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Woman works hard to stay strong

Dear Heloise: I love your column! I wanted to respond to the guy who doesn’t like to see women pushing heavy carts. I have been lifting weights/working out for over 40 years and enjoy working hard to stay strong well into my 70s. I look at lifting a case of wine or pushing and loading/unloading our grocery carts as an opportunity to stay strong outside the gym. My husband has bad knees and is not as fit as I am. I also run my cart back to the cart “garage” rather than walk. Every little bit helps. I’m still strong at 77! -- Lynda P., via email A NEW PEANUT BUTTER ...

Unfulfilled by long-distance relationship

Dear Annie: I’ve been in a long-distance relationship with my girlfriend for almost a year and a half. While it’s been good for the most part, I feel like it might be time to call it quits. We video chat twice a week and text maybe twice a day, but it’s not enough for me anymore. I brought this up early in our relationship, but she told me that’s all the time she could give. I understand she has a demanding job that requires her attention four days a week, but even on her days off, she rarely texts me outside of our video chats. It wouldn’t be such a problem if our video chats ...

Trapping small spiders at home

Dear Heloise: We have an older home with wooden windows. Several years ago, we purchased storm windows that got installed on the outside of our wooden windows. They work great, but our window over the kitchen sink has small spiders that spin their webs between the inside and the storm window. We clean them out twice a week, but they just keep coming back. We don’t want to use insecticide due to them being close to where we prepare food. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, and we love your column! -- Thomas W., Longview, Texas Thomas, you can use sticky traps. Just open the ...

The pumpkin thief

Halloween is a bizarre holiday. While our kids are growing up we constantly warn them about taking candy from strangers. And what do we do on Halloween? We encourage them to shake down strangers for candy! We want our children to be themselves. But on Halloween, they are pretty much required to be anyone other than themselves. No wonder today’s youth have such a hard time figuring out their identities. Most Halloween costumes were homemade when I was a kid. You could don some of Dad’s old work clothes, smear some grime on your face and go trick-or-treating as a hobo. Or ...

Marital loneliness and difficult discoveries

Dear Annie: For the past four years, my wife and I have barely spoken. We don’t share anything or do anything together anymore. The only connection I have left is driving my daughter to school. I’ve tried everything to fix things between us, but nothing seems to work. Now divorce feels like the only option. But when I think about my daughter’s future, I feel overwhelmed and consumed by guilt. She’s 17, and I don’t want to hurt her, but I feel so lonely and depressed. I can’t seem to figure out why I’m stuck in this situation. I know I want to leave, but something keeps ...

Check the pressure of spare tires

Dear Heloise: I check the tire pressure on my spare tire once a year. It is a donut, and the recommended PSI is 60. After a year, it usually drops to the mid-50s. As an aside, I mentioned this to my brother, and he said that he never checks his spare tire’s pressure. So, he did, and it was 15! Also, after playing golf with my grandson, I asked him about this practice, and he also said he never checked his. We checked it, and it was 10.5! Please encourage your readers to do this simple task. Thank you. -- Rick Nelson, via email MAYONNAISE SPREADING Dear Heloise: One of my pet ...