The Slice: Being polite apparently for the birds

It seems good manners are alive and well in North Idaho.

Or perhaps it was just a gust of wind that picked up some litter.

Denise Chamberlain went out to refill the birdbath and found a yellow “Thank you” sticker in it.

She has no idea who or what put it there. But she hasn’t ruled out the possibility that it was left somehow by one of her animal friends.

“It’s nice to know how polite the birds and traveling deer can be,” she wrote.

•Sign of the times: Gwen Utley shakes her head when she drives by this one sign that says “No Unauthorized Trespassing.”

Huh? “Does someone give you permission to trespass?” she wondered.

George Orwell perhaps.

•The stuff clogging our brains: “I can still remember the license plate numbers of our cars when I was a kid,” wrote Nancy Kiehn. “2J1519 and 7C8816.”

•Waiting for the snap: “Just to let you know, we have the ice rink up and are waiting for some colder weather to put the water in it,” wrote Slice reader Dakota Smith.

I don’t know. I think the fact that I continue to ride my bike to work has winter confused and lacking confidence.

Of course, the official start of that season is still a month away. So maybe it’s a bit early to be writing it off.

•Slice answers: Most responding readers said they favor the newspaper covering the activities of morons.

•Things to talk about at Thanksgiving: Alison Highberger recommended the Table Topics line of place cards, coasters and what-not with questions and conversation-starters printed on them: “What’s your favorite comfort food?” “What’s your favorite Web site?” “What was the best sitcom of all time?” “What was the worst job you ever had?” And so on.

“I put one card at each place at the table and throughout the meal we take turns answering them,” she said.

Melody Wakeling, 13, described a tradition in her family. Dinner guests pull a colored card from a basket. On each is a question such as, “If you could switch places with any family member for a day, who would it be?”

“Each question leads to laughter and lively conversations,” she said.

Or you could just sit around and criticize family members who aren’t present.

•Warm-up question: Whose high school had sports uniforms with the worst color scheme?

•Today’s Slice question: Are your dreams usually set in Spokane?