The Slice: Young boy really makes a good point

IT’S AMAZING HOW animals can defend themselves. Just ask a little boy who knows.

“My mom was telling my son Casey about the porcupine that was in their yard,” wrote Kristi Luttrull. “Casey told her she had to be careful of porcupines because they can throw their porks at you.”

And you don’t want to wind up on the wrong end of a pork.

“ Sit a spell: Don and Ginger Reddington of Spangle saw a sign outside a rest area restroom in British Columbia that said, “Please Limit Your Stay To 8 Hours.” (They sent a snapshot.)

Good grief. You’d have to be suffering from a pretty disruptive digestive disorder to want to linger in a roadside restroom longer than that.

Oh, wait. That sign refers to staying in the rest area, not the bathroom. Never mind.

“ Just wondering: Are Volkswagen drivers aware of their cars setting off Slug Bug frenzies? How does that make them feel?

“ Pet Peeve Poll: Lynda Nutt of Post Falls voted for “People’s behavior at airport baggage carrousels.”

“That is one place where all common sense and etiquette go out the door,” she wrote. “Can’t people find better places to hold their family reunions? Are they oblivious to the fact that their children are risking injury (not to mention the wrath of others) as they climb all over the suitcase path?”

And because entire families jam themselves up against the conveyor and completely block access to the carrousel, Nutt has often found herself forced to stand back and watch her luggage go round and round.

Lynn Everson voted for “People who refer to women as girls.”

She said that when she hears a man talk about dating a girl, she’s tempted to alert the authorities.

But Sherry Kisamore, 62, doesn’t mind being called a girl. What bugs her is when restaurant workers and others refer to her and her husband as “You guys.”

“ Slice answer (minivan converts): “I had always been very anti-minivan,” wrote Sally Chilson. “They were ugly and I hated getting behind them on the freeway.”

She had a minivan-owning friend who enjoyed giving her a hard time about her attitude.

Well, a few years ago that same friend decided to sell his minivan. He offered it to Chilson and her husband at an attractive price.

She surprised everyone by agreeing to give it a test-drive.

“It sat so nice and high!” she wrote. “I could see things so much better than in my compact sedan.”

Chilson decided to claim it as her personal wheels. And now that she has a toddler, she’s even more sold on it.

She was reminded of this when the van was in the shop recently and she had to wrestle her son’s car seat into a smaller vehicle, whacking her head “two or three times” in the process.

“ Today’s Slice question: What’s your policy on determining when a pacifier or bottle needs to be washed before it can go back in a baby’s mouth?