The Slice: Our building never met King Kong

Slice reader Chris Kelly wanted to add to something I said last week.

“It’s true that the real Met is in New York, but it should be pointed out that our Empire State Building predates theirs by 30 years.”

Fair enough. It’s now known as the Great Western Building. And no giant apes have been seen climbing it. But The Spokesman-Review’s neighbor on Riverside was, in fact, first.

“More feedback: Several readers wrote to express displeasure with the anonymous attack on the leadership of their garden club appearing in a Slice column last week. It was mean and unfair, they said.

“Slice reader Katie Osborne’s yard work mission statement: “You need a good lawn mower — one that’s young, well-muscled and shirtless.”

“Good-dog story No. 1: More than 30 years ago, when Colleen Goodwin was 13, she decided she wanted a dog.

Before long, an abandoned gray schnauzer/terrier mix applied for the position.

“My parents said if I still wanted a dog, I could have her,” wrote Goodwin, who teaches math at GU. “I wasn’t thrilled at first. I had wanted a German shepherd.”

Still, the little pooch was pretty cute, and Goodwin’s parents made clear that it was this dog or nothing. “We named her Rags, and she became my constant companion.”

The next summer, the teenage girl got a job delivering The Spokesman-Review. Rags always accompanied her.

One early morning in October of that year, a man tried to abduct Goodwin. He grabbed her. “Get in the car or I will kill you,” he said.

Rags jumped up and bit the fire out of the guy’s wrist. He released Goodwin and fled.

“I got on my bike and rode home with Rags running behind,” she recalled.

Not surprisingly, her family still tells that story.

Goodwin has had lots of good dogs over the years. She has four now.

But Rags was special.

“I will never forget,” said Goodwin.

“Good-dog story No. 2: “The shedding stories (Thursday’s Slice) reminded me of our favorite family dog tale,” wrote my friend Kristina, a writer and mother of three on the North Side. “Our beloved black Labrador, Scout, passed away in late 2003. We had him cremated and took his remains to a spot along the Spokane River where we often ran him.”

Just as her husband removed the lid on the container and was preparing to spread the ashes, a wind whipped up and blew them all over the family.

“We stood there crying and laughing simultaneously. Scout shed on everything, and I guess he couldn’t resist doing it one more time.”

“Today’s Slice question: How do you decide when to switch over to short sleeves?