Hector Update #3 ~ The Cure

After receiving the "second opinion" noted in the previous post we thought long and hard about what our next step should be in this arduous decision.  We narrowed our options to these:

1. Pound him to dust and spread his "ashes" along the path.
2. Just toss him into the trash can.
3. Attempt an epoxy repair, despite expert recommendations... what's to lose?

We selected option 3 with option 1 as plan "B."

I decided to use a paste epoxy with a 24 hour cure time.  I had some 5 minute curing epoxy but thought I wasn't fast enough with that to have it turn out OK.  Maybe afraid of the pressure of time constraints.  The paste epoxy is easy to use.  It comes in 2 small containers; 1 being black and the other being gray.  You mix it in a 1:1 ratio. 

I kept saying to myself, relax, it's just the opposite of a headectomy... no reason to stress.  Breath in... breath out.  In through the nose and out through the mouth.  Then I closed my eyes and began my Mantra.... Uummmmmmm, Uummmmmmm, Uummmmmm while trying to breath properly.  After about 30 seconds of this I opened my eyes and laughed my ass off... what a silly thing to do before playing with epoxy.

I mixed the epoxy, spread it as even as I could over where Hectors head used to be attached to his body, and then slapped on the top of his head... like an anti-Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland... "On with his head!!!" The Mad Hatter is relieved to hear.  Anyway.....

I placed Hectors skull cap on the curing epoxy and squeezed it into place.  The epoxy oozed out the sides some.  His skull cap didn't fit as smoothly as one might wish as the thickness of the epoxy would not allow the skull cap all the way down to it's original position. I felt it necessary to smear the epoxy over the seams in an effort to seal the wound from future water penetration... if he lives that long.

I then set him aside to dry and become cured.

Three days later I placed him aside the pond and hooked him to the water supply.  He spit.

 

He Spits!

I considered painting him so he didn't look like Al Jolson getting ready to sing "Mammy."  I decided not to do that as the "battle scars" appeal to me.  How many folks can say they undid what the Queen of Hearts wanted done?  None that I know of... How many folks have any idea what I'm talking about... probably not to many (but if you do I like you... your my kinda folk)!