The Slice: Dressing for the weather you crave

I’ve been rethinking the whole Spokane/casual attire thing.

I know it’s popular in certain circles to look askance at our tendency to dress down. But I think I’ve finally figured it out.

It’s not that people here are slobs or grossly inattentive to how they look. Oh, no. We’re just dressing for the weather we want.

Allow me to explain. I recently spent a week in a part of the Southwest that has approximately the same climate as the planet Mercury. In other words, it gets hot.

Not surprisingly, many people there wear attire that is barely one notch up from pool apparel.

It does not get quite that warm here, nor does it stay hot for such a long duration. But, for reasons I’ve never quite understood, a great many Spokane area residents wish it did. At least that’s the impression I have.

So countless people here dress as if it’s 95 degrees, because that’s what they want the temperature to be. It’s sort of a variation on the old “Field of Dreams” thing, “If you build it, they will come.”

Only it’s about T-shirts and shorts. “If you wear them, it will get hot.”

Location, location, location: Reardan’s Rosemary Slemp saw the question about what birds said when offered nest-site advice.

“Last year’s robin couple didn’t allow us any comment,” she wrote. “They took over our newly hung garden basket near the front door and pushed the flowers aside to build their cozy nest.”

And, she said, they made it known that the resident humans were to retreat behind the front door and generally steer clear of the nest area until the baby robins were launched. They made this clear through shrieks, aerial attacks and leveling an unmistakable evil eye at the Slemps.

“Those weeks were really long,” said Rosemary.

Just wondering: What are your goals for your 2017 garden?

A) Harvest before the raccoons and deer do. B) Feed the world. C) Bumper crop. D) A few decent tomatoes. E) Enough zucchini to share with your whole neighborhood. “No, really. Take some. Please.” F) Enough vegetables to stock a small produce stand. G) Complete your “Back to the land” personal agrarian transformation. H) Other.

Slice answer: Stephanie Zoldak said her parental voice of authority was effective until about sixth grade.

“When the testosterone kicked in. Then I started to hear ‘In a minute’ or ‘When did you ask me to do that?’”

Today’s Slice question: In your family, what children’s questions about religion did Easter week prompt?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Your first bite of a chocolate bunny should be…