The Slice: Was this canine humor from beyond?

Lisa Giegel shared a story about the family dog, Sophie, who recently passed away.

She would have been 15 this month.

“My husband works from home, so most days we eat lunch together at a time that works into his schedule. Although Sophie would sleep deeply for hours, she invariably would waken and need to go out shortly after we started eating. This entailed carrying her down the porch steps.”

That happened over and over.

“Several days following her departure, we had to smile when her ashes were delivered about 10 minutes after we sat down for lunch. Little stinker.”

Lisa printed a heart symbol after that last word.

Slice answers: The Slice asked readers to come up with an expression Spokane residents could use when encountering one another.

“In an effort to encourage cycling and local spirit I suggest ‘Spoke-on’ as our rah-rah motto,” said Larry Inman.

Gabi Tilley suggested “Spokane…nice!” as in when someone does something especially considerate.

“Say Wa,” wrote Jim Parry.

Tim Gaines shared this. “My input for Spokane’s motto: ‘Marmot up.’ Must be shouted like you just slammed your third beer.”

“Spokane’s surreptitious slogan among the cognoscenti could be ‘Marmot Power!’ ” wrote Wayne Pomerleau.

Steve Wilder offered, “How about ‘Bloom-Fest-Out!’? I’m still working on the secret handshake.”

And North Idaho’s Chris Reichert shared this.

“So I imagine this not so much as a greeting, but as a saying of approval. I’m told that previous generations may have used something like ‘Far out’ or “Out of sight’ but I’ve been unable to confirm that. At any rate, given the perpetual state of near bombardment that Spokane streets exhibit I would offer ‘Swerve right.’ As in ‘Hey, I got a four day weekend this week.’ ‘Duuude! Swerve right, man!’ ”

“Swerve left” would express commiseration.

“Of course, this has potential to make Spokaneites sound … shall we say, mellowed. Then again it is legal over there.”

Just wondering: If food writer Calvin Trillin came back to Spokane, where would you take him to eat?

Slice answers: The conspiracy theory that makes Gary Polser chortle is the one alleging that the moon landings were faked.

Others mentioned the whole contrails/chemtrails thing.

Today’s Slice question: How much time would you save by reducing your TV watching and Web surfing by half?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Spokane has its share of people who resent it when you do not aspire to be just like them.