The Slice: Perhaps something smells fishy

This is the season when certain outdoorsy families around here discover that they should have done a better job of cleaning, airing and shaking out camping stuff before packing it away last fall.

Let’s move on.

Possible ArtFest theme for 2012: “Please Don’t Blame Us for How the MAC is Run.”

Another tale of grocery list confusion: A previous Slice item reminded Jackie Siebers of her dad.

“We needed dog food for my sister’s dogs (Kerri and Zoe) as well as deli ham. I put them on the list as ‘K&Z dog food’ with a small …

This is the season when certain outdoorsy families around here discover that they should have done a better job of cleaning, airing and shaking out camping stuff before packing it away last fall.

Let’s move on.

Possible ArtFest theme for 2012: “Please Don’t Blame Us for How the MAC is Run.”

Another tale of grocery list confusion: A previous Slice item reminded Jackie Siebers of her dad.

“We needed dog food for my sister’s dogs (Kerri and Zoe) as well as deli ham. I put them on the list as ‘K&Z dog food’ with a small space and ‘ham.’ ”

Apparently that space was not big enough.

“My dad thought ‘K&Z’ was a brand name of dog food and it was to be ham flavored. He looked all over for it and when he got home he said he couldn’t find it.

“I had to tell him what it really meant. He was very thankful he didn’t ask for help at the store.”

Posts on The Slice Blog that prompted at least one angry call: Wondering how many Spokane area 42-year-olds might actually be the children of former baseball player Steve Garvey and noting that born-in-Spokane Father’s Day is coming up.

Geopolitics: Picture a map of the Lower 48 states. Now imagine it without Washington and pretend that the Evergreen State had never existed and that the Pacific Ocean lapped up against the edge of Idaho.

Would Post Falls/Coeur d’Alene have been Seattle-like in this alternate universe, and would Idaho’s politics, population and culture be altogether different as a result of being a coastal state nearer Midwest markets than the Oregon and California ports?

A note from a Slice reader: “My husband and I took a walk from the blue bridge in the park all the way down the river to the Monroe Street Bridge last night,” she wrote last week. “I kept thinking about your question … what does the river with all of the falls and raging water sound like?

“Answer: What? Sorry, I can’t hear you – the water is running.”

Today’s Slice question: How old were your children when your mere presence became embarrassing to them?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Tree pollen can make line-drying the laundry less than satisfactory.