The Slice: Look for brown skies, chance of foul odor

Things could always be worse.

The other day, a local TV weather graphic called for “scat showers.”

Fortunately, that did not come true.

“In one Slice reader’s view: E-mails that begin “Good day,” are almost guaranteed to be a fraud.

“Devil cats, continued: Loon Lake’s A.J. Cain told about a ferocious feline named Smoky who inexplicably lets this one developmentally challenged little boy manhandle her without retribution.

“Exchange rate: Slice reader Vance Rauer sent his annual reminder that the Trade Winds of Autumn have begun.

That, of course, refers to your leaves being blown into someone else’s yard while a neighbor’s leaves wind up in yours.

“When the doorbell rings at 3 a.m.: Readers told of approaching the door with a gun, a formidable dog and a highly skeptical attitude. Tracy Shafer spoke of having a phone in hand, ready to punch in 9-1-1.

But here’s what Arlene Giles would do: “Wake up my husband (he wears ear plugs so he never hears anything) and let him deal with it.”

“Failure to grasp the concept: I’m still shaking my head about what some readers consider to be “obscure movies nobody else has ever heard of” that they recommend as rentals.

Several people mentioned films that are about as obscure as Thanksgiving. Oh, well.

“Speaking of movies: Ferris High teacher Ted Barnwell was an extra in the early ‘80s film, “Sword of the Valiant.”

He described it as “Possibly Sean Connery’s worst movie ever.”

Critics seemed to agree that the filmed-in-France flick was, indeed, a piece of work.

“I played a courtier and stood to the left of Mr. Connery in the beginning scenes when the Green Knight threatens to chop off the Valiant’s head,” Barnwell recalled.

“Slice answer: “A friend is a nurse and he says the biggest sissies about getting shots are people covered with tattoos,” wrote a reader in North Idaho.

Maybe they’ve already faced about all the needles they can stand.

“Don’t need him around anyhow: When the band at Saturday’s Pumpkin Ball played “Sweet Home Alabama,” attendee Paul Hagan couldn’t help but smile, thinking about how that song was written ages ago partly as a response to Neil Young, who, at that moment, was performing next door at the INB Performing Arts Center.

“Today’s Slice question: Did having been an employee of the month help you when it came time for layoffs?