While most of us view leap day as just another work day or extra time to catch up on laundry, this quadrennial event used to be celebrated with great fanfare in Spokane. In the early 1900s, leap year balls were held at the old Spokane Hotel, the Manito Golf Club and the Davenport Hotel. Standing in the Hall of the Doges at the Davenport, with its crystal chandeliers and celestial murals, one can almost imagine how grand those celebrations must have been. Stories found in the Spokane Chronicle tell of leap year dance parties attended by hundreds in 1916, hosted by various women’s social clubs. Ladies in fine gowns with silk gloves and men in coats and tails danced to eight-piece orchestras surrounded by palm trees and trailing vines/Kristen Harrington, SR. More here. (Kathy Plonka SR photo: Samantha Hammond shows off the Red Petticoat at Bardenay Restaurant and Distillery in Coeur d’Alene)

Question: How do you mix your favorite type of cocktail?

The clock is ticking down to the Mega Millions jackpot drawing Tuesday worth an estimated $330 million. The cash option is a staggering $208.3 million. The game is similar to Powerball — players try to win by matching five regular numbers plus the “Mega ball.” Tickets cost $1. Besides the jackpot, prizes range from $2 to $250,000. Drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday night/Associated Press. More here.

Question: What would you buy if you won the Mega Millions jackpot of $330 million today?

I have too much stuff. This is not some blindingly new realization for me; I’ve known I have too much stuff for an awfully long time. But I’ve noticed that my discontent with owning too much stuff has been growing, day by day. This feeling has been exacerbated by the movement of all my now-grown children to homes of their own because, surprisingly, when children move out most of their stuff stays behind. And it grew exponentially when my brother Joe moved in with me, and his stuff was added to my own. Seriously, I can’t find anything in the kitchen cupboards anymore without a dozen things falling out on top of my head/Trish Gannon, River Journal, Politically Incorrect. More here.

Question: Do you feel that you have too much stuff? What do you do about it?

This (“Pastor to church leaders: Delete Facebook accounts“) raises more holy questions than answers… My head is spinning!

• What if Jesus had a facebook page?
• What picture would he use?
• Do you poke Jesus or does he poke you?
• What happens if Jesus “unfriends” you?
• What if your not on Jesus’ wall?
• What if you delete one of Jesus’ comments by accident?
• What if you forget to “like” Jesus’ posts?

Question: Do you think Jesus would ‘friend’ you on Facebook?

It’s been a long and winding road, this relationship between Apple and the Beatles. But Tuesday, at long last, the Fab Four made it to iTunes. “We’re really excited to bring the Beatles’ music to iTunes,” Beatle Paul McCartney said in an Apple news release. “It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around.” The iTunes store’s main page featured a host of Beatles albums for sale, beneath an early photo of the group that started in the tiny Cavern Club in Liverpool and would go on to revolutionize rock ‘n’ roll/Doug Gross, CNN Tech. More here. (AP file photo)

Question: Do you plan to download Beatles music to iTunes?

In this May 2, 2003, file photo, President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast. George W. Bush knows that history will shape his legacy more than anything he can say. But that’s not gonna stop a guy from trying. After two years of near silence, Bush is back. With his new memoir and a promotion tour, the president who in cockier times could not think of a single mistake he had made, lists many. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Question: What was George W. Bush’s biggest mistake during his 2 terms of office?

On her Facebook page last night, CindyH “3 phone calls in 30 minutes: 1. Alex: Who is picking me up? I’ve been done with practice for TEN minutes! 2.Ethan: Hey! Do think I can stop by after work. And maybe borrow $10 for gas? I don’t think I’ll have enough to get home. 3. Sam: Mom! Where are you? When are you coming home? It’s 5:30 and I’m HUNGRY. My voicemail message? “The mother you have reached is disconnected and no longer in service.”

Question: When did you last feel like turning off your phone or posting a message that “the person you have reached … is no longer in service”?

On his Get Out! North Idaho Facebook site, OrangeTV offers this bit of Food Porn from Baskin-Robbins, decorated by Katrina. The ice cream store posts: “We can make the creepiest Halloween cakes around! They are sure to please all of your ghouls & goblins.”

Question: What’s your favorite treat at Halloween?

In her Facebook page, Shannon writes: “What a way to start off the day! I was about to get out of the shower and I see a big stinkbug sitting on the towel I was about to use. At least it wasn’t a big spider!!” Meanwhile, Taryn Hecker-Thompson writes on her Facebook page that her husband bit the head off a stinkbug to show her daughter that she shouldn’t be afraid of them.

Question: I couldn’t find my glasses this morning and grabbed a back-up pair that allowed me to drive to work. Did you have a rough start to the day, too?

Item: Oregon high school reviews procedures after pro-Mormon skit/Jennifer Moody, Albany Democrat Herald

More Info: The skit involved students pretending to be missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaching a group of teens. Mormon missionaries work in pairs throughout the world to teach the gospel and baptize those who accept their message. Probert said the skit began with several students playing Frisbee who were then joined by Probert, who wore a sign that read, “Not Mormon Yet.”

Question: Do you think the skit was offensive?

Sidekick Cindy got all snarky after her trip to Greenbluff, one of the few attractions in eastern Washington that I wouldn’t mind having over here in North Idaho. Facebooks Cindy: “Apparently, one gazillion other people also decided to Greenbluff, most of them from Idaho. What? Do they not grow pumpkins or apples in Idaho? To which, I responded: “Here’s a deal for you Washingtonians. We’ll stay away from Greenbluff in the fall, if you’ll stay away from our lakes & waterways in the summer. Deal?”

Question: If you take away Greenbluff, the Spokane airport, and workplace, how often would you go to Spokane in a given month?

In this publicity image released by CBS, from left, Scott Caan as Detective Danny “Danno” Williams, Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly, Alex O’Loughlin as Det. Steve McGarrett, and Grace Park as Kono, are shown in a scene from “Hawaii Five-0.” The CBS’ update of “Five-0,” set to debut Monday, is among the fall’s most anticipated new series. Story here. (AP Photo/CBS, Mario Perez)

Question: Will you tune in when the 21st Century version of ‘Hawaii Five-O’ debuts Monday?

I’ve asked the question for years: with the devastation of the “family” through neglect, divorce and indifference what will happen to the next generation of males? Raised by over-worked and very tired single mothers, “little-men” need male mentors. Taught, by and large in the early years by females, these mini-males need real, love, sweaty and burly men around them to show what a man is…and therefore what a man does. Too harsh to say it in that fashion? If you say “yes”, then you misunderstand me. Do you notice that I am NOT saying “little-ladies” need females to mentor them? Why omit that? Because women have been so wildly successful in mentoring both their girls and their boys/Dennis Mansfield. More here.

Question: Do you agree with Dennis that today’s many of today’s boys aren’t be raised well enough to embrace the responsibilities facing tomorrow’s men?

Robert Shipp, of Hauser Lake, who along with his twin brother was the focus of a multi-part series that followed their departure to Marine boot camp and later Iraq, enjoys a dip of Copenhagen after he married his wife, Dusty, at the Hitching Post in Coeur dAlene in October.

On the We Love Coeur d’Alene Facebook page, the administrator tells of someone from Virginia asking why the Hitching Post didn’t have a Facebook or Twitter account because so many people are married there, including herself. The administrator goes on to say: “It made me curious … How many people have been married at the Hitching Post.” Believe it or not, I’ve never attended a wedding at the Hitching Post. But I, of course, know people who have been married there.

Question: Were you married at the Hitching Post? If not, have you ever attended a wedding there?

“After the Friends of the Fair dinner on Thursday night I spent a few hours strolling around the fairgrounds,” writes Kerri Thoreson/More Main Street. “ … I ran into my friends, Tom Messina and Robert Cliff, who were enjoying a beer with their German sausages. I saw a few more people with beer in hand during the evening and they, too, were consuming food at the time. As I mentioned on the air on KVNI this morning, hopefully people will reserve judgement on the impact of the new rules until this year’s fair is in the books. More here.

Question: Do you plan to drink a beer at the fair this year?

On his Get Out! North Idaho Facebook page, OrangeTV provides this photo by Kristen Flickinger that is as close as a drink can be to Food Porn. The Bowl of Soul drink @ Java on Fourth not only has numerous fans throughout the region, but has its on Facebook page.

Question: Can you think of a caffeine drink that’s superior to Java’s Bowl of Soul?

Sisyphus: Way to go idawa. Your first (baby)? Kiss your old life bye bye. Slap on the feedbag and keep yer head down. You are embarking on an adventure unlike anything you’ve ever done. And its all good. Great timing. My first born came at the end of August. You ever get that look from across the room like she wants to rip yer lungs out for doing that to her? Duck and cover. I remember when she was in labor and used my collar to help push. I turned several shades of blue. Fortunately I was in a hospital. ;-)

Question: Any of you guys — sorry, gals — want to share your experience re: the delivery of your first baby — and how it changed your life?

This is the inside of a box of Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., this morning. Kellogg Co. said Friday that it is voluntarily recalling about 28 million boxes of popular cereals including Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks due to an off smell and flavor coming from the package liners. Wall Street Journal story here. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Question: What kind of cereal do you eat?

On his Get Out! North Idaho Facebook page, OrangeTV writes: “Eggs Benedict at the Backwoods Grill, Cd’A. Makes my eyeballs salivate with lust.” I couldn’t agree more. I had some sort of low-fat granola that my wife found at the supermarket Wednesday. Chewy. But not nearly a breakfast that would cause the food lust that Backwoods Grill offers.

Question: What did you have for breakfast this morning?

My father was a sports writer for our city’s newspaper; he also taught high school English for a while. I can’t remember submitting a homework paper that wasn’t first reviewed by him. I remember a lot of lessons he taught my siblings and me. I learned a simple rule for using ‘me’ vs ‘I’; I learned his fondness for the ‘comma’ and the ’semicolon’. It brings a smile to my face to remember his work with us as we learned to communicate clearly. His lessons, often, would end with all of us kids laughing and rolling on the floor. He would say to my mother “Marjorie, are you sure these children are mine? They don’t seem to take this seriously.” And we’d start laughing all over again.

Question: Do you have any journalists in your family?