It all started at around 7 am Saturday morning.
I am going through my normal morning routine, getting ready to leave for work.
I was standing at the kitchen stove talking to my daughter when the most blood curdling scream ripped through the house.
It was my 11 year old son.
I had never heard him scream like that.
It rivaled any horror movie scream you have ever heard.
Steven King would be proud.
It instantly added at least a 1000 gray hairs to my head.
As the second, just as heart stopping, scream ripped through the air again, my daughter was racing down the hall with me hot on her heels.
In the 2 seconds it took to get down our hallway, I had already envisioned my son laying on the floor with his arm missing.
Then, just as quickly, I pictured my son standing over his little Pomeranian's dead body.
(She has been having seizures lately)
I have a very morbid imagination.
My daughter got to the bathroom door and pushed it open to find my son backed against the wall, between the toilet and the tub, pointing at the floor in front of her.
I got there just as my son came flying out of the bathroom at a rate of speed I have never seen him move before.
He flew past me, down the hall, to the living room.
"Ben! What's wrong?!" I tried to ask.
I looked back at my daughter to find her looking at the floor with a smerky smile on her face.
I came up beside my daughter to see what could have possibly made that heart stopping sound come out of my sons mouth.
This is the monster that caused my son to scream better then any women I have ever heard.
This half dollar size wood spider had made him run for his life.
The pit falls of living in the woods.
This spider took 10 years off of my life.
I thought my child was dying.
My son a had taken his shoes with him into the bathroom to put them on.
When he slipped his foot into one of his shoe, he felt something in there.
He took the shoe back off and lifted it to his face to see what was inside.
Just as he got the shoe to his face, our little spidey friend decided to walk out of the shoe.
First scream.
The shoe went flying.
The spider fell to the floor.
He started to climb up my son's leg.
Second scream.
My son wore a different pair of shoes to work.
I took 2 Aspirin.
I also told him that I was going to get him a job in the movies, so that he can take care of me in my old age.
If he keeps doing this to me, I'll be old before you know it.
On to work.
All of the appointments showed up.
It was a typical busy Saturday.
Because I didn't think grooming all day was enough work, I stayed after work to do some spring cleaning and repairs.
My daughter needed a new back board for her table.
She has an old shoulder injury, and the backboard keeps dogs up close to her so that she does not have to constantly reach across the table to them.
Her old one has seen better days.
We defiantly got our moneys worth out of it.
Our drying room also needed a new one.
This was the old one from my table last year.
My home made tub grate or board, was desperately overdue to be changed.
I like our drying table, but it is too deep.
The dogs like to press against the back wall causing you to have to stretch to reach them, in turn killing your back.
The back board brings them closer.
Depending on the size of the dog you are drying, we can move the backboard forward and back, giving just the amount of room you need.
I made this back board stronger then my first ones.
This one will stand up to the large dogs that like to lean on the back of it.
My daughter also has her new backboard.
She wanted to keep one side open for scissoring, because she likes to stand at the end of her table.
I removed the old board on top of the tub grate.
I use PVC pipes for the base.
It is 20x40 inches.
The new board is a thick piece of ply wood.
20x40x1/2 inches.
I spray paint the board to help keep it from soaking up water and to last as long as possible.
The last board lasted a little more than a year.
The paint I used on it did not stand up for as long as I thought that it would.
This time I am trying an Epoxy paint.
After the paint dries, I line it up with the base.
I use wood screws to attach it.
They go through the wood and hold in the PVC pipe nicely.
It fits in my full size bathtub very nicely.
It lifts the dogs about 3-4 inched off of the bottom of the tub.
I can also stand any size dog on it.
It is very sturdy.
I place a tub mat or exercise mat on the top for the dogs to stand on.
I also decided to get creative and try to make a backboard for the tub.
This backboard was to go on top of the tub board and help bring the dogs closer while bathing.
You know those dogs.
The ones who like to smash themselves to the back wall while you stretch your body to reach them.
All the while begging them to come over closer to you.
I wanted to make this backboard stand up to all of that water we use everyday.
I got the bright idea to cover the wood in sheet metal.
Not one of my best ideas.
I was going to blog a step by step of how I did this, but I discovered about 10 minutes into making it, that sheet metal and I do not mix.
The stuff is dangerous for home improvement want-to-be's.
My first 3 cuts came while trying to shape the metal to the wood.
My final and most serious cut came when I was finished.
I was all done.
I stupidly decided to run my hand over what I had just finished, like running your hand over a piece of clothe to smooth it out.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
It was like slicing through butter with a hot knife.
Ouch!
It took an hour and a half to stop bleeding.
I got it done.
It is not pretty, but I can't wait to see if it does what I want.
I used Silicone gel to close off all of the sharp seams, and keep water out.
It will sit on the top of the tub board and be used for most sized dogs.
It will keep the dogs from plastering themselves to the back of the tub.
It can be moved back and forth as needed.
If you would like to make one of these backboards, I gave instructions in my post, My New Back Board
Well, I survived Saturday.
My finger hurts.
But, I can't wait to use the new backboards.
Happy Grooming, MFF
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