday night’s lows and Wednesday’s highs. THU. Grand View Arock 17/36 22/39 35/50 WED. Boise 24/44 Silver Lake 24/38 Medford Brookings Ontario 24/50 Burns 36/49 38/48 Huntington 22/43 20/39 Chiloquin Medford Burns Meacham SUN & MOON Brothers 24/39 21/37 21/40 11/37 26/43 Oakridge Roseburg Powers OREGON The all-time measured wind speed record was set at Mt. Washington, N.H., on April 12, 1934. The wind averaged 186 mph for fi ve minutes and gusted briefl y to a record 231 mph. 17/38 Seneca 30/46 38/50 WEATHER HISTORY 23/42 Council 17/39 John Day Bend Coos Bay Zapata, Texas Dixie, Idaho Florence, Ore. High: 54° Low: 17° Wettest: 0.38” Sisters Elkton SUNDAY EXTREMES High Sunday Low Sunday 12/33 24/43 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. 19/42 Baker City Redmond 36/48 39/51 Halfway Granite 33/47 Newport 36/50 41 21 21/41 30/44 35/47 Corvallis Enterprise 14/34 18/42 Monument 31/45 Idanha Salem TONIGHT Comfort Index™ Elgin 17/41 La Grande 27/39 Maupin Baker City 25/46 Pendleton The Dalles Portland Newberg 28/48 Hood River 23/43 33/48 Lewiston Walla Walla 29/52 Vancouver 35/48 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022 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 48/30/c 48/35/c 40/18/sf 50/38/r 48/34/pc 47/31/r 50/27/sh 52/28/c 43/23/sf 49/36/r 49/38/sh 42/25/sf 50/39/sh 47/35/r 44/26/c 49/33/sn 35/18/sn 46/27/sh Hi/Lo/W 49/35/c 48/37/sh 43/27/sn 53/36/r 48/35/pc 48/32/c 51/30/c 52/34/pc 47/31/c 49/38/sh 52/37/sh 44/23/sn 51/35/sh 51/38/pc 45/29/c 49/34/pc 41/23/c 48/32/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 Snow showers Snow showers; cold 15 7 34 18 MT. EMILY REC. BROWNLEE RES. Snow showers Snow showers; cold 27 15 45 23 EAGLE CAP WILD. EMIGRANT ST. PARK Snow showers; cold A little a.m. snow 23 7 32 12 WALLOWA LAKE MCKAY RESERVOIR Snow showers; cold Morning fl urries 37 17 43 23 THIEF VALLEY RES. RED BRIDGE ST. PARK Snow showers; cold Snow showers; cold 39 19 42 18 Casual Sofa with Accent Pillows only $ • Free Delivery • In-Store Credit La-Z-Boy Recliner $ 649 899 6 Pc. Charcoal finished (Table, 4 chairs and bench) Dining Set $ 899 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