The Slice: Hey kid, where’s the beef?

Last Monday’s Slice item about the kid who wanted a PB&J without the J reminded Gail Bennett of her young granddaughter’s fast-food order one time.

“She wanted a cheeseburger, minus the burger.”

Readers were asked to come up with Gilbert and Sullivan-esque titles reflecting local life: “H.M.S. BeenHereBefore” – Wade Griffith

“Pirates of the Palouse” – Les Norton

“H.M.S. Pothole” – Pam Stark

“The Lowmen of the Guard” – Duane Wilson

“Pirates of Spo-Kantz” – Walt Lindgren

Following up: Retired teacher Susan Henderson saw the Slice item about naming pets after participants in the Lewis and Clark journey.

“While teaching fifth grade at Broadway Elementary, my class was studying explorers,” she wrote. “So we named our classroom’s pet gerbils Ferdinand and Magellan.

“Unfortunately, they weren’t able to explore much of the world in their small cage. However, they were fond of traveling long distances while running in their metal wheel.”

One thing you can say if you do not care about basketball but don’t want to be left out of Zags conversations entirely: “It’s still early.”

Today’s Slice questions: When I was in junior high, I knew some guys who were obsessed with snowmobiles. It would be difficult to exaggerate the extent to which they were immersed in the subject. They knew more about snowmobiles than baseball-stats geeks know about a certain pitcher’s success against left-handed batters on cloudy Tuesdays. Their brand loyalty was ferocious and unyielding. The guy whose dad owned an Arctic Cat could barely stand to sit next to the guy whose father had an Evinrude. And the two of them could almost not tolerate the kid whose family had a Rupp.

I hope they are all still around and doing well. But I wonder if they have maintained even the slightest interest in snowmobiles over the years. If I had to guess, I would say that they probably moved on to other pursuits.

What’s something that used to be an all-consuming passion of yours? Do you still care?