The Slice: Coo-coo about the choo-choo

Karen Kinsella saw the Slice question seeking the area kid who gets most excited about seeing trains.

She nominated her 52-year-old husband, Kevin.

He simply loves trains, she said.

But he doesn’t just like to watch. Kevin, who works as a safety supervisor at a mine, plays the part of the conductor on the North Pend Oreille Valley Lions Club excursion train.

The S-R has written about that scenic rail-run approximately 10,000 times. But it really is a lot of fun. And the season starts later this month.

Call (509) 442-5466 or go to www.povn.com/npovlions for information.

“When people screw up the numbers for international calls: They sometimes reach a woman named Rhonda, who lives near Spangle.

You might recall that last weekend The Slice noted that Eastern Washington and Haiti share the 509 area code. Well, that didn’t come as news to Rhonda.

“My phone number is the same as the UNICEF office in Haiti,” she wrote. “I either have to put a message on my voice mail informing people that they have reached a U.S. residence and need to redial if they’re trying to reach Haiti, or I answer the phone and tell them the same thing.

“Why don’t I change my number, you ask? Part stubbornness – I’ve had my number for 20 years – and part reluctance to memorize a new number.”

“Speaking of last weekend’s columns: No one stepped forward to adopt that North Side spider, though several readers suggested that the homeowner needn’t fear it would try to move inside.

But Don and Vin Bumpus, who live on Spokane’s lower South Hill, told about another arachnid they’ve come to admire.

“We have been guarding a front porch spider for several weeks now,” they wrote. “It climbed up and spun an impressive web in mid-August, but wasn’t getting any ‘hits,’ so he/she moved over about three feet and hit the jackpot.

“We now have a fat spider that ate all of the occupants of the troublesome hornet nest that had been worrisome.”

The Bumpus family now regards the spider as a web-slinging hero. “We’re not quite ready to have her move in yet, but we’d hate to see her go.”

“Today’s Slice questions: Why did you go to the Spokane County Interstate Fair? Why not?