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Friday, July 30, 2010 – Daily News – 5A FEATURES Playmate’s peculiar parents Radon found in rec room Dear Annie: I enjoy taking my 8- year-old daughter to our neighborhood park. Over time, she’s made many friends there, and while she has become close with some, there are oth- ers I’d prefer remain ‘‘playground friends’’ only. Most people seem to understand this. Annie’s Mailbox by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar There is one set of par- ents I do not care for at all. Their little girl is sweet, and I hate to avoid her simply because she has weird par- ents. Her mom has tried repeatedly to get me to drop off my daughter at their house for playtime. I don’t know her well and don’t feel comfortable doing this. Worse, the father, who apparently has anger man- agement issues, is estranged ‘‘again’’ from the family and has asked if my daugh- ter could accompany him to the park near his home so she can play with his little girl. I’ve dodged all their requests so far, but am look- ing for a way to make it clear that, although their daughter is nice and my child enjoys playing with her, that’s as far as the friendship will ever go. Any suggestions? — Ohio Dear Ohio: There is no nice way to say, ‘‘Your daughter is sweet, but you Bear turns Goldilocks tale on its head in NH LACONIA, N.H. (AP) — A black bear walked into a New Hampshire house through an open door, ate two pears and a bunch of grapes, took a drink from the family fishbowl and grabbed a 609 Walnut St. Red Bluff and your husband scare the dickens out of me, and I don’t want my kid around you.’’ The polite custom is to be noncommittal by saying, ‘‘We’ll see’’ or ‘‘Perhaps another time.’’ If you are willing, it would be nice to offer to take their daughter for an afternoon. Say, ‘‘I prefer to have my daughter with me. Maybe I could bring your child to our house and I’ll drive her home later.’’ Dearest Annie: My wife and I adopted our 5-year-old grandson, ‘‘Sam.’’ He has lived with us since he was a baby. Our son has never been around, and the moth- er’s presence is intermittent. Life is perfect, except for one burning question about our names. Sam has called us Grandma and Grandpa all this time. Now that he has started school, he ques- tions why he has to call us those names when the other kids have moms and dads. So he started calling us ‘‘Mama’’ and ‘‘Daddy.’’ To me, it doesn’t matter. Legal- ly, we are his parents. Our families have scold- ed us about this, saying we are Sam’s grandparents and this will confuse him. We don’t want that, but the truth is, he feels different either way, because in school, he’s stuffed bear on its way out the door. Mary Beth Parkinson says the bear apparently took advantage of the open outside door to get into her kitchen Tuesday in Laconia, about 20 miles north of Concord. She thinks the garage door going up scared the bear enough that it fled the house. She says she arrived in time to save the fish. Parkinson said her 6- the only one without par- ents. My wife says whatever names Sam chooses are fine. So do we answer to both names or what? What do you recommend? — A Concerned Daddy and/or Grandpa Dear Dad: You have legally adopted this boy. You are his father now. Your wife is his mother. If he wants to call you ‘‘Mama’’ and ‘‘Daddy,’’ that is his privilege and nobody else’s business. He knows you are his biological grandparents, and if, at any point, you believe he is confused about the relationship, it is easily cleared up with an open dis- cussion. Stop worrying. Dear Annie: I share your horror about the 25- year-old man from Oregon who indulges in sexual fantasies about his mother- in-law. But your advice that he recalibrate his fan- tasies by indulging in stereotypes about mothers as asexual creatures is way off base. Women struggle to feel attractive and sexy in a cul- ture that defines female sex- iness ever more narrowly. Let’s not contribute to it by declaring motherhood incompatible with sexual attractiveness. — Bingham- ton University Dear Binghamton: You misunderstand the point of the exercise. Mothers can be sexy and attractive, and that is his problem. and 9-year-old boys made sure the doors were locked before they went to bed. Wisconsin teens take flying leap to deliver mail LAKE GENEVA, Wis. (AP) — The main worry for some young 527-4308 Summer Cleaning Specials 824-4567 SPREADS, MODERN CLEANERS CARPET CLEANING Living Room & Hall (up to 350 sq.ft.) $ 5995 within 10 miles of city limits Not good with other offers Expires 9/30/10 SLEEPING BAGS ETC $1950 Dry Clean, Down and Extra Heavy add $2.50 Must be presented with incoming order. Not good with other offers Expires 9/30/10 COUCH & LOVESEAT Reg. $ 129.95 with this coupon $ 109.99 Not good with other offers Expires 9/30/10 PAY No more checks to write, stamps to buy, trips to the Daily News office to pay your paper bill, or big payments in advance to get a lower rate Now you can …. SAVE over 17% compared to the regular subscription price! with a painless charge every 13 weeks to your Visa or Mastercard. 13 weeks Home Delivery – only $ Other time increments available also at discounted rates. 530 527-2151 Or use our new online Subscription Concierge service: www.redbluffdailynews.com Click on Subscription Services, upper right on the home page. 24! For more information or to convert or extend your subscription, call 1210 A Solano St. Corning DEAR DR. GOTT: After 14 years of using our finished base- ment rec room on a daily basis, I have discovered the presence of radon gas. The level ranges between 6 and 7. To disassemble the room is far too costly on our retirement income. Recent lung X- rays are OK, so what is our risk of cancer after all these years of daily exposure? DEAR READER: Radon is a Dr. Peter Gott radioactive gas that comes from the breakdown of uranium. It is found in almost all soils and permeates the air we breathe. It moves through the ground and into build- ings and water supplies through cracks or holes in foundations and solid floors, through gaps in suspended flooring, around service pipes and through walls. It can enter through well water. Once inside a building, the radon is trapped and builds up to unhealthy levels. It can be found in schools, offices, homes and public buildings. Radon can’t be seen, tasted or smelled, yet reports indicate it causes lung cancer, killing thou- sands of people every year. Radon in the air is measured in pic- ocuries per liter (pCi/L) of air. While ANY amount of this radioactive gas is bad, the average level in homes across the United States is 1.3 and 0.4 in outside air. Nearly one in every 15 homes in the United States is estimated to have high levels. A level ranging from 6 to 7 definitely requires attention. To begin with, I wouldn’t take one sample test result as gospel. Have a sec- ond test to verify the accuracy of your first reading. Then have your water tested. Radon isn’t generally a problem when the source is surface water. The problems result when the source is groundwater or gener- ates through a public water supply that uses groundwater. There are several methods you can use to reduce the radon levels in your home ODDS & ENDS mail carriers in southern Wisconsin is neither dogs nor extreme weather. It’s plunging into a lake. A never-stopping boat delivers mail to dozens of mansions on Lake Gene- va during the summer. Teenage carriers are hired to jump off the boat, put the mail in mailboxes on the dock, then scurry back on board. An ill-timed jumper could fall in. The U.S. Postal Ser- vice says it’s the only delivery like it in the nation and has been run- ning since 1916. The boat carries about 150 people who watch the mail delivery, sometimes cheering for carriers when they safely return to the boat. Though the post office lost $3.8 billion last year, officials say the Lake Geneva route is expected to stay a while. The con- tract for it is just $1 a year. home-delivered subscription to Convert your Daily News that shouldn’t break the bank. You can perform a short-term home test by yourself that takes up to three days to perform. Long-term testing can last more than 90 days. Some methods can reduce levels by up to 99 percent, with extreme- ly high levels being brought down to an acceptable range. If you per- formed one short-term test, I rec- ommend you follow up with either another one or change to a long-term test for verification. The most common one is known as soil-suction radon reduction, which uses a fan-and-vent pipe system to pull radon from beneath your rec room and vent it outside. Even houses with crawl spaces should benefit from this process. By sealing visible cracks and openings around entrance pipes, greater reductions will be realized. One plus is that there will be no major changes or construction costs involved. Check with your local or state offices for the names of certified contrac- tors who can provide good advice and direction if you prefer to take that route. And now, on to the main issue — your risk after all these years. I find it hard to believe that you would or could simply stay away from a room you have obviously enjoyed for 14 years. You have already had a chest X-ray that failed to reveal any questionable areas. That’s a good thing. But, because of poten- tial dangers, I recommend you make an appointment with an oncologist for his or her opinion. Dr. Peter H. Gott is a retired physician and the author of several books, including “Live Longer, Live Better,” “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Diet” and “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Cookbook,” which are available at most bookstores or online. His website is www.AskDrGottMD.com.