The Slice: Forlorn lovers can read ’em and weep

Let’s start with a follow-up from last Saturday.

Several readers suggested candy Valentine’s messages they would want to send to various rats with whom they have been romantically involved. “Loser” and “Liar” seemed to be the most popular sentiments.

“Die” and “Skank” also got mentioned more than once.

OK. Well, I asked.

Now let’s all sing.

Love, exciting and new

Come aboard, we’re expecting you.

• Missing crows found: “They are here in Millwood,” wrote Jeannie Henderson. “About a dozen every morning, raiding my squirrel feeder of peanuts and sunflower seeds.”

(Actually, the same day I mentioned not seeing many of the big birds, a whole bunch of them loudly showed up in my yard, as if to taunt me.)

• Speaking of animals and peanuts: Tara Leininger up in Metaline Falls also feeds the legumes to squirrels. But apparently they don’t always eat them right away.

Here’s the story.

Leininger, a pastor and the town’s mayor, has stored a Shop-vac out in an 80-year-old garage since last fall. She knows animals have no trouble getting into the garage. Sometimes she’ll glance up and see the neighbor’s cat looking at her from a shelf.

It never really occurred to her, though, that any of the visiting creatures would have a use for the vacuum cleaner.

But then she loaned the device to a local theater. “Imagine my surprise when I was informed that the hose was full of peanuts,” she wrote. “Evidently my squirrels had found the perfect storage area.

“They must be confused now that their winter stash has disappeared. And, no, I don’t know how I moved it without dislodging all those nuts.”

• Slice answer: The person who will be mayor of Spokane in 25 years might be someone currently in the second grade at Bemiss Elementary, said Russ Stippel.

• Local deposits: “Dustyite,” wrote Karen Broeckel. “A fine grained mineral easily blown about by the wind. Usually found on kids, farmers and furniture. In conglomerate form it is known as dirtclodite.”

And Kathy Hickman offered this: “After a little snow melting in North Idaho, I definitely am seeing signs of dogite in my backyard. I definitely know the distinctive properties of those masses.”

• Today’s Slice question: What is Spokane’s most often-used pickup line?