The Slice: We’ll soon be needing cowcatchers on our bikes

In certain parts of town right now, another name for bike lanes might be pine needle lanes.

This can make for some interesting slip-sliding.

I don’t mind the ones that got there without any help.

Let’s move on.

• Slice answers: There was no consensus about whether Air Force retirees can ignore military ranks when encountering one another in civilian life. There wasn’t even agreement about whether it is desirable or appropriate to do so.

Several respondents were incensed by the inference that Air Force backgrounds (and the individual’s rank) are somehow magically detectable.

Um, that’s not quite what I meant. I am aware that, with the possible exception of those who had certain weapons storage assignments, USAF retirees do not give off a telltale glow.

I was thinking more along the lines of bumping into someone you knew while in the service or discovering a stranger’s military past through this thing called conversation.

•Just wondering: When shopping for a sympathy card, what percent of the offerings strike you as dreadful?

•Slice answers: Readers’ most unforgettable pet-blessing moments included a large dog relieving himself on a priest’s vestment and shoe, a guinea pig dying on the spot and an arachnophobic minister urging a congregant with a large spider to take her unusual pet to a fellow cleric.

•Just wondering 2: Do you buy bottled water? Why/why not?

•The secret to successful potty training: “Swimming lessons,” said Vera-Ora Winslow, a grandmother.

Her daughter has three boys. The two oldest were signed up for swimming lessons. Their younger brother wanted to be in on the action. So he was told that he too could have swimming lessons if he demonstrated proficiency in the bathroom arts.

“Within a week, he was using the toilet 100 percent of the time,” said Winslow.

Another reader noted that a pair of prized Barbie underpants did the trick. It seems the young wearer was so fond of them that she wanted to do right by them and, well, you get the picture.

•Thanks for noting so many movie/TV scenes featuring people interacting with newspapers (re: Tuesday’s Slice): One mentioned by several readers is the scene near the end of “Young Frankenstein” showing the thoroughly domesticated monster in bed reading The Wall Street Journal. Another scene garnering multiple mentions involved Uncle Billy’s screw-up with the deposit money in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

That stupid, silly, old fool.

•Today’s Slice question: What’s the Spokane definition of elite?