Now I know how Ozzie felt. Well, maybe not. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have to walk around covered in polyurethane sealant like I am having to do for the next week or two.

What happened today was John, our company gopher (for a better description, see the definition of “appendix”) dredged up an air powered caulking gun from a long forgotten storage bin at the shop. He wanted to try it out, to see if it worked, but didn’t have any open tubes of caulk lying around. What he did have was a fresh tube of Vulkem sealer (the gray stuff we use to seal seams on Airstreams). He popped the tube in the gun, hooked it up to an air hose, and tried it. The first attempt worked out okay, so he came and got me. “Look, Lug, I found this cool caulking gun!” Before I could tell him I knew all about that gun, and why I had hidden it, he squeezed the trigger.

He found out why it wasn’t used, and I was painfully reminded, when the piston of the gun extended fully in about a quarter of a second. The nozzle wasn’t big enough for all that Vulkem to exit that quickly, and it found the path of least resistance. Namely, the cardboard sides of the tube. It blew out, spraying Vulkem all over John, me, and most of the shop. We then spent the rest of the day cleaning Vulkem off walls, tools, the floor, trailers, and, of course, ourselves. Even after a bath in parts cleaning solution, I’m still gray.

Maybe I can get a temp job resealing travel trailers, all I’ll have to do is roll myself across them. In the meantime, I’m going to dig a hole to put that caulking gun in. A really deep hole. I may even put John in there with it.