The Slice: From the mantis: Take a picture, it lasts longer

Sheila Geraghty might be Spokane’s biggest fan of the praying mantis.

She has a collection of glass and metal mantis art pieces. And when she encounters one of the otherworldly green creatures near her home, she goes to get her camera.

Once she photographed a praying mantis having a fresh grasshopper for lunch. She has observed one turn its head to check her out.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t seen one this summer,” she wrote. “But I have looked and will keep looking as long as we have this nice hot weather.”

Speaking of hot weather: When someone offers a profoundly unoriginal observation about the afternoon temperatures, you might want to respond with a line from the film classic “Lawrence of Arabia.”

I’ll show you how that could work.

1. “Hot enough for you?”

“There is the railway. And that is the desert. From here until we reach the other side, no water but what we carry with us. For the camels, no water at all. If the camels die, we die. And in 20 days they will start to die.”

2. “Man, it’s hot out.”

“The trick is not minding that it hurts.”

3. “Gotta love this late summer weather!”

“Thy mother mated with a scorpion.”

Slice answer: A number of people who train on the Fish Lake Trail have logged aggregate mileage totals that you would not believe.

Slice answer: “What ambition do people around here most admire?” wrote Gary Polser, restating Sunday’s Slice question. “The desire to go south for the winter.”

Today’s Slice question: Can you remember, back before programming changes were quite so haphazard and occurring all year, being a kid and getting all fired up about new shows on the fall TV lineup?