The Slice: The stories we could tell to those city slickers

The other morning, just minutes after sunup, I saw what I’m pretty sure was a coyote.

It was trotting along in the middle of a residential street about half a block from where I was riding my bike. It paid no attention to me.

My first thought was to hope that the cats I sometimes see on my way to work were either inside or well hidden. But then I found myself wishing a friend or relative from tamer parts of the country were riding with me.

It would have been fun to shift into TV Western mode.

“Coyote? Oh, yeah. Pesky varmints. I would have taken a shot at it, but I don’t have my rifle. And besides, people in this neighborhood are still sleeping.

“So anyway, for lunch I was thinking we’d go to the saloon and toss back a few shots of red eye. Then I thought maybe we’d do some prospecting or rustling.

“Or we could haul nitro, play poker with some sod busters, help the town drunk out of a scrape, give the local jinx a pep talk, meet up with a couple of no-account gals and then get amnesia.”

•Speaking of tamer parts of the country: An e-mail from a reader suggests that it’s time for another round of stories about the sometimes head-scratching ways Inland Northwesterners define “Back East.”

You know how to reach me.

•Partial anagrams: Rearranging six of the seven letters in “ArtFest” gives you “fatter,” “taster,” “treats,” and “taters.”

•You make the call: Steve Victor saw The Slice’s request for photos of good-looking softball teams.

So he sent a picture of the Victor Lumber co-ed team that won a Spokane County tournament last summer.

He wrote, “If this isn’t the best-looking softball team that you’ve ever seen … well, maybe with the exception of the old guy in the back (me).”

•Judging from a preview: It would appear that Ken Burns has made sure that there will not be any talk of inadequate recognition of minorities this time around. His PBS series on the national parks starts in September.

•Just wondering: Who around here has the most expensive hobby?

•Things your dog presents to you when you live out in the country: According to a friend who lives near Spangle, the list now includes a deer head.

•Warm-up question: How much time for news could be freed up if local TV anchors stopped talking about what a nice day it had been?

•Today’s Slice question: Around here, is it easier to be an atheist or a vegetarian?