The Slice: As neighbors snooze, she loses

Rose Poirot, who has been keeping her windows open, said she can hear an absent neighbor’s alarm clock go off every morning.

And this occurs before Poirot had intended to wake up.

When it happens, she pictures her neighbors sleeping peacefully at the lake.

“Slice answers (longest time gazing at a lake without setting foot in the water): Mary Ressa nominated her dad, retired machinist Orlando Ressa.

The 82-year-old Spokane man has had a place on Deer Lake for 30 years. “And he’s never been in the water,” said his daughter.

Why? Well, the fact that he was never a strong swimmer is part of the answer. But mostly, it’s just a personal preference. He’d rather fish.

Ressa’s family used to give him a hard time. But everyone is starting to suspect that he has made up his mind.

And Nila Hagood noted that her husband, Jerry, is another who is not exactly at home in the water.

He always encouraged the kids to have fun in the family pool and enjoy water recreation. It just wasn’t his thing.

His wife acknowledged that he is a marvel of consistency. “I can attest to a minimum of 28 years of him not putting a toe in the water, or stream, or creek, much less river or lake. He can, however, stare at them endlessly.”

“How Spokane seemed after being away: “I left Spokane back in August 1991 and returned in August 2004,” wrote Michael Blackburn. “What I noticed mostly when I returned was the growth in North Spokane. I used to ride my bike up in Five Mile because of little traffic and beautiful country. Now it’s all houses and lots of traffic. It’s a shame.”

“Old business: Several readers said one reason they chose a certain grocery store is that they aren’t asked to produce a purchases-tracking discount card.

Most respondents agreed that people who receive tips tend to dish out compliments more than virtually any other population subset.

And in the matter of parents learning that their kids had picked up some questionable language, quite a few readers shared entertaining stories that were utterly unprintable. But hey, they made me laugh.

“Imperfection: A reader unimpressed with the new Convention Center said the perfect slogan for Spokane could be “Near nature, near-sighted.”

“Warm-up questions: What’s the best gift you received for feeding the cats and watering the plants while someone was away? How much of the foreign language you studied in school do you remember? How much do you really want to know about other people your romance partner has been with?

“Today’s Slice question: How much do golf clubs complicate travel?