The Slice: You can’t lose if you don’t play

A reader suggested that the Washington Lottery’s “Wallet-Fattening Zone” campaign isn’t really a big, fat lie because it never specifies whose wallet is being fattened.

Let’s move on.

“Go out and look up at the sky Friday night: It will be the anniversary of the first walk on the moon in 1969. Encourage your dog to howl.

Also on that date, the Seattle Pilots managed to lose two games to the Minnesota Twins (the first was the completion of a suspended game).

“Moms tend to worry about this sort of thing: A loyal reader whose son is about to start playing high school football on Spokane’s North Side was stopped in her tracks by school district insurance forms that alluded to coverage in case of death.

“Ninety-seven days: That’s how long it took for Richard Nixon to go from opening Expo ‘74 to delivering his resignation speech.

“Slice answer: Yes, people in Pend Oreille County still talk about the filming of “The Postman” 10 years ago. In fact, a photo exhibit in Metaline Falls is planned for next month.

“Motel memories: Nancy Kiehn’s family was on a tight budget for a trip to Disneyland in 1965. Most nights, they camped out. But persistent lobbying by Kiehn and her siblings finally persuaded her parents to splurge and stay one night at a motel with a pool.

“We three kids raced out to the pool, only to find that it had never been heated nor cleaned much,” she wrote.

Her parents took the position that they had forked out $20 to stay at this place, so the kids had better dive in.

“We did,” said Kiehn.

“It’s rough all over: “My son’s girlfriend just got back from a week as a camp counselor,” wrote a friend.

Apparently there was a lot of angst in her cabin.

“One girl was sobbing because her parents were getting divorced, another was crying because her uncle is an alcoholic. But the girl that cried the loudest and the longest was upset because her parents won’t let her buy a horse.”

“Marmot Lodge update: The deadline for becoming a charter member is July 28. (Just contact The Slice.)

Meantime, I suggest we insert the word “marmots” into song lyrics. I’ll start, rewriting the early ‘70s Yes classic, “Roundabout.”

In and around the lake

Marmots come out of the sky and they

Stand there

“Today’s Slice question: What long-closed restaurant, store or other business do you miss most?