The Slice: Next stop: single digits

Counting today, there are just 10 Saturdays left in 2012.

Let’s move on.

Just wondering: We’ve all seen yards that have clusters of campaign signs. But would your jaw drop if you saw a cluster that reflected ticket-splitting?

Feedback: Emily McConnell, 16, took issue with my assertion (Oct. 15) that kids today would not sit still for a family drive out in the country to check out fall colors.

“I think it would probably surprise you how many families still do this very activity,” she wrote. “Our family still goes out and does the fall tree tour. I mean, we drive all the way to the top of Mount Spokane to see if the tamaracks are changing color! I’ve been in the car with all of my siblings on several occasions to just go for a drive and see the beautiful fall colors around us.

“When we were little our mom called the first hints of fall ‘secrets in the trees,’ and she’d take us for a drive to hunt for secrets. I can name several families who still do the fall drive, and hopefully it’s a tradition that will remain a bit longer in this electronic device world.”

Warm-up question: Ever come up with an impromptu culinary concoction you were never able to repeat?

Today’s Slice question: Because there are people in Spokane who steal bicycles, I have been parking mine in the basement of the Review Tower when I get to work.

The storage room where I park has shelves holding old Spokane phone books going back decades. The other day, I pulled down the relatively big volume from my first year in Spokane. I had forgotten my earliest address here. But there it was.

Then I spent a few minutes looking up people who moved away long ago and a couple of businesses that no longer exist. My quick glance suggested that, in the late 1980s, “Inland Empire” still outpaced “Inland Northwest” when it came to business use.

So here’s the question. Have you ever experienced the time-capsule quality of old phone books?