Men/Women, Dear Blinds and Sleeping in Trucks

The Fred-and-Owen shorts

Filthie at Filthie's Thunderbox ran this video about the Six Things Women Need to Know About Men and I thought it would be a lark to do the same about the things Men Need to Know About Women.

But I am not a video guy, nor do I have credentials.

So I wrote some short pieces of fiction.

I will be tickled if any readers want to nominate some hard-won lessons regarding the fairer sex, especially any tidbits from my women readers.

Kubota update

Kubota is working third shift. The shifts are long and his new employer informed him he needs to get vaccinated.

I told him to hang onto the job until they told you it was time to walk down the aisle to get the jab. Let the other hot-heads quit first and maybe they would see the light.

But even if they don't, they have to pay him for every tenth-of-an-hour he works and he might as well milk it as long as he can.

Big day yesterday

Deer blind

Mrs ERJ and I went out to the hunting lease and did some maintenance on one of the deer blinds.

It was the first time I have messed around with metal siding since I helped Jack Treloar and Charlie Bordan put up a  pole barn. I was in high school at the time.

Mrs ERJ was a champ! We eventually settled on drilling a hole in the bottom of the panel in the exact middle. Then we propped the panel, upside-down on a step ladder with a 2-by-4 sticking out to hold it at-height.

Mrs ERJ stayed on the windward side of the panel and steadied it. She also told me how to jockey it around before shooting the screw.

After the one screw was mostly run-down, we pivoted the panel around it and secured it with two more screws. Then it was time for ladder work.

Not the most efficient way to install panels on a deer blind with the floor 12' above ground but it used the tools we had and nobody got hurt.

The repairs are not complete but we have a much better idea of what has to happen next.

Since Mrs ERJ was instrumental in making it happen, it is now a dear blind and a deer blind.

Sleeping in the truck

The outdoor thermometer now reads 26F.

I wanted to see just how "cold" it is to sleep in the back of the truck.

As a winter camper from a long-time-back, I knew that most body heat goes down. There are very few kinds of insulation that do not have the loft squished out by body weight.

Closed cell foam is one that is very resistant to that failure mode.

I had two layers of Walmart closed cell foam beneath me. Then a folded over, fleece blanket, more for getting air to my back than for warmth.

Above me I had a fleece, an electric blanket and then an un-zipped sleeping bag as a comforter.

I started the electric blanket at 5/10 and never touched the controls afterward.

I got up at 3 to irrigate a yard tree that was complaining of dry soil. But other than that it was a warm, restful night.

Even though I was warm, I can see why it was a struggle for Kubota.

Kubota is a restless sleeper and the foam pads are narrow and the stack of blankets is vulnerable to getting fluffed up wrong.

I remember rolling over to sleep on my side twice during the night. Kubota would do that in the first ten minutes.

Coming back from my comfort break at 3:00 AM, I had to fiddle with the blankets to get them re-aligned properly.