The Slice: It’s too easy to stumble on stereotype

Some lessons learned from old TV Westerns turn out to be at odds with real life in the modern West. For instance, did you know that women don’t always respond to a crisis by running into the woods and twisting an ankle? It’s true. And it turns out drug prices and utility bills are bigger hazards than quicksand and nitro. OK, let’s move on.

“Slice answer: When Christine Roberts’ son was 4, he insisted on accompanying her to the store and post office dressed as Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer. His antlers were small tree branches taped to a belt fastened around his head.

This went on for months.

“Several people even commented to him what a fine reindeer he was,” she wrote.

“Pet peeves: Here’s a quartet of classics.

“My pet peeve occurs at grocery stores,” wrote Kathy Morse.

She wishes people would go ahead and get their checkbooks out. “Do these people not realize that they will be required to pay? Is this a new experience for them? Do they not see the three or four people in line behind them?”

Maggie Fritz summed hers up in one word. “Elevators,” she wrote. “Why is it that people rush to get on before letting the people inside off?”

Mary Johnson’s pet peeve is people dumping snow from walks and driveways into the street.

And Rick Clark wrote, “Have you noticed how often you see a driver, having given no prior signal, start to turn a corner and only then flip on his turn signal? Is he saying, ‘Wheee, look at me — I am smart enough to turn a corner’ “?

Answering a question from last Sunday: A Spokane woman I’ve known for years said an ex-boyfriend showing up at a wedding reception can indeed put a damper on the festivities. That happened to her. Only it was her brand-new husband’s ex-boyfriend.

She’s now married to a different man.

“Slice prediction: A white Halloween.

Just wondering: Is it possible to look out a window and see several dozen crows and not make a reference to the 1963 Hitchcock classic, “The Birds”?

“Let’s hear it for fall: Karen Cole, of Davenport, Wash., was taking a walk in the woods with her 9-year-old granddaughter, Sidney. A breeze came up and rustled the leaves on the trees.

The little girl recognized the sound.

“Sounds like they are clapping their hands, Grandma.”

“Recipe goofs: Eilene Ackerman’s mother-in-law used to make a dessert consisting of rhubarb, whipped cream and a dash of vanilla. But on one memorable occasion she grabbed the wrong bottle when reaching for the vanilla and wound up adding a dash of liniment.

“Today’s Slice question: Who around here dreads cold weather more than anyone else? (Those about to head off to Arizona for four months are not eligible to answer this one.)