The Slice: Never pushy or in a hurry

I’m not saying this just because I have one. But I’ve never met an owner of a powerless, reel-style push-mower I didn’t like.

Of course, it probably helps that there aren’t many.

Let’s move on.

“Just wondering: Do golf-club throwers tend to act that way in real life, too?

“Annual reminder: It’s not too early to start working on your Hoopfest excuses.

“Reader challenges:

1. Explain how Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble could have stayed so trim when their husbands had virtually square body shapes.

2. Think of a moment in any movie that’s more absurd than the scene in 1985’s “St. Elmo’s Fire” where the annoying character played by Andrew McCarthy sees his musings on the meaning of life printed atop the front page of the Washington Post.

3. Compile your own list of the most overrated albums/CDs of all time without including The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” or anything by R.E.M.

4. Detail how TV’s “The Rifleman” would have been different if, instead of a big gun, Lucas McCain’s trademark weapon had been sardonic wit.

5. Perform a comedy routine that you absorbed from a Bob Newhart record long, long ago.

6. Describe how you can tell which comic books a man read as a kid, Marvel or DC.

“This date in Slice column history (1993): Franchise opportunity for little kids across the Inland Northwest: The Slice’s Old-Fashioned Famous Recipe Lemonade Stands. Our motto: “Make ‘em pay.”

In exchange for a modest sign-up fee and a percentage of each stand’s gross, kids were offered priceless marketing and promotional assistance.

(Alas, this idea did not take off and The Slice’s envisioned chain never supplanted gyppo lemonade stands.)

“Hi there, boys and girls: If anybody wanted to produce a ‘60s-style kids’ TV show, one guy around here who might be able to pull off the job of being the host is KXLY’s Rick Lukens. He could be Uncle Rick. Or Cap’n Rick. Or Sheriff Rick. Or Ding-Dong Rick. Or how about Buffalo Rick?

KREM’s Tom Sherry might be good, too. Or KHQ’s Tim Adams.

OK, what local women could do the job?

“Speaking of good guys: Spokane’s Jim Eggers has undergone a long-awaited liver transplant and he’s doing great. He’ll be staying in Seattle for a little while, which will give him a chance to recuperate and talk nurses’ ears off about the underappreciated virtues of Spokane.

“Warm-up question: What’s the single surest sign that the residential real estate picture is about to shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market?

“Today’s Slice question: What’s a behavior or trait people around here regard as tellingly indicative of life in the Spokane area even though it is, in fact, quite common across much of the country?