The Slice: Localizing superstition

Here are seven ways to ward off the potentially unlucky effects of Friday the 13th in Spokane.

1. Shelter in place.

2. Say “Bloomsday” backward three times. (Yadsmoolb, Yadsmoolb, Yadsmoolb.)

3. Smear tartar sauce on everything you eat.

4. Imitate the sound of a B-36.

5. Pet any cat born in the Inland Northwest.

6. Purchase someone a gift subscription to The Spokesman-Review.

7. Change a password and make the new one some version of “A11YouCanEat.”

Clarifying the hierarchy: “I work with a group of fellas on a volunteer crew and recently sent them a note about my absence this week,” wrote Lisa Giegel. “Since they tease me all the time that I’m the ‘boss’ I jokingly said that the guy with the first name starting with the letter ‘B’ would be in charge.”

Lisa works with three Bobs and a Bill.

Language arts: Laurelle Gerber shared this: “My little granddaughter, Reina, asked her mom if she had made any new year’s ‘evolutions.’ Her mom said she thought maybe growing an extra finger would be a nice one.

“Reina figured she must have said it incorrectly so then asked if her mom had made any new year’s ‘revolutions.’ Her mom said she hadn’t made any of those.”

Snow rookie: “Our daughter-in-law is from the Philippines and was here for Christmas,” wrote Heather Livergood, of Coeur d’Alene. “This was her first time seeing snow and she loved it! (Picture posted on Slice blog Tuesday.) We told her she was welcome to stay and shovel snow to her heart’s content.”

R.I.P.: Terry O’Dell saw the Slice discussion of going through a deceased loved one’s wallet. It reminded her of sorting some of her mother’s things after she recently passed away at the age of 82.

She discovered her mother, Joyce Atkinson, had saved all of The Slice columns in which her name appeared. “Including one on what she learned from reading the obituaries.”

You know, people don’t actually die. They slip into eternity, take eternal rest, move to the other side, fly into the arms of angels, finish the race, take a journey, et cetera.

“I wonder what she would say about the journey she took. She would love to know that she now has just one more Slice mention.”

Today’s Slice question: What local child has/had the most exacting standards for the proper preparation of a PB&J?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. The ranks of those who saw Elvis perform here in both 1957 and 1973 are thinning.