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DEAR ANNIE: Neighbor’s barking dog keeps baby awake

DEAR ANNIE: My husband and I recently welcomed our first baby, and we are exhausted but overjoyed. We live in an apartment building, and after weeks of trial and error, we finally started getting our daughter onto a somewhat predictable sleep schedule. The problem is our next-door neighbor’s dog. It barks at everything: people in the hallway, delivery workers, car doors and even the elevator bell. Just when I get the baby down for a nap, the barking starts and wakes her up. Then she becomes overtired, cries for hours and has trouble sleeping at night. I understand that apartment ...

HINTS FROM HELOISE: Innovative way to test for moisture

DEAR HELOISE: My husband and I decided to remodel our basement and use it as a hobby/crafts/half-bath/extra TV room, where our teenagers and their friends can enjoy themselves or where we can gather as a family to watch movies. Since my dad had been a builder all his life and knew how to do things, we asked him how we should test for dampness. There are kits that you can buy, but he likes an old-fashioned method where we save plastic dry cleaning bags, cut them into 14-inch squares, and tape them to the walls. We taped all around the edges so that air couldn’t get in or out. After ...

TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH: Going home to die is rarely the only option

DEAR DR. ROACH: A dear friend of ours was diagnosed with lung cancer and subsequently had a stroke. Since then, he was told that he had disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and that there wasn’t any treatment for it. The doctors don’t want to do surgery for the cancer because they’re afraid that he might have another stroke, so he’s been left without options. They told him that he could spend his time going from doctor to doctor or go home and be with his family for whatever time he has left. Does all this sound reasonable to you? Any light you can shed on this would be ...

Bridge by Steve Becker for Aug. 4

Assume you’ve reached three notrump on the bidding shown and West leads a spade to East’s jack, which you win with the king. You can now count eight sure tricks, and your only chance for a ninth lies in the club suit. Without any opposing bidding, the percentage play in clubs would be to ...

Blue-winged wasp one of the best

I was asked to write an article on the blue-winged wasp, and it was opportune as I have seen a few in my yard. This inch-sized wasp (Scolia dubia) is an amazing, wonderful, benign member of the group called solitary wasps. These wasps do not build communal nests or work together in ...