Reader comments on digging holes

Dear Heloise: Calling 811 before you dig a hole for a bush is a waste of the investigator’s time and a needless expense. Now if you’re planting a tree with a substantial-sized root ball (with perhaps a contractor who uses a large hydraulic spade), make the call by all means. Generally, service lines are required to be buried 24-30 inches below the ground’s surface. — Bob Osterholt, via email

PHONE EMERGENCY

Dear Heloise: If anyone has to inform a person on my contact list about an emergency that I potentially have, this hint makes it easier for them to contact the right people. Instead of listing contacts with a first and last name, I have used “son, daughter or neighbor” as their last name, such as “Bob Son” or “Pat Daughter.”

I enjoy reading your column with my breakfast every morning in Ewing, New Jersey. — A Reader, via email

GETTING THE LAST DROP

Dear Heloise: For Brent, who wrote in about wanting to recover most of the product leftover in a bottle, I have a mesh shopping bag that I put the capped bottle in with the lid facing the bottom. I grab the bag handles and swing it around, and centrifugal force brings most of the contents to the lid of the bottle. Thanks. — Rolf Tandberg, via email

STORING VITAMIN CAPSULES

Dear Heloise: A recent column included a suggestion to store vitamin D and E capsules by turning the bottle upside down. I have a solution that I like better:

I put a pinch of cornstarch in the bottle and stir the pills until they are coated with it. Then they don’t stick together, not even in very humid weather. — Skip, in Hopewell, New Jersey

IS IT BLACK OR BLUE?

Dear Heloise: I’d like to add on to your recent hint on determining whether clothing is black or blue. I hand-sew a line of white thread in the upper side of the toe of my blue socks. This ensures that I can separate the black ones from the blue!

I enjoy reading your column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Virginia. — Anne Regan, via email

FREEZING A CAKE

Dear Heloise: I’ve discovered that you can freeze a cake, but each layer must be frozen separately and without frosting, which only makes the cake soggy when it thaws out. So, you make sure that each layer is wrapped well in plastic. Cakes do not freeze completely solid, so you have to be very careful not to stack things on top of the layers. — Joan M., in Elkins, West Virginia

PET PAL

Dear Heloise: This is Coco, a 4-year-old standard poodle. She weighs about 50 pounds. This week at the vet, she decided to become a lap dog and sat this way until it was her turn to be seen. — Carol McCoy Phelps, in San Angelo, Texas

Readers, to see Coco and our other Pet Pals, go to Heloise.com and click on “Pet of the Week.”

Do you have a furry friend to share with our readers? Send a photo and a brief description to Heloise@Heloise.com. — Heloise