The Slice: It’s unlikely Halloween revelers will heed advice to rest on Sabbath

Don’t look now, but the days are quickly getting shorter.

I’ve had to switch to my commute bike festooned with lights.

In other breaking news, Halloween falling on a Sunday should make for some entertaining culture-wars wrangling.

Let’s move on.

Dog days: “Your question as to whether my dog barks at airplanes made me so happy,” wrote Nancy Burke. “That is the only thing my dog does not bark at! Finally, I found it!”

Carol Carty had a different answer. “Yes,” she wrote. “She does bark at airplanes. In fact, not one plane has dared a landing in our yard since we adopted her.”

Of course, dogs aren’t the only ones monitoring air traffic. Jim Perry’s cat, KC, chirps at planes.

And Michelle and Fred Batten wrote, “When our old kitty saw a plane, she would make that chattering noise with her teeth that cats make when they see a bird.”

Forrest Schuck’s 9-month-old granddaughter notices aircraft, too. But she just waves.

Long ago squirt-gun ammo: “Ever see what a couple of squirts of Mercurochrome in the water will do to white cord pants?” wrote Steve Marque.

Then and now: Not surprisingly, lots of Slice readers recall when developed parts of this area were just fields and woods. Perusing the often-nostalgic notes from my correspondents, I could almost hear them sigh.

“I guess this is progress,” wrote Sue Hoover.

Yeah. But when the mental snapshots from childhood feature hillsides covered with trees and 2010 reality is more about McMansions and strip malls, change can be difficult to reconcile.

How to tell a Spokane zombie from a regular zombie: Several readers suggested the local variety would have fewer teeth.

A job title that reminded me of the Lord High Executioner from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado”: Gonzaga University’s Janice Carruthers is the “Academic Records Evaluator, Office of the Registrar.”

From all indications, though, she is a nice person committed to helping students.

Today’s Slice question: Is “Howdy” in danger of disappearing from everyday use?