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The Slice: Never assume you have the dirt on your elders
Here’s the thing kids don’t understand about old people.
That gray-haired guy who looks like he spent his whole life grumbling at the computer? Well, once upon a time, he might have been the best night-crawler hunter in the county where he grew up.
Let’s move on.
What deer like best in your garden: “What DON’T they like?” wrote North Idaho’s Jay Dudley. “They eat my lettuce, cilantro, onions and even occasionally my zucchini. That’s just in the garden. In my flower beds, my tulips are lucky if they see full bloom. They are eaten to the ground as soon as they pop up from their winter sleep.”
The A list: Robin Cole went through Athol, Massachusetts, earlier this year. (She shared a picture of her standing in front of a highway sign.)
And, of course, she has been to Athol, Idaho. That’s two. But she might go for three.
Slice readers with encyclopedic memories might recall that there is an Athol in New Zealand.
“I have friends who live in Auckland,” said Cole. “I’ll let you know if I ever make the trifecta of Athols.”
Today’s road trip mistake: “It was our first trip after getting married,” wrote Karen Botker. “My husband, 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter and I were heading to the Olympic Peninsula for a long weekend with the intention to camp. We didn’t realize I forgot the tent until we were halfway across the state and all the stores with tents were closed. We slept in the van.”
Slice answer: In the matter of what you could accomplish between Memorial Day and Labor Day, John Nelson had a thought.
“If I really put my mind to it, I could remember to not work so hard.”
A room with a view: “The house I grew up in (in New York) had a raised wooden porch on the back,” wrote Tim Gaines. “My family always called it the sun deck. My wife’s family always called their deck the lanai.”
So he wonders. Do people around here have special names for their decks or patios?
Today’s Slice question: Were you ever a summer intern? What do you remember about the experience?