He might have been over 6 feet tall, but the thing you noticed was what he had on his head.

It was a furry, face-covering hat/mask that was supposed to look like a fox or something. It was sort of like this young man had his own head inside the head of an extra-large plush toy. And he was carrying a painting or something.

I was behind him as he boarded the 1:50 No. 43 downtown.

The driver, a friend of mine named Scott, looked at this fellow ahead of me and calmly asked a question.

“Are you a service animal?”

 “Yes,” he said.

Scott said that was good to hear, because otherwise he would have to ride in a cage.

As service animals tend to do, the fox-head kid minded his own business and rode all the way to the Albertson's at 37th and Grand.

Slice reader Victoria Mantello shared this.

“Just asked my 10-year-old grandson Thomas if he knew what Ash Wednesday was all about. He answered quickly and with much confidence.”

Said Thomas, “It's the day Mt. St. Helen erupted.”

Is there a broadcast outlet somewhere that has your initials as its last three letters?

Are your initials also some city's airport code?

www.roadtripnation.org

The Ice Palace seemed like a true outdoor rink today.

An outdoor rink near the end of the skating season, that is.

Even though Riverfront Park's open-air ice surface is artificially chilled, the warm wind makes it all but impossible to keep it from turning into a bit of a pond.

You could still skate though. And a couple dozen of us did just that.

The guy who drives the ice resurfacing machine told me he had sucked up a phenomenal amount of water before the public skating session. But he admitted he was fighting a losing battle.

One hoodie-clad boy who looked to be about 13 fell in the middle of a wet patch and soaked up what seemed like gallons of frigid water. When he got up, he looked like he wanted his mother to magically appear and provide him with dry clothes.

If all the other kids had done that it might have mopped up a fair amount of the standing water. But I suppose I would have gotten dirty looks if I had suggested that.

See if you can guess the theme of the searching that led to these. 

wwwwhq.org.uk

www.northcountrypublicradio.org

www.concarolinas.org

www.wsfcam.com

(Actually, this is from a Furry Talk column that ran on that day.)

Sometimes there are stories behind pets' names.

“Two years ago in March, my husband drove up the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River,” wrote Janet Lake of Kellogg. “At the bridge near Pritchard, he noticed a black and white dog, alone in the rain.

“When he drove back down the river, the dog was still at the bridge, wet, cold and shivering. She chased his pickup down the road. She had no tags, no collar.

“He stopped, and she got in the pickup with him.

“We advertised in the paper, and contacted the local veterinary clinic. No one claimed her.

“Her name is Bridgit.”

What other animals might look good on a bottle of beer?

www.beervana.blogspot.com

If our nation's first president were alive today…

What would his pre-Selection Sunday brackets guesses look like?

What name would he go by when posting online comments?

Who would he blame for high gas prices?

Skier or snowboarder?

Would he license his dog?

What would he make of “creative” baby names?

Would he speak up when someone ahead of him in the grocery express lane had way too many items?

Could he do his own tax return?

Would he be OK with there being a bounty on drivers who text behind the wheel?

When he yelled “Get off my lawn!” would he do so just to be funny or would he really mean it?

 What would he call his Hoopfest team?   

According to the digital grid, there's a 1966 episode of “The Big Valley” on the INSP channel (that's channel 12 on my lineup) tonight at 10 that could be considered must-see TV for those males who were experiencing a certain kind of awakening at about that time.

Called “Barbary Red,” it features Jill St. John.

There's some sort of story involving Heath getting in trouble. But I believe I have already conveyed the truly salient information.

www.tvchannelsfree.com 

When you fleetingly see someone crying in public, your imagination has to provide the context.

This girl looked like she was 17 or 18. She had just gotten off an STA bus that had parked at the northeast corner of Sprague and Post.

Her face was a mushed up mess of still-bubbling emotion. Some anger. Some hurt.

And maybe there was some feeling of being out of control because she had momentarily lost her ability to maintain the mask she usually shows the world.

But there was no mistaking the tears.

Maybe it was no big thing. Perhaps that kid has a meltdown every other day.

It would be pointless to guess about what triggered it.

Still, it was impossible not to wonder. And to wonder how many people are crying in downtown Spokane at any given time.

Things usually get better, of course. But as a stranger, you don't really get to see that.

By then, the faces are dry and the masks are back in place.

I first started exchanging emails with a reader up in Trail, B.C., named Fred after referring to Neil Young in a column years ago.

Fred is a big fan. I don't know if he is in the same league as retired features editor Rick Bonino when it comes to being a Young fan. But Fred is a serious Neilophile.

Anyway, he saw today's column about dealing with fear of dentistry. And it reminded him of a story.

He had come down to Spokane to have wisdom teeth extracted. And before they administered the knockout gas, the staff at the orthodontic office asked Fred a series of questions.

Most were about his health and medical history. But at some point the fact that he had not received his mailed instructions about fasting after midnight prompted someone to wonder about the validity of the address they had for him. So Fred was asked “When's the last time you moved?”

But Fred, well, he thought they were still talking about bodily stuff, so he answered this way:

“I had a bowel movement last night before 6 o'clock.”

The folks at the clinic thought this was the funniest thing they had ever heard.   

www.vintageadbrowser.com

Many years ago, one of my SR colleagues was on the phone with an events promoter who complained that it was difficult to book acts into what was then called The Met because it seemed as if there was always “some kids puppet show” using the downtown theater.

Only he didn't say it quite like that. The actual version included a common vulgar intensifier. I'm sure I don't have to spell it out for you. It went right between “some” and “kids.”

My colleague and I found the juxtaposition of rough language and the image of an innocent activity to be sort of funny.

Anyway, I went over to Riverfront Park this morning. I might have been a little early for public skating. In any event, I found a children's group at the Ice Palace and they didn't show any signs of wrapping it up. So I headed back to work.

As I got near City Hall, I encountered another Ice Palace regular. I reported what I had encountered. And she knowingly said “Toddler Tuesday.”

So on my way back to the Review Tower, I came up with a plan.

If anyone asked me if I skated, I would say “No, it was #*$%@*# Toddler Tuesday.”

As it happens, no one asked. Which might be just as well.

Sometimes people don't realize when I am attempting to be amusing.   

Would give us, according to my North Idaho friend Forrest Schuck, the line “Flip a bird at it.”

www.glocktalk.com

Don Hartvigsen weighed in on my request in today's column.

“What could be worse than the scene in 'Cast Away' where Tom Hanks extracts an abscessed tooth using the trailing edge of an ice skate, alone in a dark, wet cave?”

Rick Clapp shared this.

“With the end of Season 2 of the popular 'Downton Abbey' series on PBS this weekend, a co-worker of mine (at WSU Riverpoint) was heard to say that she was 'Not addicted, Don't care, Could stop watching it anytime.'

“A few minutes later she was seen asking some of the nursing faculty if anyone could provide a prescription for 'Downtonadone' until Season 3 next January.

“She wasn't able to get one, but was offered access to Season 1 on CDs, to help her withdraw more gradually. Nurses are kind like that.”

www.pauseliveaction.wordpress.com

www.etsy.com

He had scenes with Linda Evans and Julie Newmar in '60s TV shows.

And this actor lived in Spokane at the time of his death.

Can you name him?

There are several reasons.

Here are five.

1. Children not allowed to talk to people on their block.

2. Online equivalents simply aren't as much fun. You can't hand someone a copy and say “That'll be five cents, please.”

3. No 10-year-old wants to be an ink-stained wretch. Kids yearn to be TV pundits saying “Well, the situation on the ground in Spokane is quite fluid.”

4. Kid newsrooms devastated by layoffs and early retirements.

5. Sports editor kept missing deadline because of yoga classes.

A) “No. Not at this time, thank you.”

B) “Not really. Could we reschedule?”

C) “This really isn't a convenient time.”

D) “Could we do it later?”

E) “You know, I'm kind of busy right this moment.”

F) “Well, how long will it take?”

G) “I have rockin' penciled in for 4 to 4:15.”

H) “Define 'ready.' ”

I) “Yes, I'm always up for listening to bad but loud music and moving my head and limbs in a spasmodic manner.”

J) “Ready as I'll ever be, I guess.”

K) “Woo-hoo, et cetera.”

L) “Absolument.”

M) “Not quite.”

N) “I prefer the question to be phrased 'Are you ready to rock, Spokane?' ”

O) Other.