Abandoned By The Rapture?

These two dogs have been at this gate all day long.

The dogs belong to my next door neighbor, Mary, and her new husband, Chris. My neighbors are very religious people.

Now most of you know I am not religious. I answer to "agnostic" or "atheist" or "lapsed Catholic". I was brought up Catholic, but we all know that Catholics don't really read the bible, so I never really gave a lot of credence to this "Rapture" business in the first place.

(In fact, I thought the word "rapture" was used exclusively to describe something about one's sex life until very recently.)

But now I'm a little concerned. I have not seen hide nor hair of Mary or Chris all day. Their cars are in the driveway. The dogs have been standing at the gate forlornly since we got up this morning.

I realize that the predicted earthquakes and such have not occurred, at least not as of now. There was a blip on the screen today about a volcano getting ready to erupt in Iceland and that could be related, but I'm not sure. There were also exploding watermelons in China last week if memory serves and that also could be a sign that things are getting ready to pop, so to speak.

Mary has spoken to me about the Rapture in the past. I did have to tell her that I really wasn't religious so it wasn't a concern to me. Sweetly, she offered to pray for me and for Alex too. (He may even be more of a heathen than I am, by the way.)

I have seen all of my other neighbors around today, but most of them are relatively sinful people as far as I can tell. Actually, I have no way of knowing how sinful they are or aren't, but I'm just projecting my own failings on to them. I'm not proud of myself for wondering if I could help myself to Mary's gorgeous sterling tea service if she's gone. I mean, it would be a sin to have it just sit there in an empty house, wouldn't it?

I wonder if I should go next door and feed those dogs.

Hair

There is nothing scarier than a trip to the Beauty Shop.

You are putting your head literally and figuratively in someone's hands. Now believe me when I say that naturally beige platinum hair can be hard to come by, particularly if you want it cut to perfection. Perfection is a funny word. To me, it means, short, but not too short. Styled but not too styled. And sassy, but not too sassy.

My hairdresser, Sandra, a young Mexican woman, is good. I really like her and consider her to be an interesting and talented woman. Sandra married a guy from Mexico recently. She met him on-line.

When Sandra is happy with her bridegroom, I get the perfect color and the perfect cut. When Sandra and her new husband are having issues, there's no telling.

I have ended up with hair that had a purplish tint, a greenish tint, and a bluish tint from time to time. (Oh not to worry, it washed out after 7 or so shampoos.) I have had the perfect hair cut, I have had the Marine Corps boot camp coiffure, and I have had the country western, whoop de doo! It all depends on what is going on in Sandra's life.

Lest you think she is a flash in the pan hairdresser, I've been faithful to her for 10 years or so. (Longer than my faithfulness to some husbands I might add.)

In any case, Sandra did right by me today. And that always make it a good day, considering the alternative.