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The Slice: Burp song bears repeating

Charlotte Thacker’s strategy for calming a crying newborn is practically an invitation to sing along.

“When my friend Cheri’s baby was tiny, getting him to burp could be pretty boring,” she wrote. “To entertain myself, I made up some simple lyrics to the tune of ‘Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.’ ”

Here’s her song.

Burp-a-dee-doo-dah, burp-a-dee-ay

My oh my, what a wonderful day.

Plenty of spit-up on Charlotte today,

Burp-a-dee-doo-dah, burp-a-dee-ay.

Who did that spit-up?

Dylan, I say.

Burp-a-dee-doo-dah, burp-a-dee-ay.

It worked. Dylan would hear the “Burp-a-dee” tune and chill.

Unfortunately, Charlotte’s song stylings have failed to soothe Dylan’s little twin brothers.

Flying and risk assessment: “I worked with a guy who had driven B-52s in the Air Force,” wrote Dennis DeMattia. “Some of that was over North Vietnam in the ’60s.”

That pilot had a routine when he was a passenger on airliners. “After the flight, he would without fail state loudly (while still on the plane) ‘We cheated death again!’ He was pretty sure that the bozo at the front of the plane was nowhere near as qualified as he was to drive that bus.”

I had asked readers what qualifies them to be my yard-sale consultant: “What qualifies me?” wrote Jan Brandvold. “Well, possibly because my first piece of advice would be ‘Don’t do it!’ Inventory your stuff, donate it and claim it on your taxes. Much easier, faster and you get a lot more $$ that way!”

Yes, but I’m not sure that would be much fun to write about.

Slice answer: Moscow’s Heather Nelson saw the question about cats’ aversion to the scent of oranges.

“Our elderly, arthritic and deaf cat Roy loves not only Clementine oranges, but also has a taste for strawberries, nectarines and peaches. Of course, being from northern Idaho, he’s also quite fond of huckleberry-infused smoothies. Doubt has occasionally been raised about his felininity.”

Today’s Slice question: Who has dipped a toe in the greatest number of Inland Northwest lakes?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Gage Stromberg, Shirley Carlson and others knew that the 10 cities mentioned in The Slice Friday are on Interstate 90.

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