The Slice: Come again? What’s that you say?

Vietnam veteran Larry Plager shared a theory about his hearing loss.

“While I’m sure there was some loud music and other work related noise during my life, and I’m 65 (66 in May), the culprit I blame the most were things, when I was 18 and 19, like sitting next to a door gunner on a CH 46 (helicopter) as he fired his machine gun, having an enemy bamboo hand grenade go off a couple of feet from my head, our hand grenades, M16s firing, tanks firing and one notable ride in a CH 53 that left my ears ringing till the next day.”

Tom Hall takes a matter-of-fact attitude about his own experience. “After 36 years of jet noise (as an Air Force and airline pilot), some high-frequency hearing loss is almost a given.”

Both men credit the VA for setting them up with state-of-the-art hearing aids.

Former Air Force crew chief Craig Scarbrough said the B-52 currently parked on display out at Fairchild “and many others over 22 years on the flight line” undoubtedly did in his hearing.

Speaking of that particular bomber (mentioned in last Saturday’s Slice), retired Air Force officer Robert Grant wondered how many people know it was the first of two B-52s credited with shooting down enemy MiGs during the war in Vietnam, back when the planes had tail gunners. That’s why it is adorned with a red star.

Please meet the smartest husband in Idaho: “The start of your Saturday column reminded me of my own circumstance,” wrote John Keating, a high school teacher. “My wife too is older than me by weeks, (eight to be exact). So when she hit the big ‘Three O’ I had a couple of months of fun saying things like, ‘I guess that’s how people think/act/speak when they’re in their 30s.’ I enjoyed it so much I immediately started looking forward to her 40th birthday. When that next decade benchmark arrived she was six months pregnant. Discretion is the better part of valor and the birthday passed quietly.”

What made you feel loved: “One cold winter night I’d been in our dark, damp basement playing a computer game for way too long,” wrote Catherine Short. “I heard my husband coming down the stairs and was prepared for the inevitable admonitions about wasting time and neglecting him.

“He’d brought me down a blanket so I could stay warm. That made me feel loved.”

Today’s Slice question: How many times will you cook out between now and Labor Day?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. William Norton thinks a coffee hut located near a local courthouse ought to call itself Grounds for Conviction.