a frog's life

So, Leapy the tree frog has (or rather had) a waterfall. The motor burned out recently, and I decided to replace it with a different kind. It was the same size and appeared to have the same connector for the hose. The replacement also claimed to be more powerful and be able to withstand an owner's occasional forgetfulness about filling the fountain reservoir. The only problem: the connection wasn't the same.

I tried to make it work by cutting the tube. No dice. So I returned the pump and headed to Petsmart to get the exact replacement. Great. Problem solved. Except it wasn't. In trying to make the other pump work, I cut off an essential centimeter of hose. Now the new, correct pump won't sit properly.

This means that my quick, supposedly more efficient fix has forced us either to replace the whole waterfall (three times as expensive) or to let Leapy go without a fountain.

The lesson? Sometimes we break things by manufacturing solutions rather than accepting the obvious answer.