Arrow-right Camera
Subscribe now

This column reflects the opinion of the writer. Learn about the differences between a news story and an opinion column.

The Slice: One of life’s mysterious urges

A friend saw the question about shooting rural road signs.

She was familiar with this puzzling call of the wild.

“When I lived in Wallace, Idaho, my husband worked for Shoshone County. Before any new road signs were installed, someone would take them out back and shoot a couple holes in them. Apparently an unblemished sign was an invitation to practice one’s marksmanship, but one with a couple holes would survive.”

Slice answer: “My sister brought her family (grandkids included) up from San Antonio for Christmas,” wrote Bonnie DeMasi. “Most had not experienced snow before. They were awed by it! It brought out the child in all of them (aged 13-43). They wanted to touch it, feel it, throw it, play in it and roll in it! Some even wanted to try skiing/snowboarding. This proved to be quite entertaining.”

Somewhat along those lines: “I befriended a student from Korea and took her to Priest Lake,” wrote Judy McKeehan. “She was fascinated by the stars. She was from Seoul and there is so much ambient light there that you couldn’t see the stars. When she saw them in movies she thought they were just special effects.”

Second chances: Rhea Giffin shared this.

“In the ’70s I was given a probably 1950s era portable mixer by my boyfriend’s parents. The relationship didn’t last, but the mixer has and I think of them all fondly whenever I use it. Several years ago it stopped working. I was devastated. I borrowed a neighbor’s fancier mixer that looked to be from the ’70s. It was not nearly as efficient.

“I thought of my Spokane artist friend, Ken Yuhasz, who makes fabulous neon sculptures out of nostalgic appliances, and contacted him about possibly transitioning my beloved mixer into an artistic afterlife.

“I learned that Ken has an alias of ‘Mr. Fix-it,’ having once worked for an appliance repair shop. Turns out he was able to fix my mixer! It is not something I use often, but when I do, I continue to use it with such expanded gratitude that it might just be one of the treasures I would hope to rescue if there were a fire.”

Warm-up question: How paranoid are you when it comes to determining which papers can be placed straight into trash/recycling and which need to be shredded first?

Today’s Slice question: If you were in charge of how Spokane news media cover winter weather, what, if anything, would you change?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Dennis DeMattia has found that the handlebars of a stationary exercycle make a perfect place to put just-washed shirts on hangers.

More from this author