The Slice: Are you really walking that much more?

I keep seeing references to people doing more walking because of the price of gasoline.

And you know what?

I don’t believe it for a second.

OK, let’s move on.

One reason parents look tired: A friend got to talking with co-workers about the subject of things children and grandchildren have insisted on wearing to bed.

Their list included: 1) Cowboy hats, cowboy boots and holsters. 2) Clown costume complete with rainbow wig. 3) Swimsuit and winter boots. 4) Grandma’s shoes.

Just wondering: How many people refer to the Lilac City as “The Can”?

Slice answers: Coeur d’Alene’s Rick Jones saw the question about workplace practices of the past that might raise eyebrows today. “It was not uncommon in the early ‘80s for mechanics to regularly clean aircraft parts, as well as our hands, with methylethylketone or other solvents, then pour them onto the ground to evaporate.”

In the matter of Internet finds with personal significance, Brian Burnham came across a World War II photo showing the precise moment a Japanese kamikaze crashed into the U.S. ship on which Burnham’s uncle served.

In response to a question about team spirit at work, Janean Jorgensen said the folks at Spokane Public Radio do, in fact, root for one another.

Traffic signal technician George Gregory said he couldn’t answer the question asking how readers’ professions had been portrayed in the movies because, to the best of his knowledge, it has never happened.

In the matter of unlikely alma maters for local couples, there’s Ralph Carter (University of British Columbia and University of London) and Claire Carter (Smith College and University of Massachusetts).

And a couple of the fed-up readers answering the one about which co-workers spend the most time on the phone with family members reminded me of that rap classic, “The Message.”

Don’t push me, cause I’m close to the edge

I’m trying not to lose my head

Filing this sort of appeal wouldn’t always work: But it did this time.

Devoted grandmother Joan Curran stopped me on the street and politely suggested that I made a mistake when I elected not to use a story she phoned in a few weeks before.

I told her I’d rethink it. And I have.

When her granddaughter, Reilly Christenson, was about to turn 10 recently, Curran asked what present the girl wanted. Reilly told her she would be receiving lots of gifts. And she said she’d rather see her grandmother donate the money to animal-rescue efforts under way along the Gulf Coast in the wake of the hurricanes.

“What do you think of that?” said Curran.

I think Reilly deserves to know that her grandmother is proud of her.

Today’s Slice question: Who are this area’s king and queen of harrumphing?