The Slice: The upper crust? Not around here

Spokane has a lot to offer.

But it’s time we face facts.

There aren’t many people around here who can make a decent pie crust.

“Dumbest thing said by a fan at the Seahawks training camp: OK, he’s just a kid. So maybe we should cut him some slack.

But a little boy who shall remain nameless thanked Laurie Dretke for taking him to “Dolphins camp.”

“Poor but organized: Dona Reynolds and her son marvel at the apparent ability of sign-wielding panhandlers to keep track of their marking pens. “We must have six Sharpies at our house and we can never find any of them.”

“Just wondering: What’s your favorite story about responding to an enthusiastic greeting and only then realizing that you weren’t the person being hailed?

“Reaching out: Carl Gidlund went to the library in Hayden and requested that they track down a book about the late actor Albert Salmi, who spent his last years in Spokane. Gidlund expected that the interlibrary loan process would locate it in Boise or somewhere else in our region.

But when the book arrived, he noted that it had come from a library in New York City.

“I claim this in the name of …: During a brief exploration of a little island out in Priest Lake, Mike Carlson used rocks to spell out the name of his 6-year-old granddaughter, Kircee.

Now the island has her name on it, he told her.

The next day, the girl wanted to know if there was anything in the newspaper about the little patch of land being renamed Kircee Island.

“Re: the guy who said he never recognized the name of anyone appearing in this column: After printing that, I heard from a woman who has worked with him. Her name has appeared in The Slice often enough that she admitted to being self-conscious about it.

“Maybe I just don’t leave an impression,” she wrote.

“So you think your summer has been busy: All three of Bill and Judy Anderson’s grown-up children — all Ferris grads — are getting married this summer.

“Slice answer (rewards for pet-sitting): When either of them travels to a city with a Trader Joe’s, Miriam Berkman and her neighbor, Sarah, bring back chocolates available only at that chain.

“Still seems wrong: Kim Lallier heard her young nephew, Casey, talk about his dad shooting Mormons. But it turned out he meant “marmots.”

“Warm-up question: How many people around here have a next-door neighbor with a loud, disturbing smoker’s cough?

“Today’s Slice question: What business negotiation skill is most useful in the rest of life?