The Slice: Still bruisin’ over loss of cruisin’

After alluding to cruising Riverside back in the day, I heard from a lot of readers who used to be young.

Sometimes, when reading certain e-mails, you can almost hear the sighing.

•Saturday advice: The ground is still soggy. Better hold off on that yard work.

Today’s a good day to buy stamps.

•Mildly chilly scenes from the last day of winter: Robert Tracy wins a coveted reporter’s notebook for coming closest to correctly guessing that Thursday would be the day I resumed my bicycle commuting.

•Here are a few early returns from Tuesday’s name-polls: Bob Atwood said that when he was a kid he thought the 1977 Pontiac “Bandit” Trans Am was the coolest car on the road.

For Bob Hanson, it was the 1959 Chevrolet Impala convertible.

Pam Pierson said the book she recommends is one she wrote, “The Pocket Guide to Senior Housing.”

Kim Tracy said her advice to someone who just moved to North Idaho would be to stay out of the left lane of Interstate 90 if you plan to drive at the speed limit.

Kim Johnson would advise them to have a good rain jacket.

Dave Lewis said that if forced to give up either NPR or PBS, he would jettison whichever one was conducting a pledge drive at that moment.

Mary Ann West said, yes, she has met Don Kardong. “He’s a very nice guy.”

An e-mail purportedly from a dog named Zeke said the pooch had never fired anyone but had chased a few cats out of the yard.

Melanie Bell said she would like to be asked if she were named after the Melanie in “Gone With the Wind.” (Yes.)

Sandpoint realtor Forrest Schuck would like to be asked, “Do you have anything on the lake in the $4 million range?”

Sherry Davidson’s question is: How many other real Sherrys are out there? (Apparently people often assume her actual name is Cheryl or some such. It’s not.)

Then there was this from my friend Anne Windishar:

“I wish I could respond to your name poll, but Annes really shouldn’t tread where Anns go.

“You could ask readers if they’ve noticed distinct personality differences between Anns and Annes. Here’s my breakdown:

“Anns: loud, bossy, dominating – Ann Letourneau (a mutual acquaintance) excepted … probably why she goes as Annie.)

“Annes: caring, refined, classy.

“I like to think I’m more Anne than Ann, but others may disagree.”

•Today’s Slice question: How does your two-beers personality differ from your no-beers personality?