The Slice: This holiday tradition has run its course

The Slice is no longer going to print grade-schoolers’ instructions on preparing a Thanksgiving dinner.

Yes, it has been fun. But I think it is time to call it a day on that annual feature.

So if you are a teacher planning on getting your pupils to tackle that question on my behalf, you need not bother. Thanks for the thought though.

Why pull the plug? Well, it was not an easy decision. It just seemed like the kids’ culinary tips were getting repetitive.

Oh sure, it was fun to read that, to roast a turkey, you “Cook it on 14.”

And yes, it seemed we would never tire of learning that another crucial step is to “Get all the blood off the turkey.”

But it’s time to move on. A columnist who opens himself up to charges that he is serving up the same old, same old runs the risk of appearing irrelevant.

So no more “Roast its legs off.”

No more “Put smashed potatoes on the table.”

Adios “Put stuffing in, then wash it.”

Sayonara “Boil the turkey in hot water.”

It has been a pleasure. But it is time for something new.

Or not. If you disagree with my decision, feel free to let me know.

Slice answers: “I do still have my letterman sweater,” wrote Tom Hamilton of Colville, who went to high school in Northport. “I am 83 years old and graduated in 1949. I don’t claim to be able to get it on though.”

Jere Sullivan, 81, still has a couple of letter sweaters from his high school days playing basketball and football back in Circle, Montana. “I’m very proud of my eastern Montana roots and the life had there growing up.”

The sweaters? “They no longer fit.”

All wet: “As I was reading the daily weather forecast in today’s Good Paper, I got to wondering about the apparently intended subtle differences between the terms ‘showers,’ ‘occasional showers,’ ‘scattered showers,’ and ‘spotty showers,’ ” wrote Jim Roeber. “Can I get an interpretation?”

Fair question.

Today’s Slice question: How many local children could honestly claim they are being reared partly by herding dogs?