The Slice: Wrong number? Welcome to the party

OK, where were we.

Oh, yeah. Party lines. Lots of readers remember them. But I especially like Michelle Batten’s story. She didn’t understand about different households having the same phone number but different rings.

“When I first came to the U.S. in 1958, I had no idea what a party line was so I picked up the phone every time it rang and would tell the callers they had the wrong number.”

I’ve posted a few more readers’ recollections on The Slice Blog at www.spokesman.com.

Naming the summer of 2012: Trudi Brown suggested “The Summer of Political Robocalls.”

John Harbuck offered “Summer of Shiver.”

One of Sarah Jensen’s ideas is “The Summer of Sweat and Beers.”

Another of hers is “The Summer of Bikes and Men.”

And, speaking of men, David Adams proposed “A Beer Belly Summer.”

Old business (choosing an era for a mini-series costume drama set in Spokane): Lan Hellie was surprised no one suggested the mid-1970s. The city changed dramatically during that period, he noted. And the actors could wear leisure suits.

Edie Clark proposed 1955-1965. “You did not go downtown unless you were properly dressed,” she wrote.

Old business (middle school vs. junior high): Coeur d’Alene’s David Townsend felt overlooked. When he was growing up in Bozeman, Mont., the grades were broken up this way.

Elementary: K-4; Middle: 5 and 6; Junior high: 7-9; High school: 10-12.

Feedback on my last pre-vacation column: “As I was sitting in the kitchen this morning, sipping my coffee, reading The Slice, and watching the snow blow sideways on the first day of spring, I decided that I wasn’t ready for discussions on swimwear quite yet,” wrote Peter Yocom.

Today’s Slice question: Everyone knows it can be raining in downtown Spokane at the same time it is snowing on the South Hill. But surely there are those with daily commutes that involve even greater elevation changes. So here’s the question.

Who around here routinely experiences the biggest difference in weather between home and work?