(Anyone need a mountain of gray pom poms?)

My math wizard Dad is surely disappointed.  I used to be good at it!

Or, it could also be:  I'm a terrible carpenter.

Ooooh, I had such glorious plans to build big Finn boy a fancy schmancy stand for a gigantic new water bowl.  I cooked up a faboo idea to seal the wood super fast and water tight too!  Oh and sure, I can crank it out in a flash, surrrrrre, ain't no problem at all, pssshhh!  Riiiiiight.

Next time I have those thoughts, I will be sure to stop, breathe, come right back here and reread some of these tales I've posted.  Sheesh, I'm so....*eyeroll*... sometimes it's amazing, heh.

Hey, it's good to have goals though, right?

Let's get started on this buffoonery.

Supplies:

• Jumbo extra large ginormous six quart bowl
• 2x2 lumber
• galvanized screws, 2 1/2"
• Plasti Dip spray can,* gray

The bowl I picked up came from Pet Supplies Plus but this one* is similar, as is this one,* or this one.*  I had the wood so this ran me in the neighborhood of $15.00.

Ok, wait, lemme back up here.  My goal was to build Finn a whole new feeder stand.  But actually to be honest, my initial goal was to build one for Hailey but I never got around to it.  After her surgery, we propped up her bowls on large overturned bowls so she could eat and drink more comfortably.  Just as I was about to start this project, she left us.

It has not been an easy project to get back to but I despise the stand I bought for Finn.

Bleech.

When we first adopted dorky giganto-dog, I grabbed this raised feeder while at the store (we met the rescue woman at a chain pet supply store).  Within Mighty short order we discovered what a hugely messy slobbery drinker Finn is, slurping and splashing and spraying water for miles.  Worse?  The feeder stand collects and pools water.  Yuck-eeeee.

I've seen those spiffy clean lined modern wood feeder stands all over the interwebs and I'm sure if you typed in DIY raised feeder or something along those lines into a search, you'll see multitudes of places where my idea stemmed from.

Here was a major portion of my trouble though, aside from my very lacking math skills:  I rushed.  I did not plan.  I figured hey, what's to plan really?  I plowed right into it.  I had an itty smattering of time, let's get this built and done so tankard Finn has lots of available water and maybe hopefully fingers crossed the jumbo bowl size will cut down on the amount of water sprayed about the room while he drinks.

Why was I in a rush?  My old pal Geoff had asked if I could come help out in their office.  The next day was my first day.

Heh.  Sigh.

Plan, people.  Even the smallest, seemingly easiest no-brainer projects.  Plan 'em.  Save yourself headaches, time, wasted materials, hassles, aggravation, hair pulling, swear words, what-have-you.  Plan.  You'd think I'd have learned that by now, dammit.  But noooOOo.  Stubborn, I guess.

Plus I thought hey, how hard could it be?

So, there were all my errors in thought process.

Ok.  Enough public flogging.  How 'bout that water bowl project?!

Because Finn is well, how shall we say, um, spoiled?, he no longer eats at the feeder stand.  He likes to lazily lie about anywhere else and nosh away.  Silly boy.  This stemmed from when he owie'd his leg; I decided he should just lay down to eat rather than bobble uncomfortably.  Sooo.  Heh, he lounges while he eats now.  Not ideal but it is what it is.  As such, I opted for water bowl stand only.  For now anyway.

Hey look, it's wood that's been cut!  Incorrectly of course.

Ok, so I measured the height of the feeder I purchased:  12.5" tall.  I cut four pieces of the 2x2 to that dimension.

Next I fumbled, fumbled again, then fumbled yet again, then fumbled one last time for good measure.  Hey, why not, right?

I measured the diameter of the new super huge fancy bowl, 11.25", then measured the depth of the lip which came in at 3/16".  All turned around because I was in a rush, I went backwards math, cut the cross pieces at 8".


Well that was wrong.  Bowl no fit.  So after assembling, I disassembled.  Cut new pieces at 9.75".  Assembled.  Tried the bowl.  Nope.  Too small still.

Doh.  Omg.

Aggravated with myself, I cut yet more pieces at 10.25".  Ok, too big.  Oy dear me, seriously?!?!  I cut two cross pieces down a half inch, reassembled and hey!, it was good enough.  *shaking my head*

Hey!  Finally!!!  Ugh.

Because Finn is such a sloppy drinker and I was in such the stupid rush, an extra water tight quick dry sealant option for the bare wood was required.  Several coats of water based polyurethane would have dried fast enough maybe but its water-fastness would quickly prove to not be as satisfactory as desired.  Gerbils racing in my brain....

So I thought, hmph, I bet that Goodbye Cracks stuff, the rubberized spray would do it.  But at $3.50 per small can, that's not realistic.  Oh.  Duh.  What about Plasti Dip?  Yeah!

Turns out Plasti Dip is in spray cans now in all sorts of bright colors along with basic black, white, gray.  I grabbed gray because the colors were rather neon-y for my taste and twice the price.  But feel free -- brights would be great!

Weeds make a good spray area.

Sprayed a coat, waited the requisite half hour, sprayed waited sprayed until the can was gone.  The other day I filled the pathetic joints with clear caulk and added nail on plastic chair glides* to keep the feet raised out of any pooling water in the boot tray this thing sits on/in.


Hey, so the thing isn't totally gorgeous like those other projects I've seen on the web.  It's far from artfully fancy pants perfect for sure.

Mommy, why is my new water bowl in the living room?  Looking for decent photo light, my boy.

But it functions.  And that's primary goal #1.

I will say, three days later Mike asked me in a surprised tone, "did you build that?"  So maybe it's not too too terrible.  Or wait, maybe he was inquiring because why would I spend money on something so shoddily built?  I dunno.  Let's go with the former, yes?

But ya know what?  The Plasti Dip spray was a brilliant choice if I do say so myself.  It resists all the splashy slobbery dribbles dazzlingly.  (I know, say that word three times fast)  Two itty bitty teeny weeny spots peeled up due to poor choices during chair glide installation but nothing another can of spray can't resolve.  It could use another coat anyway.  But the rubberized finish is cool and modern in itself too.

So really, the whole purpose for this post is to tell you to get Plasti Dip spray to seal wood from water in dog related scenarios.  Heh!  Thanks for taking the long route!  ;)

Hey, by the way, if you're over there on the Twitters, help HomeAdvisor (@HomeAdvisor) and @Adoptapetcom raise some cash for dogs in need.  All you have to do is post a photo of your pup and add #inthedoghouse.  Could not be any easier and costs only a few mere seconds of your time.  You can post to your Facebook page or Instagram too using that hashtag gizmo.  Here's more info!  Spread the word!!  Post photos!  Go now!

*The dog bowls, the Plasti Dip spray, and the chair glides are all Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.