The Slice: Signs that spring is crashing in

The Slice had asked about signs of spring.

Well, I heard a lot about birds, frogs and what have you.

But Coeur d’Alene’s Nadyne Melior, recalling her days in the Silver Valley, nominated “the first motorcycle accident.”

Another Lake City resident, Janie Helgeson, said one sure sign is the appearance of street cleaners. “They only want to clean the streets once, so they make sure winter is over before they come out.”

Christina Marino said you know spring is here when you realize it’s time to wash the grime and de-icing chemicals off your car, revealing the vehicle’s true color and making your license plate readable once again.

Sarra Reiber in Medical Lake said “ticks.”

And a friend suggested the surest sign is the appearance of the first shirtless guy out in public in Browne’s Addition.

Who says Spokane isn’t classy?

“Slice answer: North Idaho’s Sue Jones still remembers when a color TV arrived in her California neighborhood in 1959.

At the time, her own family had one of those see-through plastic screens — with bands of red, blue and green — that, when placed over a black-and-white set, was supposed to simulate color TV.

But then the salesman father of a neighborhood boy named Jimmy won an actual color TV in a contest. Things changed.

All the kids on the block wanted to watch “Bonanza” at Jimmy’s. Permission was granted.

But when the neighborhood gang arrived to experience the full glory of color TV, they were instructed to stay out on the porch and watch through the picture window.

“As I look back on it, it was a rather Norman Rockwell scenario,” Jones recalled. “A group of motley kids jockeying for position to see around the silhouetted shapes of Jimmy’s family, haloed by the glow of the TV.”

Not being able to hear the dialogue made it something of a challenge to follow the show. But Jones said she still remembers the intro when the chromatically correct Cartwrights came riding up on horseback.

“Speaking of TV watching: A colleague has observed a generational schism.

Regardless of the format of what the family is watching, her preschool son insists that the program be paused when he gets up to get a snack or go to the bathroom. Thanks to modern technology, that’s easily doable.

But whatever happened to hurrying and then bugging people to tell you what you missed upon your return?

Is this another sign of modern kids’ limitless sense of entitlement?

Why, back in my day, you either had to wait until a commercial or simply accept that you were going to miss a couple minutes of the show. It built character.

“Today’s Slice question: Do local business managers assume productivity will decline during the first week of the basketball tournament?