Wet Blanket :

  Leave it to a woman to rain on your parade.   No kidding.    It seems as if a man comes up with some idea, it is a woman's job to point out every possible flaw with that idea.    Will they come up with their OWN IDEA?   Well, NOOOooooo.....   but leave it to the man to come up with some crazy idea like : "Hey, let's build a bridge across that river there", and his woman will be the first one to stand up and tell him all the reasons why it won't work, the 'what if's,  the potential problems, how it may effect her adversely in the long run, so on and so forth until that man just ups and gets all quiet on her and has to go make that bridge in secret with some other man.     The woman would be perfectly happy telling you she doesn't mind the way it is now, going the long way up around the mountain yonder and crossing where it is shallow,  or 'Can't some OTHER man build that bridge? Why does it have to be you?' She'll ask.     She may even try to tell you she doesn't want to cross the river at all.

   But I promise you this:   Once that bridge is up, she'll be putting on her Sunday Best and doing her hair and painting her face to get in line and go cross that bridge on the way to town now that it's there. She won't apologize for all the belly-aching she did while you were building that bridge neither.   All those days she was whining about how you spend all your time at that bridge, that crazy project playing around all day in the river with those other bums.   All the nights arguing about how you would rather be working on that bridge than being here in your own home where God wants you to be, with your family to look after.    She'll just up and forget about all that  and not mention it at all as she sits tall in your wagon and rides to town to do some trading, it taking only one hour now as opposed to the five it used to take going the long way around the mountain.    She'll even brag to anyone who'll pretend to listen to her about how it was you, her husband, that done built that bridge.    She'll sound proud when she talks to other folks, but she will refuse to share that enthusiasm with you for some reason that is impossible to reckon.      The only comment you're likely to get about the result of your labor is to be told you painted the thing the wrong color. 

  Ladies are just like that, at least when they're your'n.    If a lady is someone else's though, it is a different matter altogether.   You can tell them the sky is blue and they get to giggling behind their hand and calling you a rascal and such, making you feel like you're the most charming dandy in town, and they'll do it right in front of their own husband to whom they have not said a kind word or flattered since who-knows-when.     It's just how they are.    And they call US the sneaky ones.