Public Service Announcement.

There is a mother/daughter housekeeping team that come here a couple of times a month to do the deep cleaning.  They are the sweetest ladies, and we always have fun chatting with them when they’re here.

Dot made us all get up at 6am today because she was so worried about making it to her 9am hair appointment on time.  Ugh.

The housekeepers got here after Joe and I had already dropped Dot off at Toot’s place.  Just a reminder:  Toots is the only hair stylist in town and she’s kind of a big deal around here.

Of course the first thing that the housekeepers asked me is “where’s Dot?”  Me:  “She’s visiting Toots.”

Joe cracked up and said, “Yeah, she needed to see Toots.  You should’ve seen how FUZZY her hair was!  I didn’t want to say anything to her, but her hair looked pretty wild.”

Me:  “You did tell her that, Joe…”

Joe:  “Is that right?  (laughing) Well, SOMEONE had to tell her!”

We all cracked up.

The housekeepers were telling me about their weekend trip to Seattle, and how they got stuck in terrible traffic.

Me:  “Seattle traffic is the WORST!”

Housekeepers:  “Well it was even worse than usual because they had a section of the city closed off for the Naked Bike Ride…”

Joe was napping in his chair while we were talking, but he perked up when he heard “Naked Bike Ride”.

Joe:  “What’s that you said?”

I explained to him how in Portland and Seattle a group of folks get together and ride their bikes through the city naked.

Joe raised his eyebrows and giggled:  “Naked?!”

Housekeepers:  “Yep.  Some people are into that kind of stuff…”

Joe:  “It doesn’t seem like that would be very comfortable.”

We all agreed with him and were unanimous in saying, “I know!  I’d never do it in a million years.”

Joe looked very concerned:  “Yeah, but I mean…It’d be worse for guys.  I mean…their parts could get caught up in the spokes!”

We all cracked up.  The housekeepers said, “I hadn’t thought of it exactly like that…”

Joe:  “Well you’d better really think about it before you just get naked and jump on a bike!  I hope they warn people about that!”

I attempted to look serious when I said, “I’ll be sure to call them up and tell them to add your warning to the flyers that they hand out to everybody.”

Joe:  “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

THUD THUMP THUD – George went back to reclining in his chair and napping.

Anderson Cooper.

We took Joe to see Toots today.  Toots is the one and only hair stylist in town.  Joe can’t even remember my name after working here for more than six months, but if I tell him that he looks like he’s about due for a haircut he grins and says, “Guess we’d better go see Toots.”

Toots is kind of a big deal around here.

As it goes with any barber shop in a small town, the gossip began before Joe even took his coat off.  I helped Joe sit in the barber’s chair, and then I found a seat and happily began reading “People Magazine” while I listened to Dot and Toots share their local gossip.  Joe just sat in his chair as quiet as could be and admired himself in the mirror.

Toots told Joe that he’s got a nice head of hair while she snipped away and he just grinned.

Toots said, “You’re lucky, Joe.  Most men your age would give their left arm to have your head of hair.”

Joe giggled and said, “If they gave up their arm…Well that just wouldn’t do them any good at all!  How would they comb their hair?”

Toots swatted him playfully and said, “It’s just a figure of speech.”

Dot:  “You know who wears a hair-piece…?  That Anderson Cooper.”

Toots:  “No, I don’t believe it!”

Dot:  “It’s true…I read that somewhere.  Just the front part of his head, and you can’t even tell because it looks so natural.”  Dorothy thought for a moment and said, “I wonder if that Anderson Cooper is married…?”

Toots:  “Anderson Cooper?  I’m pretty sure he’s gay, Dot.”

Dot:  (sharp intake of breath) “Oh no, no no…he’s definitely not gay.”

Toots:  “I’d have to Google it to be sure, but I’m almost positive that he’s gay.  All the good looking ones are, you know…?”

Joe piped in then and said, “Well that can’t be…”

Dorothy:  “Oh Joe, you don’t even know who we’re talking about…”

Joe:  “I do too.  Toots just said ‘all of the good looking men are gay’ and I said ‘that can’t be…”

Toots:  “Oh no?”

Joe giggled and said, “Nope…cuz I’m not gay.”

Toots:  “I stand corrected, Joe.”

Joe settled back into his chair, entirely pleased with himself while the rest of us laughed at his joke.

Dot:  “Well I just don’t see how Anderson Cooper could be gay…he’s on a news channel!  CNN I think…”

Toots:  “Believe it or not, Dot, gay people CAN report the news…”

Dot rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust.

Joe just giggled and teased Dot:  “Does that make it ‘gay news’?”  Dot, what are you doing watching gay news!”

Dot:  “Oh Joe, SHUSH!”