Category Archives: Rusty

Camping Zen of Rusty the Rooster

Walking through scenic spots while camping makes Rusty philosophical, so he wants to share some Philosophies of The Rooster.

Don't follow the rules.

Don't worry if others laugh at your style.

When something is fun, show joy.

Smile all of the time.

Follow your own path

Make the most mundane things a game.

When you see something you want, reach for it.

Rusty the Rooster Zen

Water is Flowing

Yes, yes, yes – we have water flowing in the house again.  All of us are thrilled beyond belief.  The problem was incredibly complex and took days to decipher.  Ok, well, that might be half right.  It did take days to decipher.  We will tell the whole story with a few pictures thrown in for good measure, even though it is a little embarrassing for the hu-dad (you can just skim for the pictures if you want to – those are about us).

Water pressure began dropping several weeks ago.  We checked the well (hot summers have been known to dry out wells), but everything was ok.  Being busy humans, no plumber was called.  Then, last Thursday night, the water was not running at all.  Time to panic – er, start thinking things through.

The well is used by three houses- one belongs to the ski resort for seasonal help, one to a family from Florida that used it as a second home (uh, like 5 times) and then has been trying to sell it for two years, and us.  One line goes straight from the well to the ski house and one comes down the hill, hits a t-intersection (this is an important detail) to split off to the second home, and then comes down the hill to our house under the road and then under our driveway.  Once in our driveway, the pipe goes to the cut-off valve which is directly under the dog room (another important detail) and then into a utility room.

We determined on Friday that no water was coming into the utility room, so we would need to dig up the water line until we found the clog.  But we needed to access the cut-off valve under the dog room, so the Herd could not be free.  Close your eyes – this next picture is shocking.

The dogs of cell block H.

The digging began on Monday morning.  No, The Herd was not enlisted to dig.  Our fantastic neighbor (the one with his own well and the only other year round resident) brought his backhoe and began digging (this neighbor also has a big tractor which is our snow plow in the winter to the main road off the mountain – again, a fantastic neighbor).  We did not exactly know where the pipe was, so it took a few holes to find it.  Once found, the hu-dad began ditch digging so that no damage was caused to the water line.

The hu-dad does not get to operate the tractor. His equipment is leaning against the trailer. He is barely qualified to work that.

The elusive water line. Note the hu-dad's excavation around the pipe. This is specialized labor.

Ok, let’s speed this story up.  Cut this water line.  No water.  Moved about halfway up the line.  Repeat digging.  Repeat cutting the water line.  No water.  Started to move further up the line to the T-intersection to the home that had been for sale for 2 years..  Remember we said this was important.  The neighbor suddenly uttered a couple of HBO words.  He remembered seeing a house inspector wandering around that house.  The inspector would have wanted to confirm that water was running into the house.  So he would have turned valves.  Some day, this will be funny.  Some day, this will be hilarious.  But to discover that this inspector had turned the WRONG valve and LEFT it that way was, well, hmmmm, frustrating.  Repair the two cuts in the water line.  We now have water flowing, but still low water pressure.  Call plumber who promises to arrive Tuesday morning.

Qannik inspects the hu-dad's pipe repair work

Rusty is far more interested in how the machinery works.

Think of the holes we could dig with this!

Don’t let Rusty fool you.  They have dug holes that big in the dog yard.  Anyway, Tuesday morning, plumber shows up and quickly traces the problem to a clogged pressure reducing valve which was replaced.  And, we have water in the house again.  The neighbor used his backhoe to fill in the holes and the work was done.

Wait - no work is done until the inspectors approve.

Uh, Qannik, we just filled the hole in. We do NOT need to dig it back up.

Smiling Rusty

Woo!  Rusty is so happy that it is Friday and wishes all of you the happiest weekend!

Posing on the Bench

Did you see Rusty posing all Zen like on this bench yesterday?

He is not the only one who can "strike a pose."

Hu-Dad says ignore the nose art on the windows and the fur balls on the floor.

Just focus on my beauty and my fluffy tail.

Oh, and here is Rusty as you really know him. Nice scary face, Roo!

Rusty Zen

What thunderstorm?

This picture was taken during the height of a strong thunderstorm – heavy rain, strong winds, lightning flashing and lots of thunder crashing (and echoing against the surrounding mountain ridges).  Rusty is hardly ever ruffled by any event, and is certainly not disturbed with the strength of this storm.  (Actually, The Herd is very blessed that no pup has a fear of thunderstorms.)

This is also yet another great example of Rusty’s second key rule in life – never sleep on the ground.  His first key rule?  Everything is a game.

Pretty good philosophy of life, huh?

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Rusty Jingle Bells

Our pal Norwood surprised us with a very special gift for this Saturday’s Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation Downtown Dog Walk – a bear bell just like the Nordude wears!  He asked that Rusty wear the bell, so that is what is happening.  And since Twink suggested we should be practicing our walking rather than Siberian Husky Calisthenics, so we went out for a walk, too.  The combined result is in this video:

P.S. – Khyra, I believe this counts as a Walking Wednesday video, too, though we recognize that this is really Whitney’s Whicked Whednesday.

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Bear-Bear - Photo from The Baltimore Sun

Our deepest condolences on the loss of Bear-Bear.  In case you do not know the story, here is the article from The Baltimore Sun as of Tuesday evening.

Snow in August

Rusty here. The weather finally cooled off here in the mountains and you aren't going to believe what we woke up to. SNOW!

We still got in our hikes, and the snow felt so great on the paws.

It was enough to put a giant smile on my face.

The black and white team had fun, too!

Cheoah even got to do some snow slides.

Just one last thing to tell you - AUGUST FOOLS!

Rusty! Stop laughing. That's APRIL, not AUGUST!

Oh. Never mind.

Seeing the Future

We see lots of hikes in our future today!

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We also see gaining new friends via the Blog Hop.  Come Hop with us.

Hazards of Working in the Den

Lapdog and laptop compete for space.

Guess who wins?

Got time for an ear scratch?

The Queen is shocked she has to share her couch with a human.

School Daze

Rusty asks, "Hey, Kodiak, is it school time yet?"

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Only three more weeks until The Herd leads the Downtown Dog Walk on Saturday, August 7, 10 a.m., in Waynesville, NC.  Enter the Walking with The Herd Contest by clicking that link for all of the details, downloading this form, and mailing it to us with a check to SARF.  You could win a t-shirt of you walking with The Herd at the front of the parade (thanks to the power of PhotoShop – no matter where you live).  Rumor has it that Sarge adopted out 9 cats – NINE – on Saturday at their HQ – and that doesn’t count the other adoption events – just the one at the HQ.  Six dogs and cats are rescued every day by Sarge’s.  Can you help us make it more?

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the current herd

Natasha

Rusty

Kiska

Kodiak

Qannik

Cheoah