The Slice: This boot was made for droppings

Tina Wynecoop keeps a pair of warm boots just outside her back door.

A pine siskin used one of them as a cozy bedroom the other night. The next morning, Wynecoop left the little bird alone but took its picture.

She isn’t taking it personally or considering it a harsh comment on the accommodations that the feathered visitor left droppings in the boot before vacating the premises.

Maybe that’s like a tip. Or perhaps it’s a complaint about there not having been a mint on a pillow down in the bottom of the boot.

Speaking of animal behavior: Several readers said that the cat mentioned Monday — the one dropping toy mice in the dog’s water dish — is definitely messing with the canine’s mind.

Defining “Slice bag” (from Monday’s column): “One who pretends cute-kid stories he’s read in the Slice are anecdotes from his own family.” — Dan Hansen

Re: Having a preference for the sort of weather being experienced when and where you were born: Peggy Coffey, born in North Dakota in January, said that’s not true in her case.

Same goes for Cynthia Shepherd, born in Minnesota during winter. “I am no great fan of snow and cold.”

But Carolyn Lenhard likes a rainy winter day such as the one that greeted her arrival in the San Francisco Bay area.

Then there was this from Dave Wolfe. “I do prefer cold weather to hot and was born on a January day in Pittsburgh, Pa.,” he wrote. “However, try as I might, I can’t remember what the weather was like that day.”

In the matter of what you would say to those who joke that they are going to paw through your belongings: One reader said he would urge them to find his missing car keys while they’re at it.

Saturday’s Slice quiz: Lots of readers knew that the long-gone Walk in the Wild zoo was the local institution included in that 1989 “10 worst” list in Parade magazine. Opinions were mixed about whether that was fair.

But Bob Brown had guessed that the answer was “The Spokesman-Review.”

Today’s Slice question: What goes through your mind when gadgets in movies or TV shows make the same sounds as your personal electronics?