The Slice: Readers ice cold on heated question

THERE WON’T BE a winner in The Slice’s 2005 “Packing Heat” contest. Everyone who entered expected the thermometer to hit 99 degrees before now.

The idea was to predict the first day the official Spokane temperature would reach 99 this summer. And if it had happened in late June, almost any day in July or the first couple of days of August, there would have been a winner (more than one on some days).

Oh, well. I’ll use my prize budget to buy ice cream for some little kids.

•Just wondering: When TV news does a story dealing with your profession, what generic scene almost always shows up?

This is prompted by an e-mail from Dianne Cook. “Every time a TV news story about prescription drugs is shown, all they ever film is the pharmacists’ hands counting pills,” she wrote.

That bugs her.

“The pharmacists I know are splendid people and have much more talent and knowledge than that.”

•Favorite postcard so far this summer: It was mailed by Slice reader Phyllis Rollins during a trip to California. It shows the Samoa Cookhouse near Eureka.

The restaurant has a timber/sawmill theme and serves hearty fare.

Rollins wrote: “We had dinner here and it was very good. Too much food tho. We are not loggers.”

•Reader challenge: Think of an everyday Inland Northwest circumstance where the perfect remark would be “We are not loggers.”

•When pop culture attacks: Members of Linda Pitt’s family have to put up with being asked if they are related to actor Brad Pitt. “We wish,” she wrote.

But another Slice reader asked that we forgive him if he isn’t sympathetic about the burden of sharing names with actors or movie characters. “It could be worse,” said Spokane’s Bob Yates, who isn’t the local serial killer.

•Slice answers: Most readers responded to the question about the possession lost and found the greatest number of times with answers such as “My mind,” “My dignity,” “My identity.” (Thanks to Bill Mahaney, Amy Maine, Edward Ferency, Carol Bordeaux and others.)

And a majority of those answering the one about who will sweat the most this summer named Spokane Mayor Jim West. (Thanks to Dennis Dolle, Cory McCoy, Vickie Scott-Woodley and others.)

The truth is, I had viewed those questions in a more literal-minded way. But I can’t help it if my readers think for themselves.

In the matter of changing the sign facing drivers departing the Spokane International Airport, Rathdrum’s Dave Wolfe offered this rewrite: “Spokane: Gateway to North Idaho.”

And after The Slice asked who around here had the largest archive of swimsuits, an e-mail arrived from Kelly Malone: “Do they all have to be the same size?”

•Today’s Slice question: What’s your favorite story involving the red wagon at Riverfront Park?