DEAR HELOISE: I subscribe to the print and digital versions of the San Antonio Express-News. While I sincerely like being able to access the digital edition when I travel, I see two main drawbacks to it:

First, I do almost all of the daily puzzles, and printing them out is a hassle — and frankly quite difficult to do when I’m on the road. I do recognize that I can’t access my home print edition from the road at all, but buying a local paper at a corner store is nearly impossible anymore. I’d be very happy if the paper made their puzzles interactive so that I wouldn’t have to print them.

The second drawback for me is the loss of context and serendipity while browsing. This seems small, but it’s important to me. The spatial and tactile aspects of reading a full-sized sheet of newsprint are missing from the digital experience. Even with an exact copy, which the Express-News offers, there’s no way short of reading it on my big-screen TV that provides the full-page context at a glance.

The digital edition can also be clumsy to navigate. I don’t think there’s a fix for this problem. But with progress, we always lose a few things as we gain others!

• Martha R.,

in Seguin, Texas

DEAR HELOISE: The main reason that I switched from a hard-copy newspaper to a digital copy hasn’t been mentioned in your column: We frequently travel and don’t want newspapers to be left on the driveway and alert thefts that we are away. There’s no need to call the newspaper company to stop delivering the paper or get a neighbor to pick up the paper. This has been a huge help. We enjoy your column.

• Lyndy C., in Huntington Beach, Calif.

DEAR HELOISE: I wanted to add one important aspect to the hint about older people getting cats. I knew of someone who died, and when her friend went to visit (as she did fairly often), she realized that this person’s cats had died as well.

After hearing this story, my friend and I made an agreement to text each other each day to simply say: “Still here.” If we don’t hear from each other and can’t reach each other by phone, we have the numbers to reach neighbors who have keys and can check on the other person. We both feel better knowing that our pets will be safe if something happens to us.

• Meg, via email

Meg, you bring up an important point. Too many times, someone dies, but there’s no way for their pets to get food or water. My neighbor once told me that she and three other women are on a tag-team calling system. Once a week, they call one another, and if there isn’t an answer after three tries, they go to the person’s home to check on them and make certain that the pets have food and water.

• Heloise

Heloise@Heloise.com