Annoying Alarm Gets Ringing Endorsement as Wake-Up Call for Sleepy Son

The police log of the Rancho Santa Margarita News reported a complaint from a resident who charged that “her neighbor on Esperanza left a loud alarm clock on just to annoy her.”

How unthoughtful (though I’d love to find out the brand of that alarm clock to see if it could wake up my 9-year-old on school days).

A note from home: You may have noticed that this space was vacant on Wednesday. I just wanted you to know that I was undergoing computer training--not, as one friend guessed, serving as mayor of Compton that day.

Guide to Adventurous Dining: Today’s specials (see accompanying) include:

* A recipe for a tamale pie that Ken Tuxford of Redondo Beach figures is unusually explosive (unless it was supposed to say black “pepper”).

* A dish that Woody Langley of Sherman Oaks points out would give new meaning to the phrase “club sandwich.” Langley fondly recalled the episode of the TV show “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” in which a murderous wife conked her mate over the head “with a frozen leg of lamb that she then cooked in the oven while police investigated the crime scene.”

Unreal estate: Consider leasing (see accompanying) ...

* A place where you might be able to stay warm, once you put some walls around it (submitted by Jim Gordon).

* A house that seems to have a big indoor plant (from Rusty Young).

Prizes to die for: You can almost hear Monty Hall asking, “Do you choose what’s inside Casket No. 1, Casket No. 2, Casket No. 3 or Casket No. 4?”

That’s the question that raffle-prize winners will be considering Sunday at a charitable fund-raiser thrown by a mortuary to celebrate the new season of the HBO series “Six Feet Under.”

“There’ll be about $800 worth of prizes in three of the caskets, and the fourth one will be empty,” said Ken McKenzie, owner of McKenzie Mortuary.

The price of admission will be $20 at the Little Brown Chapel in Long Beach. The raffle will be at 8 p.m., and the HBO show, a black comedy about the mortuary biz, will air at 9.

McKenzie might have to display a fifth casket if he can persuade one local disc jockey to lie inside. The person choosing that casket would then win a date with the deejay.

If President Bush hadn’t already sworn off the things ... : Wetzels’ Pretzels of Santa Monica will be making the snacks in the shape of peace signs today to “promote peace awareness.”

miscelLAny: Zack Figueroa, a 10-year-old pitcher in the Long Beach Little League, was preparing to pitch to a batter the other day when he suddenly walked off the field. Explained coach Larry Buckle: “His tooth fell out.” I’m not sure how the statistician scored it.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve .harvey@latimes.com.