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Travel politely

Dear Heloise: My husband and I recently returned from a lovely trip to Europe. For the most part, it was enjoyable, except for a couple of embarrassing moments that were not caused by fellow Americans. We were in Germany when a man from the United States started yelling and insulting the young man stamping our passports. He brought up World War II and made all sorts of ugly accusations. Finally, his wife grabbed his arm and told him to be nice. The airport security was called, and things just went downhill from there. As an American, I was appalled by the man’s behavior while he ...

Husband’s hypochondria getting out of hand

Dear Annie: My husband is a hypochondriac. It is so very hard living with him. Every time he hears of someone in our family coming down with an illness, he claims he has it. He is a healthy man and perfectly able-bodied. I get disgusted when he takes a handicapped spot next to a store when I know he doesn’t need it. During the height of the pandemic, he was in hysterics all the time. I cannot tell you how many hours I spent trying to pacify him, looking for things that were no longer available, like a thermometer. Because he swore the many thermometers we had at home were not ...

Reader writes in with three hints

Dear Heloise: First, I loved your hint about chocolate bloom! I was working at a Veterans Affairs building that day and took the paper with me. I was there all day in the reception area and had the paper folded, so your heading was at the top. Everybody kept asking, “What is chocolate bloom?” It was a wonderful conversation-starter that made my day run smoothly, so I wanted to personally thank you! Next, I have three great hints from the mother of a rambunctious autistic adolescent with developmental disabilities: 1. How to safely remove a lightbulb that has broken while it’s ...

Weather prognostications

Farmers have a large number of sayings that are used to foretell the weather and other unpredictable phenomena such as their spouses. One aphorism that springs to mind is “Early Easter, early spring.” That maxim seems to be holding up this year. Clouds of snow geese were seen honking their way northward over our farm in the last week of February and I spotted my first robin during the first days of March. This can only be bad news for the robins, because another farmer proverb goes, “There has to be three snows on the robin’s back before it can be spring.” We are overdue ...

A note to caregivers

Dear Readers: A recent column about the caregiver who felt worn out prompted a deluge of letters, mostly from others who are, or have been, caregivers themselves. As I read the letters, I thought of the fact that airlines tell mothers to put on their own oxygen masks first and then help their children. Here is a sampling of the letters we received: Dear Annie: Please add to the caregiver (“Not Good Enough”) that human beings have a finite mental capacity for each day. This is why Steve Jobs wore a black turtleneck and jeans every day; it left him mental room for more important ...

How to store food during outages

Dear Readers: With climate change has come some very unpredictable weather, which has caused many of you to ask how long food can last in the refrigerator or freezer. It appears that weather-related outages have increased significantly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all of us should be stocking up on ice and frozen containers of fresh water. If you know a bad storm is coming, you might want to stock up on ice and store it in coolers before the storm begins. Pay attention to the expiration dates on bottled water. Do not store milk, eggs and (nearly all) ...