People are eating them up! For Abby's favorite recipes, send a long, business-size, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $3.95 ($4.50 in Canada) to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, Ill. 61054. (Postage is included.)
UNWELCOME GUESTS ARE GIVEN 13 REASONS FOR STAYING HOME
DEAR ABBY: The letter signed "Frustrated in Florida" really burned me up. "Frustrated" had a married stepdaughter who lived out of state, and this nervy young woman invited another married couple and their two children to accompany them to their home for six days!
Well, I have some suggestions for "Frustrated" if that stepdaughter should show up again with or without her friends:
1. Have soiled sheets on the beds.
2. Have the fridge very low on food -- no snacks.
3. Undercook the eggs.
4. Scorch the beans (use an expendable pot).
5. Burn the potatoes.
6. Intrude on their private talks.
7. Bone up on some polite (?), classical insults, including references to moochers and deadbeats.
8. Get rough bathroom tissue.
9. Put out a short supply of cheap (very cheap) towels and washrags.
10. Lock the good sheets and towels away or "store" at a good friend's for a few days.
11. Don't wash the dishes; next mealtime exclaim, "Oh my, the dishes aren't washed. You ladies will have to help me do them!"
12. Have the TVs out for repair.
13. Don't pay to put those sorry bums up at a motel -- let them rent their own rooms.
If these steps don't get rid of them -- fumigate! -- A MEAN OLD EX-FARMER FROM KANSAS
DEAR ABBY: A friend of mine who lives in Phoenix lost her wallet while she was shopping one Saturday. The next day she got a telephone call from a man who told her he had found her wallet in a garbage can in a small town 20 miles from Phoenix. He said there was no money in the wallet, but her checkbook and credit cards were intact.
My friend offered to drive down to get it (she's 75 years old), but the man insisted that she "allow him the pleasure" of returning it to her Monday morning on his way to work. She was very grateful.
Naturally, she didn't report her credit cards lost or stolen. You can guess the end of the story -- the wallet was never returned, and she was out over $4,000 between the credit charges and checks that were cashed. Abby, please warn your readers so they can protect themselves against scams like this. -- ELLEN
DEAR ELLEN: Thanks for telling your friend's sad story as a warning to others. Readers, should your credit cards be out of your possession (stolen, lost or misplaced) -- report the loss immediately!
Pets Locked in Cars Sometimes Rely on Kindness of Strangers
DEAR ABBY: I just returned from my vacation and had to write this letter first thing. While vacationing in a national park, I saw several dogs locked in closed (or almost closed) cars while their owners toured museums, rode the tram, ate lunch, etc.
Abby, I recall reading in your column the facts about how fast a car heats up when left locked up on a hot summer day. Please publish these facts again soon. Maybe it will cause some thoughtless vacationers to reconsider before taking their pets on vacation with them.
While they may think it's the kind or convenient thing to do, they should decide while planning their vacation whether they are willing to leave at least two car windows partially open when they stop for even a few minutes. If not, they should leave their pet with a relative or friend, have a neighbor care for it at home, or board it in a kennel. These are by far the kindest options for people who really love their pets.
And if other tourists, sight-seeing in a national park, should observe a pet locked in a car with less-than-adequate ventilation, they should report it to the park ranger. -- CONCERNED TOURIST FROM STILWELL, KAN.
DEAR CONCERNED: Thank you for a timely reminder to well-meaning, but thoughtless pet owners.
The Animal Protection Institute, P.O. Box 22505, Sacramento, Calif. 95822, sells cards that may be placed under the windshield wiper. They sell for only $3 per 100 cards.
The message on the card reads: "YOUR DOG MAY BE DYING! We understand you meant to be kind by taking your dog with you today, but you could be risking your pet's life.
"On a hot summer day, the inside of a car heats very quickly. On an average 85-degree day, for example, the temperature inside your car -- with the windows slightly opened -- will reach 102 degrees in 10 minutes. In 30 minutes it will go up to 120 degrees. On warmer days, it will go even higher.
"A dog's normal body temperature is 101.5 to 102.2 degrees Farenheit. A dog can withstand a body temperature of 107 to 108 degrees Farenheit for only a very short time before suffering irreparable brain damage -- or even death. The closed car interferes with the dog's normal cooling process, that is, evaporation through panting.
"If your dog is overcome by heat exhaustion, you can give immediate first aid by immersing him or her in cold water until body temperature is lowered."
To get Abby's booklet "How to Write Letters for All Occasions," send a long, business-size, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $3.95 ($4.50 in Canada) to: Dear Abby, Letter Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, Ill. 61054. (Postage is included.)
Hickey on Husband's Neck Tells Truth Behind His Lie
DEAR ABBY: A few years ago, when I was in the hospital for complications during my third pregnancy, my husband walked into my hospital room with a large hickey on his neck. He reeked of alcohol and was wearing the same clothes he had worn the night before. I looked him over and saw another hickey -- only bigger -- on the other side of his neck.
I asked him where he got the hickeys and he said he didn't know what I was talking about, so I told him to go look in the mirror, which he did. "Oh," he said innocently, "those aren't hickeys -- that happened in a bar room scuffle. Some guy jabbed me with his elbow."
After my husband left the room, the woman in the next bed said with a knowing wink, "Hey, what were you two doing behind those curtains?" When I asked her what she meant, she said she had seen a big hickey on my husband's neck.
I have tried to just forget about it, but I can't. Abby, why is this still bugging me? -- CAN'T FORGET
DEAR CAN'T: It's bugging you because your husband lied to you and when you confronted him, instead of admitting it -- he lied again.
You need to resolve this and put it behind you. If your husband values his marriage, he will get into counseling with you. If he refuses, go without him. Your husband appears to have a lot of growing up to do.
He also may have a drinking problem, and unless he changes his behavior and gets help, he could wake up one day and discover that he has thrown away a good wife and three children.
DEAR ABBY: Car seating arrangements in America are usually automatically determined by the social class of the people involved.
If one working-class couple picks up another couple, the husband and wife whose car it is will usually sit in the front seat, and the guest husband and wife in the backseat.
Middle class: The two husbands sit in the front, the two wives in the back. Upper class: The woman guest sits in the front passenger seat next to the host driver, while the hostess sits in the back with the guest husband.
Abby, I believe that this pattern was discovered in a sociological research study that was done more than 40 years ago. -- DONALD L. MIESEN, SAN FRANCISCO
DEAR MR. MIESEN: Thank you for the input. I was not aware that this topic had been the subject of a sociological study -- until several readers wrote to tell me so!
A reader from Butte, Mont., wrote to say that you could tell which political party they belonged to by the seating arrangement: The Republicans usually sat with their wives, and the Democrats sat with the other fellow's wife.
By popular request, Abby shares more of her favorite prize-winning, easy-to-prepare recipes. To order, send a long, business-size, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $3.95 ($4.50 in Canada) to: More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, Ill. 61054. (Postage is included.)