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Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

Today’s Sound Off is about irresponsible neighbors: Dear Heloise: Last week my neighbor’s three large dogs tore down a section of my fence in the backyard. I brought this to the attention of my neighbor, who said he’d fix it. He took a rusted piece of tin and nailed it to the fence on his side. I spent a considerable amount of money having the fence put up, and now I have a large section of my fence covered in rusted tin. I plan to have it fixed on my side, but I think my neighbor should be financially responsible for at least half, if not all, of the repairs. — Grace in ...

Down-in-His Luck Roommate Turns Out to Be A Hoarder

DEAR ABBY: Last month, I found out a friend of mine was going to be living out of his van. I couldn’t let him do that, so I offered him my second bedroom and put him on the lease. He told me Uber doesn’t pay much, and he couldn’t afford half the $1,700-a-month rent, so we agreed he would pay what he could, roughly $200-$300 of the $1,700. I said it was OK because I didn’t take him in for money purposes. I did it to help a friend in need, and I had spare space. I quickly found out that he’s a hoarder. His entire bedroom is full of his boxes of stuff (manga, anime, books, ...

A Message From Nature

A red-tailed hawk, a bobcat and an eagle — no, this is not the beginning of a bar joke. This past week brought all three of these wonders of nature to our rural neighborhood. My husband and I saw the hawk in our backyard. It was on the ground along the tree line. We thought this was rather unusual for the bird to be on the ground for any length of time, but we soon realized the reason. The bird was enjoying a rather hefty meal of a rabbit. We have seen the hawk or its relative flying over the fields near our home. It will dive toward the earth, often scooping a mouse from ...

Dear Annie: How To Make Friends When You’re Older

Dear Annie: How do you make friends when you are older? I am 60 years old, and I’ve never been a “joiner” or good at making friends. I do have a couple of friends who I see once in a while, but I haven’t had a best friend since high school (and she wasn’t that good a friend, it turned out). The vast majority of my social activities involve my husband’s family. If I do step out of my comfort zone to become involved in something, it may give me something to do for an hour or two, but it never results in a friendship. It seems at my age that everyone has longstanding ...

To Your Good Health: Seek Neurologist’s Advice for Involuntary Mouth Movements

DEAR DR. ROACH: For about the past year, I have had mouth movements that I do not intend to make. I can stop them if I really concentrate on doing so, but as soon as I think of something else, they resume. Lately, I also have involuntary movements on the left side of my mouth when I am about to fall asleep, or maybe when I have already fallen asleep. I make a loud noise, which wakes me up. The left side of my face is twitching wildly. Sorry I don’t know how to better explain this, but I am partly asleep when it happens and don’t know anything else. Do you have any idea what could be ...

Dear Abby: Widower Regrets Not Having Living Will Handy at Hospital

DEAR ABBY: I would like to address a problem I’ve never seen in your column. A lot of people have living wills but most don’t remember what’s in them. My wife went to the hospital for a routine procedure that required anesthesia. After three hours of what was supposed to be a one-hour procedure, a nurse came out, said there was “a problem” and took me back to the recovery room. My wife was writhing on the bed and kept rasping, “I can’t breathe!” Six nurses tried to put an oxygen mask over her face, but she kept fighting them, trying to rip it off. I was in total shock. ...