The Slice: In the ‘no’ on weight-loss regimens

This might be the perfect time of year to launch a weight-loss regimen.

Perhaps you believe the opposite is true. After all, we’re still in the backwash of Halloween and high-calorie holiday grazing looms on the near horizon.

Here’s the thing, though. Withstanding the urge to stuff your face can be a challenge at any time of year. But when the temptation is virtually constant, silently saying “No” can become a habit.

Resistance isn’t always futile. Sometimes it can become almost second nature.

Just wondering: You know those people who try to scare certain newcomers about Spokane’s winters? Sure. Well, if you had to guess, what is their motivation?

A few more seasoned gentlemen who still have their letter jackets/sweaters: “I am 78 years old, and earned my letter jacket playing golf for Gonzaga High School in 1949, ’50 and ’51,” wrote Bob Durgan. “The jacket hangs in the far reaches of my hall closet and has not been out of that closet for perhaps 50 years.”

Arlie Houck, who played basketball and football, still has a 1946 letter sweater from Harrington High School. He said it is “like new.”

Dale Preedy still wears his blue 1954 Mead letter sweater now and then. His older brother, Ernest, still wears his 1949 Mead sweater.

I spoke with Dale on the phone and noted that he and his brother must have stayed in pretty good shape.

He said, “Well, it helps that the material the sweaters are made of is somewhat stretchy.”

My friend Judy McKeehan still has a 1962-vintage letter sweater her late husband Mike earned at Cheney High for football.

She said it says “Ekim,” on the sweater, which is what he was called back in the day. That, of course, is “Mike” spelled backward.

Warm-up questions: What is the Inland Northwest’s biggest asset as a retirement destination? Biggest drawback?

Today’s Slice question: What would you say to someone who grumbled that he isn’t wild about living in a state named after a guy from back East?