The Slice: Teaching your child to speak Spokanese

Bob Gregson didn’t grow up here.

But his parents, Rogers High grads, did. So when young Bob would leave a light on unnecessarily, they would admonish him with a Lilac City classic.

“Do you work for Washington Water Power? Now go and turn that light off!”

Of course, Bob really had no idea what in blazes they were talking about. He just chalked it up to parents being parents.

It wasn’t until his teen years that Bob discovered WWP was a Spokane electric utility. “Before that it was just a mysterious term one’s parents used to remonstrate about wasting electricity.”

Bob retired to Spokane, where his beloved grandparents had lived, in 2003.

“And never once, if memory serves, have I said to my spouse, ‘Do you work for Avista? You need to turn off that light!’ ”

Watching the first Super Bowl on TV: Dale Anderson did. “I was 14 at the time and remember that it was on two channels, NBC (KHQ) had the AFL and CBS (KXLY at the time) had the NFL. I was kind of curious to hear what the announcers were saying on each station so I flipped channels back and forth. I kept it on NBC as KHQ had a much better signal to our farm southwest of Ritzville.”

Maybe it’s you: One Slice reader is going to be taken on an Alaskan cruise by her children this year, but she doesn’t know it yet.

Furry bunkmates: “I enjoyed your question about slumbering with animals,” wrote Kerry Potter. “I have four cats, all rescued, and just adopted a German short-haired pointer. Cooper would love to sleep on the bed, but sadly for him, there is no room.

“I tend to sleep on my side, and place my arm and leg over pillows. Punkin, at 17 pounds, sleeps partially on top of the pillow and curve of my hip. Tuffy then lays over my feet, ensuring that I’m immobile. Fortunately, Tuffy only weighs 11 pounds.

“The ‘boys,’ Lincoln and Romeo, sleep on the corners of the bed and fight over who gets to sleep on top of the foot warmer.

“I can’t wait for warmer weather, when none of the animals will want to share the bed with me. Except perhaps Cooper.

“Are they keeping me warm? Doubtful. Are they happy? Very!”

Today’s Slice question: What would you do if someone rang your doorbell at midnight?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470. Anne Albrecht described one particular pothole on the lower South Hill as “big enough for a school age child to take a bath in.”