Puffy Clouds

Today there are an unusual amount of puffy, fluffy clouds in the afternoon sky.  It’s actually quite pretty.  I remarked on this to one of my grammar school buddies in an e-mail, declaring that, as pretty as the clouds were, I was too lazy to get up and take a picture of them.  I mean, they’re just clouds, right?  They’ll be back.  Or will they?  Today is, after all, the day of the Rapture, according to some minister guy out in California (?) who I refuse to do research on.  It is 16:21 Eastern time (4:21 PM) on May 21, 2011 – approximately 99 minutes from whatever is supposed to happen.  And I am not afraid.

My lovely wife has been out all afternoon and did not tell me where she was going.  She’s probably doing food shopping or getting hair supplies or some such thing.  Or perhaps she’s attending a shower of some sort.  Or - could she be in a church or somewhere else awaiting the aforetold hour?  And, if so, should I feel insulted that she is cutting me loose?  Nah.  I’m a heathen through and through.  And I must admit that the fact that I can blast some Pearl Jam in her absence mollifies my angst a bit.  Headphones, schmedphones!

Anyway, I was watching Ninja Warrior in my bedroom when I heard the unmistakable sound of a jet fighter engine outside.  I looked out the window, and what did I see?  Four Thunderbird F-18s (or F-16s or F-22s or whatever version of white-hot death is in use for the air shows) coming after me!  You see, Andrews Air Force Base – which is two towns over -- is hosting a Joint Services Open House this weekend, and the events include, among other things, an air show featuring the Golden Knights parachuting team and the ‘Birds.  There’s no mistaking that four-plane diamond pattern rushing about the skies at about 800 miles an hour.  I grabbed my trusty Canon PowerShot camera and headed to the balcony to see if I could get a good shot.  I took eight photos of what would have been F-whatever fighter jets if my hand/eye coordination was better and if I had a better camera.  As it turned out, I took eight photos of puffy, fluffy clouds.  That is a pretty sneaky way of getting me off my ass, I’m tellin’ ya! 

And, of course, I’m looking out that same window right now, and there are plenty of clouds in the sky.  But there are not as many.  And the ones that are there are not as puffy and fluffy as the ones that I have eight great shots of.  I hope that this narrative is a little more exciting than the attached photo.

And I hope that someone gets to read this….