POLES

A month has gone by and then some, and NO TIME!  Work sort of exploded and my part time status is nine hours a day, and then I go to job #2 (my favorite one) and put in another little bit of time.  So all good intentions sort of flow out the window.  But today I was off, and had no other pressing conflicts so at least got to start my pole bending obstacle project.

Step #1.  Why do they hire grumpy old farts to work in hardware stores?  This old dude (relatively speaking as I'm no spring chicken) was just not very cooperative and if he'd have been three feet tall instead of 6 foot 4, he could have applied for troll status under a bridge.  So I'm wanting 6 foot poles, but they have them cut in 10 foot lengths and five foot lengths.   I tell old grumpy fart that I will pay for the 10 ft poles if he will cut them down to six feet.  He grumps, and growls, and hedges, and oh for ****'s sake give me the five footers.   Now mind you I am carrying six three gallon buckets in my left hand, and he graciously hands me the six poles into my right which will not fit around two of them.   So I anchor them between my arm and chest and sort of drag the lot which is about as tall as I am up to the registers and prop everything up.   I realize I need end caps, I mean now that they are five feet, there is a slight risk one of the loving mares might decide to plant my butt since nobody has been ridden in who knows when.  I'd hate to go out impaled to a pvc pole, so I flag down Mr. GOF and say, I need end caps, please point the way.  He grimaces and finds me six and tries to dump them into one of my hands, which can hold exactly two of them.  I think I'm not letting GOF that close to my boob, don't like him all that much and manage to get them balanced in two hands, clutched to my chest and back to the register.   Yes, a shopping cart might have been an idea here.  I'm always so optimistic when I go into a store.

So the recipe starts here:

6  1 and a 1/2 inch and 5 foot (dang you GOF!) pipes
6   end caps to fit
6  three gallon paint buckets
2 cans of Krylon spray paint for plastics
80 lb bag of instant mix concrete
1 roll painters tape                       Spent:  $74 and change 

 The price of a pole bending set is about  $250 plus shipping.  I have no visions of running poles competitively, but they are a great exercise for the horse and the rider.  And will be our first obstacle for the obstacle course I'm hoping to build here.

The lady at check out graciously wrapped the pipe so I could get it out to the car.

I taped the poles off to spray paint, but I'm not sure that I will.  I'd honestly like the with with little stripes, as standing back from these they look pretty good.  May just investigate if I can get to outdoor tape, and tape on the stripes, or maybe some reflective...that could be fun.

Stopped my project there today, as the next step was the concrete and I decided a chat with my resident Sack-Crete specialist might be in order as it is pretty nippy out there today, water frozen on the horse's water tank, and I was unsure how the concrete would be able to set in the cold.   So if it warms up tomorrow...step 2.