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The Slice: Country roads, take me home
1. It’s not just near nature, it is smack dab in the middle of it.
2. When you hear gunshots, it’s probably just hunters blasting away or unimaginative youths shooting at road signs.
3. Being near all those stores and medical offices in town makes life too easy.
4. The chance to listen to audio books during your commute.
5. Lends a certain credibility to truck ownership.
6. Get more than enough contact with other people while at work.
7. Like the idea of referring to the home place as a compound.
8. Urban life just seems like a lot of dog barking, litter and drivers running stop signs.
9. Want to have more chickens than the city allows.
10. To quote the great American song “Rocky Top”: “I’ve had years of cramped up city life, trapped like a duck in a pen.”
11. Living out in the country implies a bit of self-sufficiency.
12. It’s what my second husband wants.
13. Quiet.
14. Enjoy watching birds of prey.
15. You see the stars at night better out in the country.
16. Enjoy how impressed co-workers seem when you make it to work on time after a blizzard.
17. Always wanted to have a well and septic system.
18. Schools.
19. Like being out where seeing a stranger is unusual.
20. Why be in our part of the country if you’re just going to live in town in some could-be-anyplace subdivision?
21. It amuses me to think some people suspect living out here suggests I am paranoid about the future of the social order.
22. Enjoy freelance nudity.
23. Don’t like being told when you can or can’t burn a few logs in the fireplace.
24. Ever heard birds, I mean really heard them?
25. It’s a lot nearer perfect.
Warm-up question: What’s the biggest difference between HGTV and reality?
Today’s Slice question: In what ways is Spokane major league?
Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. If you count the occasion itself, we have 10 days to prepare for Groundhog Day.