The Slice: Life is swell on the Ponderosa

A gaggle of readers weighed in about whether those who come to Spokane to retire are usually happy with their decision after a year.

Here’s one note.

“Funny thing, exactly five years ago today (July 26, 2007) we arrived in Spokane from the quasi-mentionable place down south,” wrote Richard Bravinder. “Three months later we moved to the Ponderosa area of Spokane Valley and never looked back. A little tough on the spouse since she had been born and raised a city girl, but after one visit back a year later she came back with a full page of reasons why she isn’t ever leaving here.”

Slice answer: The subject was made-up Native American names. But in Connie Jensen’s family, there is such a thing as “cruise” names. Here are a few from a voyage to Alaska.

Sister 1: “Drinks Well With Others”

Sister 2 (who had a habit of sauntering in the buff from the bathroom to the bedroom after a shower): “Walks Naked With Pride”

Sister 3: “Shops All Day”

Jensen herself: “Goes With The Flow”

Slice answer: The question about treading water reminded Terryl Banta about how her mother was a lifeguard back in the day. One of the qualifications then was an ability to tread water with one’s hands out of the water.

Banta, who is 23, was a competitive swimmer for years. When she gets in the water these days, she likes to re-establish that she, too, can do that hands-up treading water. It connects her to visions of her mother’s youth. And it suggests to her that she and her mom might have enjoyed hanging out together if they had been teens at the same time.

“I’ve never told her that,” said Banta.

Reader-written jokes: “A South Hill woman walks into a psychiatrist’s office and says, ‘I keep dreaming my metallic silver SUV has been stolen.’ ” — Karl Meister

“This guy from Cheney walks into a bar and the bartender tells him, ‘The for-credit seminar on societal issues related to alcohol consumption meets in the back room.’ ” — Bill Tracy

Today’s Slice question: When the basement is the coolest place in the house, does arachnophobia still trump any thought of sleeping down there?