The Slice: Anybody craving a Whammy?

Got a question for those who live way out in the country or in some small town.

It’s this: What is the best reason to come to Spokane?

Doctors? Concerts? Shopping? Illicit activity?

You tell me.

•Thursday quiz winner: Spokane’s Lisa Thompson wins a reporter’s notebook for being among those who knew that TV weather spokesmodel Laura Trollan, who went by Laura Ashley on the air, was a former Miss Alaska.

“Don’t ask me why I know that because I don’t know,” she wrote.

•The produce that came in from the cold: “Mr. Turner, any guess on what percentage of Spokanites currently have semi-ripe tomatoes indoors, most likely on the kitchen window sill?” wrote Pat Neilson, who has 11 of them.

OK, I’ll bite: 6 percent.

•Networking in New England: “Your column today (Thursday) reminded me that in 1987 I got a job interview in New Mexico because I talked to a nice man on a bus in Boston, Mass., while riding to the Museum of Fine Arts,” wrote Karen Mobley, arts director for the city of Spokane. “It was my first good job in the arts and it was all because I said, ‘Gee, it might be colder here than in Laramie today.’ ”

It turned out that Mobley’s seatmate was from Wyoming.

The lesson? “Never underestimate the power of being friendly to others on public transportation.”

•Finish this sentence: “Some people might think I’m crazy, but winter weather isn’t going to make me stop …”

•There are fossils and then there are fossils: A friend in Cheney saw a headline about the “Lucy” exhibition in Seattle and she had one immediate question: Van Pelt or Arnaz?

•Special request: If you are a grandparent with grade-school age grandchildren in distant places, please do me a favor. Ask them to tell you what they know about Washington or Idaho. Then please share their responses with The Slice.

Once upon a time, kids learned a little about all the states. But something tells me those days are gone.

I’d love to be proven wrong.

If your grandchildren grumble about this being a lot like homework, feel free to remind them Christmas is coming and that you haven’t decided how much help to give Santa this year.

•Critiquing the classifieds: Bob Crabb suspects an ad for a “Spring filled” firearm last week should have said “Springfield.”

•Warm-up question: What exactly is the point of choosing a distinctly biblical baby name and then “creatively” misspelling it?

•Today’s Slice question: What’s the worst thing about our relatively low humidity?