The Slice: July 27 could be a hot one

OK, where were we. Oh, yeah. The Slice asked readers to predict the first day the temperature would reach 99 degrees in Spokane this summer.

The most popular choice? That would be July 27. Three readers entering the contest picked that day.

One of those, Kim Lallier, explained the prediction. “It is the day we were married and was the hottest day of the year (for many reasons) and still usually is each year.”

•Just wondering: You know how people sometimes say “Happy Mother’s Day” to women they don’t know well? And you know how, sometimes, the women on the receiving end of this salutation are not, in fact, mothers?

Sure. Well, here’s my question: Is this assumption that an adult female must be a mother more prevalent here in “Great place to raise a family” country than elsewhere?

And do people say “Happy Father’s Day” to men even if they don’t know for sure that the guy is a dad?

•Image and reality: So I’m sitting in the Seattle airport, speed-scanning a newspaper story about an actor who grew up in Pend Oreille County. To illustrate how far he has come (he’s the star of a Broadway show), the story quotes him as saying Newport just got its first McDonald’s.

Seems to me, that restaurant has been there a while. But there’s a fairly well established tradition of people from this area making it to the national stage and then exaggerating the Inland Northwest’s Hicksville qualities.

What are you gonna do?

One solution is to check out Jess Walter’s new novel, “Citizen Vince.” His affectionate yet unsparing take on Spokane is as dead-on as any you’ll find.

•Here’s a tip for newcomers from Sandpoint’s Harold Lutes: “You need to remember that you are no longer where you’re from.”

•Reader challenge (localizing “Don’t cry for me, Argentina”): Ron Lugone offered several suggestions.

Here are two: “Don’t build a garage for me, Spokane.”

“Don’t wake from your 50-year nap for me, Spokane.”

•Slice answer (memorable falls): About 30 years ago, Jack Goodwin was lugging an ultrasound machine at a hospital when he twisted his ankle and fell through a door into a waiting room full of patients.

“It was a momentous and noisy entrance, to say the least,” he said.

•Recycling: Those stories about durable lawn mowers prompted a reader to tell about a dud of a mower she and her husband received from a family member.

To get rid of it, they simply took advantage of their neighborhood’s crime rate. They left it in the front yard overnight. Sure enough, by the next morning, it was gone.

•Today’s Slice question: How does your family decide on how to spend summer vacations?

A) Committee consensus. B) Dictator’s ruling. C) Random inspiration. D) We’re suckers for slick marketing. E) Other.