COFFEE BREAK
B8 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
TuESDAY, JunE 28, 2022
Granddaughter’s behavior at funeral offends family
her uncles mentioned her attire,
she snapped that we had better
things to think about. I was very
upset and wanted to yell at her to
leave, but my grief overcame my
anger.
The whole time this grand-
daughter was there, she made
sure everyone knew she was. I
burst into tears, but that didn’t
seem to bother her. Rather than
allow the family to grieve, it
was more important to her that
nobody was going to tell her what
to do.
I want to tell her how we all
felt about her attire and her atti-
tude. I don’t want to ruin my rela-
tionship with her, but honestly, if
another family member passes,
none of us wants to deal with her
attitude while we are grieving.
DEAR ABBY: Our dear
mother recently passed away after
an extended illness. We all knew
it was inevitable, but it didn’t
make our loss any easier. My
siblings and I were devastated,
and we still are. The day of her
funeral was especially hard.
One of our older daughters
brought her children, our grand-
daughters (13 and 19 years old), to
the funeral. While everyone else
was dressed appropriately, one
of our granddaughters wore tat-
tered jeans with a loose top that
exposed her belly. When one of
younger kids take responsibility
in life. Each time I start talking
about it, she says it stresses her
out.
She has a busy career and
shoulders the responsibilities
the kids should be doing. She’s a
wonderful mother, but I feel she
is becoming a crutch to them. I
want the kids to be successful, but
I think they are being held back.
How do I address this in a positive
way? — LOST FOR WORDS
IN MICHIGAN
DEAR LOST: Sometimes
well-meaning parents can do
too much for their kids. A pos-
itive way to approach this sen-
sitive subject with your wife
would be to explain that you want
those children to be capable of
becoming independent when they
How do I tell her how disre-
spectful she was and that the time
was not for her — it was for us
as a family to grieve? — STILL
SAD IN THE EAST
DEAR STILL SAD: Your
granddaughter’s behavior at her
great-grandmother’s funeral was
atrocious. It was worse than her
attire. The people who should
“explain” proper attire and
funeral etiquette to her are her
parents, not you. Discuss this
with them when you can do it
calmly, since you and your sib-
lings still are in pain, and your
emotions are raw.
DEAR ABBY: I am a stepfa-
ther to five kids. Three are over
18; the other two are young teens.
I need help explaining to my wife
the importance of having the
are older. To achieve that, they
need to learn certain skills now so
they can practice them while they
are young adults.
Many families accomplish this
by giving their tweens and teens
an allowance in return for taking
on certain household chores. It
shouldn’t stress out your wife to
discuss this with you and consider
the wisdom of it. Because she
is so busy working, it might be
helpful if you took the lead on this
by broaching the subject with the
kids, and showing them what they
have to gain if they agree.
█
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren,
also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was
founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips.
Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com
or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
‘Biblical’ insect swarms spur Oregon push to fight pests
The Oregon Legislature
last year allocated $5 mil-
lion to assess the problem
and set up a Mormon
cricket and grasshopper
“suppression” program. An
additional $1.2 million for
the program was approved
earlier this month.
It’s part of a larger effort
by state and federal author-
ities in the U.S. West to
deal with an explosion of
grasshoppers and Mormon
crickets that has hit from
Montana to Nevada. But
some environmental groups
oppose the programs, which
rely on the aerial spraying
of pesticides across large
swaths of land.
Maley, an Oregon State
University Extension
Agent, and Aamodt, a resi-
dent of the small Columbia
River town of Arlington,
are both involved in
Mormon cricket outreach
and surveying efforts in the
area.
In 2017, Arlington saw
its largest Mormon cricket
By CLAIRE RUSH
The Associated Press/
Report for America
ARLINGTON —
Driving down a windy
canyon road in northern
Oregon rangeland, Jordan
Maley and April Aamodt
are on the look out for
Mormon crickets, giant
insects that can ravage
crops.
“There’s one right there,”
Aamodt says.
They’re not hard to spot.
The insects, which can
grow larger than 2 inches
(5 centimeters), blot the
asphalt.
Mormon crickets are
not new to Oregon. Native
to western North America,
their name dates back to the
1800s, when they ruined
the fields of Mormon set-
tlers in Utah. But amidst
drought and warming tem-
peratures — conditions
favored by the insects —
outbreaks across the West
have worsened.
Claire Rush/The Associated Press
April Aamodt holds a Mormon cricket in her hand in Blalock Canyon
near Arlington, Ore. on Friday, June 17, 2022. Aamodt is involved in
local outreach for Mormon cricket surveying.
outbreak since the 1940s.
The roads were “greasy”
with the squashed entrails
of the huge insects, which
damaged nearby wheat
crops.
Rancher Skye Krebs said
the outbreaks have been
“truly biblical.”
weather
| Go to AccuWeather.com
“On the highways, once
you get them killed, then
the rest of them come,” he
explained. Mormon crickets
are cannibalistic and will
feast on each other, dead or
alive, if not satiated with
protein.
The insects, which
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
55/63
Kennewick
55/68
St. Helens
56/79
55/74
Condon
59/84
57/76
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
Mainly clear
Mostly sunny
and pleasant
Sunny and
beautiful
Mostly sunny
and pleasant
Mostly sunny
and pleasant
81 48
85 51
87 53
Eugene
9
7
7
51/78
82 52
85 55
84 59
9
7
5
La Grande
51 79 50
Comfort Index™ 10
Enterprise
9
9
46 76 49
Comfort Index™ 10
81 54
83 57
9
6
5
10
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Sunday
Low Sunday
High: 117°
Death Valley, Calif.
Low: 28°
West Yellowstone, Mont.
Wettest: 3.21”
Pascagoula, Miss.
89°
40°
91°
45°
97°
45°
0.00
0.48
0.99
4.46
5.33
0.00
2.40
1.24
8.76
9.93
0.00
3.27
1.65
17.44
14.33
PRECIPITATION (inches)
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION WEDNESDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
30%
WNW at 7 to 14 mph
12.6
0.27
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Monday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
26% of capacity
92% of capacity
40% of capacity
100% of capacity
34% of capacity
100% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Sunday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
6380 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder 119 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
103 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
53 cfs
Minam River at Minam
1980 cfs
Powder River near Richland
93 cfs
OREGON
High: 103°
Low: 40°
Wettest: Trace
Medford
Baker City
Brookings
WEATHER HISTORY
The battle of Monmouth, N.J., was fought
on June 28, 1778. War reports indicated
more casualties caused by heat than bul-
lets. Heat was oppressive at 96 degrees in
the shade.
SUN & MOON
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
TUE.
WED.
5:07 a.m.
8:44 p.m.
4:24 a.m.
9:02 p.m.
5:07 a.m.
8:44 p.m.
5:13 a.m.
9:49 p.m.
MOON PHASES
New
Jun 28
First
Jul 6
Full
Jul 13
Last
Jul 20
50/80
Beaver Marsh
Powers
53/80
52/75
Silver Lake
Jordan Valley
49/81
Paisley
45/85
46/80
Frenchglen
Diamond
48/82
Klamath Falls
43/82
Lakeview
41/82
McDermitt
Shown is Wednesday’s weather. Temperatures are Tuesday night’s lows and Wednesday’s highs.
48/85
RECREATION FORECAST WEDNESDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
THU.
City
Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
Astoria
63/54/c 68/55/pc
Bend
83/49/s 84/53/s
Boise
86/56/s 89/59/s
Brookings
70/51/s 68/51/s
Burns
82/46/s 84/50/s
Coos Bay
62/51/pc 65/54/s
Corvallis
76/50/s 78/52/s
Council
82/52/s 86/54/s
Elgin
78/48/s 81/51/s
Eugene
78/50/pc 79/53/s
Hermiston
87/58/s 90/58/s
Hood River
79/58/s 88/58/s
Imnaha
80/52/s 83/57/s
John Day
80/50/s 84/54/s
Joseph
75/49/s 79/50/s
Kennewick
88/59/s 89/60/s
Klamath Falls 82/44/s 86/46/s
Lakeview
82/45/s 84/46/s
61/88
49/85
Fields
55/88
WED.
Grand View
Arock
48/82
48/86
Medford
Brookings
Boise
59/86
52/89
50/70
52/87
42/83
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Juntura
43/82
45/79
40/80
Roseburg
Ontario
61/90
Burns
Brothers
50/78
Coos Bay
Huntington
46/79
50/83
Oakridge
55/82
61/89
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
SUNDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
Sunday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
Florence
Council
44/79
John Day
46/83
48/83
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
Sisters
51/76
78 49
48/83
Baker City
Redmond
52/61
53/63
Halfway
Granite
45/73
51/74
54/78
Corvallis
52/83
50/76
Newport
Enterprise
46/76
51/79
Monument
55/83
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
8
Elgin
49/78
La Grande
53/78
Maupin
Comfort Index™
58/82
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
53/76
Lewiston
59/81
Hood River
57/84
52/63
44 79 45
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Walla Walla
63/88
Vancouver
55/72
TIllamook
Baker City
pers and Mormon crickets.
Under the new Oregon
initiative, private land-
owners like farmers and
ranchers can request the
Oregon Department of
Agriculture (ODA) survey
their land. If ODA finds
more than three Mormon
crickets or eight grasshop-
pers per square yard it will
recommend chemical treat-
ment. In some areas near
Arlington surveyed in May
soon after the hatch there
were 201 Mormon crickets
per square yard.
State officials recom-
mend the aerial applica-
tion of diflubenzuron. The
insecticide works by inhib-
iting development, pre-
venting nymphs from
growing into adults. Land-
owners can be reimbursed
for up to 75% of the cost.
Diana Fillmore is a
rancher participating in the
new cost-sharing initiative.
She says “the ground is just
crawling with grasshop-
pers” on her property.
are not true crickets but
shield-backed katydids,
are flightless. But they can
travel at least a quarter of
a mile in a day, according
to Maley.
Aamodt fought the 2017
outbreak with what she had
on hand.
“I got the lawnmower
out and I started mowing
them and killing them,” she
said. “I took a straight hoe
and I’d stab them.”
Aamodt has organized
volunteers to tackle the
infestation and earned the
nickname “cricket queen.”
Another infestation last
year had local officials
“scrambling,” Maley said.
“We had all those high-
value crops and irriga-
tion circles,” he explained.
“We just had to do what we
could to keep them from
getting into that.”
In 2021 alone, Oregon
agricultural officials esti-
mate 10 million acres of
rangeland in 18 counties
were damaged by grasshop-
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
81/58/pc
68/52/pc
77/49/s
88/56/s
61/50/pc
67/51/c
90/59/s
88/56/s
84/56/s
76/55/pc
75/52/s
83/47/s
80/52/s
78/54/pc
76/54/pc
84/59/s
77/47/s
82/57/s
Hi/Lo/W
85/61/pc
79/54/pc
80/51/s
89/57/s
62/53/pc
78/52/pc
91/60/s
89/58/s
85/60/s
80/59/pc
74/55/pc
85/52/s
82/54/s
80/56/s
80/55/pc
89/62/s
79/49/s
84/60/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
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny
53
41
75
45
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Sunshine
Not as hot
65
47
82
54
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Mostly sunny
Sunny
63
39
72
43
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Mostly sunny
Sunny and pleasant
75
49
82
55
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Mostly sunny; nice
Mostly sunny; nice
79
45
79
50
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