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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Dude just won’t answer to Marian

Paul Turner The Slice/Paul Turner

If you saw the recent announcement of her 60th wedding anniversary, you might have wondered how a lovely woman like Marian Thompson came to be known as “Dude.”

Well, shortly after Marian was born in Idaho, her grandmother from Arkansas peered into the crib and said, “She looks just like a little western dude.”

That became her name.

The South Hill grandmother of six turned 81 earlier this week. “And in all that time, I have never answered to Marian,” she said.

•Slice answers: Jerry Sciarrio said he switches over to short sleeves, “When all the long sleeved shirts are in the laundry hamper.”

Jay Dudley considers his Sandpoint mail carrier switching to shorts to be his cue.

•The last sleepover: Claudia Wohlfeil, a manager at the University of Idaho bookstore, saw the question about what prompted parents to declare “No more slumber parties.”

Her story took place a couple of years ago. Her son was turning 11. A bunch of his buddies were spending the night.

Now Wohlfeil is not clueless about the behavior of kids that age. Still, she asked that they demonstrate an awareness that others in the home would be trying to sleep.

Well, so much for that.

Her first intervention was at 1 a.m.

She went back again at 3.

At 4:30, she confiscated various video games and other toys.

Around 5:15, the boys started to settle down.

“At 7 a.m., I woke them all up and made them go out and do yard work,” wrote Wohlfeil.

•When highway signs get personal: Spokane’s Martin Wells was driving in Minnesota when he saw an exit sign with two town names – Wells Keister. “I puckered up in my seat for the next few miles,” he wrote.

•One of Mike Wirt’s pet peeves re: driving: “Not using turn signals until after the turn begins.”

•Slice answer: “My family’s home life most closely resembles that of the Parr family from ‘The Incredibles,’ ” wrote Dani Price. “The parallels you can draw are astounding, from personalities to superpowers.”

Maybe one of those powers is the ability to sound like former Spokane resident Craig T. Nelson.

•If you think your pet is crazy: A friend has a dog named Phoebe that likes to chew up the crotches of dirty laundry.

•Slice answer: Greg Branum is a 56-year-old recruiter for a national company. If he were asked to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a Spokane Indians game, “It would hit the target and probably with a little heat on it.”

•Today’s Slice question: How often are adoptees told that they resemble their siblings?