The Slice: Mullets, buffets? Tally wouldn’t lie

Maybe you’ve heard of the annual Christmas Bird Count.

Organized by the Audubon Society, this early winter survey of our feathered friends is a census of a sort. It provides important information on avian populations and ecosystems in general.

To find out more, go to www.audubon.org.

Of course, flycatchers and swallows aren’t the only things we can inventory during the holiday season.

For years, I’ve thought of proposing a Spokane Christmas Mullet Count. Then perhaps we might discern once and for all whether this area does, in fact, have more than its share of throwback guys sporting this stereotype-inviting hair style.

My guess is that local numbers would be somewhat high because our population is whiter than much of the nation. Still, I don’t think these dated haircuts are as prevalent here as some suggest.

But why stop there?

How about a Spokane Christmas Buffet Count? Volunteers could fan out to various all-you-can-eat dining establishments and mark down the number of those feeding at the troughs. The results might challenge the notion that Spokane is a multiple-portions mecca. Or, I suppose, confirm it.

What about a Spokane Christmas Good Dog Count? This would be a simple matter of tallying the number of friendly, well-behaved canines in and around our city. Perhaps this survey could also involve treats.

What would you like to have counted?

“Thanks: To all the readers who assured me that I am not alone in taking forever to finish reading a book. One correspondent told me she progresses just a few pages a night before falling asleep. Then, the next night, she has to re-read about half those same pages to remind her where she is in the story.

“Slice answer: “I don’t know if this will count for your question on sisters giving birth the same day, but on April 12, 1976, my sister-in-law and I gave birth to baby girls about six hours and 250 miles apart,” wrote Glynis Tucker of Spokane.

“My father-in-law had gone to work that morning and told his co-workers he was a new grandfather. They all congratulated him.

“Then after lunch he went back to work and told them that he was a new grandfather. They looked at him like he had lost his mind — until he told them he had ANOTHER granddaughter born that same day.”

“Today’s Slice question: If time travel were possible but restricted geographically to the Spokane area, what year and place would you want to go back and visit?