This Hip Cat Isn’T Cool With Her Sound
Susan Bates-Harbuck’s cat, Rufelina, is a hard-to-please music critic.
“When I play the piano, she often walks across the keys to lie down on my hands,” wrote Bates-Harbuck.
“When I play the harmonica, she jumps up on my lap and bites my arm, gently. When I don’t let her onto my lap, she will go and bite my daughter instead.”
Bates-Harbuck insists she’s really not bad on either instrument.
Rufelina wasn’t available for comment.
* Close enough for government work: A customer at the downtown Spokane post office handed an envelope to a postal employee behind the counter. The envelope in question, mailed from Minnesota, was supposed to go to Boston but had found its way to a P.O. box here.
The postal employee looked at it and, after a moment, said “Hmmm, well, right country anyway.”
* Warning: Back in 1978, the 26-month-old son of a reader named Lois was a ring bearer at a relative’s wedding. At one point during the ceremony, the little boy yelled “No!”
“It pretty much summed up the situation,” said Lois. “The marriage did not last.”
* What to call tourists in Spokane: “In-laws.” — Noreen Olson
* Just wondering: For 10 summers now, the Inland Northwest Blood Center has rewarded dedicated donors with special T-shirts. They’ve had different designs each year. So here’s the question: How many people have a collection of all the INBC T-shirts?
* Memorable Sunburns Department: During a rare afternoon off during Marine training in 1966, Rick Holt (North Central High, ‘64) fell asleep on a California beach and got cooked. “The next day, crawling between obstacles on my stomach was kind of painful.”
* Slice answer: “The best summer job I had was working for Earl and Geneva Clausen during harvest,” wrote Beth Zehm, secretary at Liberty High School. “They farmed land in the Waverly and Fairfield, Wash., area and at Worley, Idaho. The crew I worked with was wonderful (Jerry Jeske, Jim Fisher, Bob Miller, Don Evans, and Earl and Geneva). The days were hot and tiring but never seemed long because everyone was great to work with.”
Her worst summer job was in 1965, doing household chores from sunup till late for a farm family living near St. John. She made $3 a day.
* Today’s Slice question: What local kid will be the first to declare that he/she is bored?