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Bill_Scott

Active member
Joined
Oct 25, 2015
Posts
30
Location
Newhebron, MS
You may have read about my furnace woes in the Tech forum, but there is levity in every situation. To make a long story short, I was complaining that the A/C fan motor was running constantly when the furnace was selected on the thermostat. Turned out is was an option, and the dealer neglected to tell me how to change it. The fact that the dealer seems to have stolen all the manuals has something to do with it.

My experience with getting the furnace running provides me with my tendency for self-flagellation. I never miss the chance to make fun of myself. One of the things I didn't mention was the actions of our pet, 'Killer' the adopted Malamute. I have never owned a Malamute before, so if you have one, you might be able to tell me if they are natural comediennes or it may be that I have acquired one that is brain damaged.

Killer showed up one day, raided the dog dishes and decided to stay. I named him "Killer" as a joke, because he is everything but. However, I must admit that we had two dogs at the time and one mysteriously died shortly after his arrival. I don't buy dogs, and where we live out in the country, the arrival of one 'pet' and the disappearance of another is not unusual.

Turns out "Killer" was purchased by a neighbor a half-mile down the road for $500. The guy lives in a trailer and hauls logs so he is rarely home. I guess Killer got lonesome, so he came to visit my then current pair of canines, killed one (possibly by not allowing it to eat) and dominated the other. When the guy down the road found out where Killer was, he sent a message to me to keep him. I should have sent Killer back. You don't just give away a $500 puppy without a reason.

Well, Killer is incapable of barking. I don't know if this is typical of Malamutes or Killer has a physical defect as well as a mental one. I suspect it may be a little bit of each. Killer howls. If Killer wants attention he warms up his vocal chords and sings like a wolf. When my wife comes home from work each day, he alternates spinning in circles and howling. If a stranger comes into the yard, no matter who he or she is, Killer drives them nuts by begging for attention... that is IF he is not sleeping. Killer loves everything, including cockerburrs which have found a permanent home in his fur.

Killer has never been in our house. We don't want house-dogs. I built them a dog house and put an oil radiator in there and keep it warm during the winter. Whether they sleep in it or not is of no concern. If they don't like it here, they are free to leave and go elsewhere.

When we walk into the house, Killer gazes at the threshold as if he sees something there, but has never attempted to enter. When we parked the RV in front of the house, Killer seems to be fascinated with it. He sleeps by the front steps and when you go in, he climbs the steps and howls to come in too. I think killer believes the 40 foot behemoth is a new doghouse.

Last night, while I was inside fiddling with the furnace, I would hear him banging on the front steps, alternating whining and howling. At first the heater didn't work at all. The same salesman that told me, "All you have to do is set the thermostat to 'furnace' and set the desired temperature," neglected to tell me the propane bottles were turned off. You don't get much over on me. With some degree of intelligence, I decided to go outside and look. Yes, they were both off, so I opened the valve on one and moved the selector until the indicator was green.

I went back inside and turned the furnace on, and the AC fan came on like a 747 under full power trying to reach lift off. At least that's what it sounded like to me. Just to be sure I turned on the stove and the chosen burner jumped to life.

And then the fire alarm came on. When the sound of the fire alarm reached Killer's remarkable ears, all hell broke lose. There I was, convulsing in laughter and fanning the fire alarm with the worthless furnace installation manual. I had nothing to stand on, and at 200 pounds I figured I might destroy one of the dining room chairs, so I just kept fanning the fire alarm until it went off. Then it started again, and likewise Killer put his throat into action again. Not knowing what was happening with the furnace. I finally decided to just turn the damn furnace off and go back in the house.

I awoke this morning at 6:22, and tiptoed through the house so as to not disturb my wife who was still fast asleep. To be honest, I tiptoed in fear of waking here and being shouted at. I eased out the front door, and there was Killer asleep at the foot of the RV steps. He howled a couple of times in greeting, but when I went into the RV I could only hear a little whining through the door. So I went through the exercise, as Steve was kind enough to email me the link to the Dometic thermostat, and when the heater came on the A/C fan was silent. Then the fire alarm went off again. Killer started howling. I fanned the fire alarm and when it stopped chirping, Killer stopped howling. Then the fire alarm started chirping again and Killer started howling.

Now this may seem trivial to most of you, but in my case, before 10 AM on Sundays is 'quiet time' at our house, and Killer was about to ruin my whole day by awakening sleeping beauty at such an hour, so I could either turn the furnace off, keep fanning the fire alarm, or confront Killer in my pajamas and slippers. Waiting for my wife to get up and drink here first cup off coffee was not an option. I had this furnace function in hand and no one was going to stop me from solving the problem. Least of all Killer.

What I did next was a stroke of genius. I decided the most obvious remedy was to find a stick and beat Killer. For the next 15 minutes, I alternating fanning the fire alarm with the worthless furnace installation manual, and running up and down the steps and chasing Killer with a stick. Soon I got tired, got a stepstool, disabled the fire alarm and came back in the house. Killer was quiet, and I haven't heard fire engines in front of the house, so I am confident that all is well. Ain't RVing fun?  8)
 
Welome to the world of RVing...  Bet you can't wait to build a poop pyramid! :eek:

Wi1dBi11
 
Wi1dBill, I am going to try real hard not to do that. LOL! That's what the woods are for. Just be careful of the concealed bear traps. Hurts real bad when you finally run out of chain.
 
LOL.... Camouflage TP is also in order during deer season.

Wi1dBi11
 
I'm curious what are  you going to do with that dog when  you go rving if you aren't taking
him?  Sounds like a riot, try training him.
 
PatrioticStabilist, Killer and BJ have never been anywhere. Even the vet makes house calls. The only animals that come into our house are mice, lady bugs, red wasp, yellow jackets, skinks and chameleons. So far we have kept the snakes, alligators, raccoon, armadillos, deer, possums, wild hogs and horse flies at bay. The other day there was a 12 point buck in my front yard, and we had a small doe that came over and played with our dogs. One day I woke up and there were 14 cows in our yard. We didn't have to fertilize the grass that year. Our neighbors are wonderful, and take care of our house while we are away.

We live on the Pearl River in South Central Mississippi. You can see our house at http://www.TwoPondsOnTheRiver.com. It's always for sale, if anyone is interested. The catfish in the river are enormous, 100 ponds or more. The small ones are delicious... no muddy taste, and I have seen loggerhead turtles easily three feet in diameter. There's a twelve foot alligator that sleeps in our back yard occasionally. We chase them away with BB guns. It can't hurt them, but it irritates them enough to go elsewhere.

BJ (Blackie Junior) arrived in 2007 with his daddy Blackie and six siblings. I fed BJ with milk on my finger for the first couple of days. I never thought he would survive, but he did. As I said, Killer ran away from home and showed up in our yard one day a few months ago.

Unfortunately we live in an area where people around us have been known to raise fighting digs. We don't know who they are or we would put them in jail. Consequently, pit bull/lab mixes are plentiful. Nobody in their right mind buys dogs for pets here. There are plenty of puppies running around all the time, but our current dogs chase any new arrivals away. Pit bull puppies and black lab mixes are adorable and very affectionate. Two years ago, an abandoned mother gave birth to 7 beautiful Blue Tick hound mixed puppies. I took them to the grocery store and found homes for all of them except for one in less than an hour. Unfortunately the one we kept was killed by a car when he was about four months old.

There's a lot of colorful Civil War history about this area. I wrote a historical fiction book about it a few years ago. We live on the site of an abandoned town that was torn down and thrown in the river to prevent the Yankees for coming up the river from New Orleans to attack Jackson. Before that, steam boats came this far to load cotton to take back and sell in New Orleans. The town was called Osceola, named after the famous Florida Indian chief, and it was the little Las Vegas of the south. When the Civil War broke out, the women of the Baptist church up in Westville (then the county seat), circulated the rumor about the Yankees coming up the Pearl and convinced the town to tear down the casinos and houses of ill-repute to prevent their passage. The debris in the river stopped all shipping and the town was never rebuilt.
 
MN Blue Skies said:
Seriously ... do they make Camouflage TP?  Sounds like a great White Elephant gift.

Yes they do.

Many Walmarts and any Cabela's will have it. Also available from Amazon.
 
Owned two large Malamutes...for sure they love to howl. 

Your post reminds me of O' Henry's story...The Ransom of Red Chief.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ransom_of_Red_Chief

 

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