I have to say I am feeling more then a little embarrassed. Today I did myself proud with my DIY skills. I have the Susan Salo Puppy Jumping Foundation video and it looks like it has some very interesting things to work on....so I decided to get a few jump bumps the program calls for. Sounds like a pretty simple thing, they are just a couple of 46 inch long 4" diameter schedule 40 PVC pipes cut in half, and a couple of 8" pvc pipes cut in half length wise.
I looked around and I have enough of the larger jump bumps out of the 8" pvc, so I looked on the Internet to buy a few more small jump bumps. YIKES, in my opinion they seemed pretty expensive for what they were and the shipping was enough to make my hair curl. Well, I am not going to be taken advantage of that way, LOL! I am no fool, and how hard could making something like that be?
Next I called someone who has a husband who has tools and might do a little odd job. He gave me a quote of $100 for 4 of each size. That still seemed very high to me, or maybe just more then I had to spend, so I went all the way out to the middle of nowhere to our local industrial pipe store. They were very nice and had the pipe in 20 foot lengths which would yield 10 jump bumps for $35, AND they would cut it to length but they were unable to cut it in half lengthwise, so I had half the cutting done anyway. This way I could get just the size I really needed and look how much money I could save.
Not a problem. I asked my hubby to ask his friend if we could give him $20 to cut the pipes in half and of course my husband promptly forgot and it has been weeks and I really got tired of waiting for him and did not want to pull out my nagging routine, it just did not seem worth it and I had other bigger things to nag about anyway.
I have a friend that offered use of her jigsaw if I got a blade, but I never can get ahold of her and I have not seen her in a long time, so who knows how long I would have to wait to go that route-and once I got ahold of her then I would have to figure out what type of blade, you get the picture and I am sure you are seeing what the problems would be for an impatient person such as myself if I wanted to go that route.
Next I thought hey, I got this dremmel, how hard could it be. Another $10 for a cutting wheel and some blades and I was on my way. Well, it actually does work, but the PVC dust is horrible, little bits were flying all over and I went through about a million blades that would split and break and just do some very impressive flights all across the house. I started smelling a little hot smell,......I figured it was the PVC dust right by where the motor was, so I wiped it off and kept going. I was not using the best judgement at that point-I just wanted it done. Minutes later there was a lot of smoke and I got the feeling flames were just seconds away (it had a horrible burning smell that filled the house)...the dremmel was DEAD. I will probably never get the PVC dust out of my nose or hair or eyes...that was not pleasant.
So, because of my impatience and wanting to actually have these before Cricket is grown I spent:
$35 for the PVC for the small bumps-enough to make 10 (I had to buy a 20 foot length)
$10 for the dremmel bit and blades
$40 -at least that is what I am guessing the dremmel cost-it was a nice one with a more powerful motor.
?? Heavens knows the cost to my health with the pvc dust and the aggravation..
YEP, I am such a smart consumer, LOL, guess I did not save anything in the long run.
The results- 6 small jump bumps and 2 pipes still waiting to be cut in half to yield 4 more jump bumps. I am thinking I should not have been so impatient or so cheap ;-), and come up with a better plan. I guess since I still have more pipes I will get to figure out another idea, hummm, how about using the dremmel I have for the dogs nails, LOL, (YIKES, please someone hide that dremmel from me, I can not afford to replace that one). I wish I could say I learned a lesson from my impatience, but I would not really put money on that.
Agility uses many skills, and I figure soon I am going to have to take a shop class! Who knew when I got into agility it would call on so many different skills?
I would give an opinion about the puppy foundation jump skills video....but it has been so long since I watched it and originally started trying to get my things together to do it, that I will have to rewatch it to really remember enough to sound intelligent discussing it-so I will rewatch it and take the jump bumps I do have and then post about it, I am sure everyone will be holding their breath for that, hahahahaha.