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The Slice: Leave it to Cleavers to make it work here

After The Slice asked how well the Cleavers would have fit in here if they had moved to Spokane 50 years ago, a couple of readers offered an interesting perspective.

In a nutshell, they suggested that the “Leave It To Beaver” family would have found the Lilac City vibrant and diverse compared to the mythical Mayfield, which had been their sitcom home.

My own guess is that Ward might have been expected to put in a few more hours at the office here. And other Spokane housewives would have found June a tad strange — sweet maybe, but odd.

The Beaver would have been placed in a special class for slow-learning rodent boys and Wally would have found Spokane high school girls so alluring that his nice-guy instincts would have been seriously tested.

“Mom, Dad, I think Mary Jane and I need to get married.”

“Oh, Wally! Well, go wash your hands for dinner.”

But of course, in 1963, the big question facing the Cleavers would have been “Which lake should be our summer home?”

You make the call: Spokane acts like a sibling that came along where in the birth order?

Slice answer: “When I notice birds building nests near my home, I set up a zoning meeting with the head construction bird and make it clear to him/her that they need to build the nest high enough and out of sight from the ground because I have cats that love to bring their bird ‘friends’ into my home through their little cat door and then leave them for me to freak out about while chasing them around the house,” wrote Joe Speranzi.

Spokane street names in revised song titles/lyrics: Sherry Hutchison had an idea.

“The old Fats Domino hit ‘Blueberry Hill’ becomes ‘I Found My Thrill Up Freya Street Hill.’ ”

Hutchinson said that would be especially true in winter.

Annual reminder: Someone with tears in his or her eyes at this time of year could be perfectly fine except for seasonal allergies.

Today’s Slice question: If, instead of Lewis and Clark, the explorers’ names had been your last name and your spouse/significant other’s last name, how would the history books have listed the leaders of the Corps of Discovery?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Cinco de Mayo and Bloomsday, together again.

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