The Slice: Was Dad naughty or nice?

Remember, the 12 Days of Father’s Day start tomorrow. Sure, that’s a lot of presents. But Father’s Day is a Spokane invention, after all. And lots of local dads deserve the salute.

•Slice answers: “As a mother of 11 children, my heart goes out to babies, babies of all kinds,” wrote North Sider Lisa Lee. “A mother bird has chosen a spot under the hood of my van to build a nest, lay eggs, and hatch them.”

Lee can see the nest under the battery. And she can hear the baby birds.

She knows that they must have made several trips around town with her before she discovered the nest.

But until the little ones have moved on, there is only one thing to do.

“The van is parked indefinitely,” she said.

Four years ago, Sherry and Don Kisamore in Priest River discovered that a western flycatcher had made its nest in a decorative wreath on their door. “As soon as we discovered her, we began to walk around and use the back door so we wouldn’t disturb her,” wrote Sherry.

The little mother, now named Lynda Bird, must appreciate the Kisamores’ consideration. She has come back every spring since.

•”Bonanza” and names, Part 2: Years ago, Jill Howard’s dad, Joseph, worked a second job at a gas station. Eventually, her then-teenage brother, Joseph Jr., started working at the same place.

“The owner needed to distinguish the two, so he began calling my dad ‘Big Joe’ and my brother ‘Little Joe.’”

The nicknames stuck. And customers would get a kick out of it when the filling station’s owner would page “Little Joe” and Howard’s 6-foot-4 brother would appear.

•Sunburns Department: When she was 9, Betsy Rainsford changed her hairstyle. “My ears were exposed for the first time in my life and the tops of them got so burned, it was really painful,” she wrote. “Now, in my 50th year, they are much more used to the sun.”

•Actual (well-intentioned) directions offered to a newcomer in Wellpinit: “Go up the hill to where the sign used to be …”

•Priest Lake Commandments: Karen Snyder offered a couple.

“Thou shall take at least one nap every day.”

“Thou shall pick hunkleberries (grandkids’ word), but not in front of my cabin, please.”

•Looking ahead: Thursday is the anniversary of Secretariat’s mind-blowing 1973 Belmont Stakes victory.

•The thing I can’t stand about The Slice is…: “If your lists are longer than 10 items, I don’t read them.” — Carol Nelson

“That it’s not published seven days a week.” — Dave Cazel

•Reader suggested warm-up questions: Rhubarb or zucchini: Which is easier to give away at the office?

Which PC function would you most like to apply to the rest of life: Undo, copy and paste, delete, other?

•Today’s Slice question: If jerks could be eliminated from Hoopfest, how much would that shrink the event?