The Slice: Thanks for checking on the old ones

Spokane Valley’s Jim Clanton has a routine when he runs.

At about the 3-mile point, he stops and does some stretching.

“I suppose seeing a guy my age (way closer to 70 than 60) leaning against a utility transformer box, sweating like a pig, could make one a bit concerned. Today, a young woman, maybe 30 or so, stopped her car, turned around and drove back to ask if I was OK.”

Jim assured her he was and cheerfully thanked her for checking.

It’s not the first time that has happened.

Things that made your mother laugh: Here’s one from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

“After I gave birth to my first son, we were visiting my mom, who wasn’t much of a laugher, and pretty reserved, prudish in fact. But I made a joke in the hallway and started laughing and ‘tooting’ at the same time, which she found hysterical, and that made me laugh and toot even more. She would absolutely spin in her grave to know I’d shared this with anyone.”

Good things about push-style reel mowers: Mike Cain submitted a list. Here is just one of his points.

“They are light and easy to use. That they are ‘hard work’ is pure poppycock. They’re much easier to use than heavy, bulky gas mowers (even self-propelled ones).”

Vera-Ora Winslow enjoys the sound. “I like to hear the thwack-thwack-thwack.”

Slice answer: “My Spokanization will be complete when I openly criticize ‘foreigners’ for mispronouncing ‘Spokane’ and ‘Gonzaga.’ ” – Barry Bauchwitz

Answers to some of Saturday’s questions for dog owners: These come from Spokane’s Steve Shake.

“A good indicator that a rumble will start between my dogs and other dogs is when the trash-talking starts.”

“During walks, it is easier to count the number of times that my dogs don’t stop to smell something.”

“The things people say to my dogs varies, but it is usually said in a baby-talk accent.”

“As long as it is 5 o’clock somewhere in the world, that’s when my dogs like to take a walk.”

Warm-up question: Have you ever seen someone wearing a distinctive item of apparel you had donated to a social service agency?

Today’s Slice question: Ever drop something in the kitchen and had it explode into so many widely dispersed shards and slivers that you were still finding tiny pieces of glass months later?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Now accepting nominations for “The Inland Northwest’s most frontier-like cemetery.”