Dancing Proves To Be A Tall Order

Here’s the long and the short of it.

After asking about couples with big height differences, The Slice heard about 6-foot-8-inch Paul Wagner and his 5-foot-3-inch wife, Jeanne.

Then there’s 6-foot-7-inch Dennis Danner and his 5-foot-5-inch wife, Pam. “It’s very awkward to hug,” she said.

And 6-foot-4-inch Mike Shea and his 5-foot-1-inch wife, Jessica. “On our wedding day, I had quite a cramp in my neck from dancing with him and having to look up,” she wrote.

But Phil Ball and Anna Crouch, who are getting married Saturday, might be the champs. He’s 6 feet 9 inches and she’s 4-foot-11-inches.

That’s a difference of 22 inches.

“If you want a laugh, go with us to the mall and walk about 10 feet behind us just to check out everybody’s reaction,” said Ball.

* New name: A friend’s reference to the south of France gave Darla DeCristoforo an idea.

Forget the “North Idaho” vs. “northern Idaho” debate, she thought. Instead, let’s start calling the region “the north of Idaho.”

* Slice answers: Kathy Altieri said neighbor Brenda Almquist is Spokane’s sexiest soccer mom. “HUBBA HUBBA,” wrote Altieri.

Another reader nominated a woman named Diane Mueller. “I can’t leave my name and number because, as a soccer dad, I’m not supposed to notice,” he said.

* Never boy cheese: “Why do we always have girl cheese sandwiches?” asked 6-year-old Shaw Jones.

* “Takin’ Care of Business”: Theresa Rodgers has a 7-year-old daughter, Kara, and an 8-year-old son, Jake. And Kara thought the old Bachman-Turner Overdrive song was titled “Jake and Kara business.”

* Life in 2000: Susan Lauer’s 5-year-old daughter, Tessa, encountered a big polar bear preserved by a taxidermist. Tessa excitedly explained to her 6-year-old cousin, Chase, that it was real. “I know,” he said coolly. “They paused it.”

* Family Phrases Department: We heard about a little boy who referred to flatulence as “big pants.”

* Things Learned on Vacation Department: “South Dakota has a lot more things to see and enjoy than people from Iowa would have you believe.” — Jan Jesberger

* Attaboy: Emily Joynes, 13, reports that her dad, Tracy, has earned all 10 of the Inland Northwest Blood Center’s special T-shirts for donors. “Please put him in your column,” she wrote. “He really deserves praise.”

* Today’s Slice question: You could have the town, why don’t you take it?