The Slice: Shoot first, lots of questions later

An emergency room is an odd place to find yourself feeling competitive.

But when a member of my family had to make an unscheduled visit to a South Hill hospital last week, I couldn’t help but notice that the patient behind the curtain in the next bed seemed to be getting more than her share of attention from hospital staffers. Frankly, the parade of drop-ins started to get on my nerves.

Eventually, though, I felt sorry for that woman. She must have been asked to explain her predicament 20 times.

So let that be a lesson. If you don’t want to end up as an ER sideshow, don’t shoot yourself in a fleshy part of the body with a nail gun.

“ Cultural arrogance (the early years): Coeur d’Alene’s Carol Loomer asked her visiting 6-year-old grandson from California what he thought of Idaho.

It’s nice, he said. “But I like my home better. You know, back in America.”

“ Just wondering: How hard would it be to go a week eating only foods that had been grown or processed in Washington or Idaho?

“ God only knows: Nobody asked for my opinion on this. But I just can’t see buying a ticket in 2006 to see the group that calls itself The Beach Boys. I wasn’t that wild about Mike Love 40 years ago.

“ Movie reviews: Tim Osborn nominated “Change of Habit” as the all-time worst Elvis movie.

And Air Force retiree Dennis Schneider said 1963’s “A Gathering of Eagles” does a “reasonably good job portraying the culture of a SAC base at that time in history.”

“ Following up: The Slice heard from Bernadette Haddleton in Post Falls.

“Speaking from the viewpoint of a wife of an ‘elderly man,’ ‘Stayin’ out of trouble?’ often means ‘How’re you treating your wife?’

“Elderly men have finally learned the truth behind the phrase, ‘Happy wife, happy life.’ ”

“ Feedback: Shirl Foien correctly noted that I misplaced the apostrophe Sunday when writing “American’s breathtaking ignorance when it comes to geography.”

What about ignorance when it comes to spelling, she wondered. Of course, the apostrophe should have come after the s.

“ Warm-up questions: Does every family have one person who says “Whoever invented () ought to be shot”? Ever have surprisingly complicated feelings about cutting down a sapling growing in an inconvenient spot?

“ Today’s Slice question (finish this sentence): As the last man/woman in the Spokane area who pays for small purchases with cash, I sometimes feel like …