injured pups and burnt out blowers

We took the dogs out to play along the river. It was tough keeping them away from the frozen edge of the river. Wiener broke through the ice twice, thankfully it was close to the shore but I had to climb down and help them find a way back up.

Once they were back up the bank and frolicking around we continued with our winter hike. Ruby was tearing up a hillside and started limping from her back right leg. As we called her back we saw fresh blood on the snow. Not a few little drops but bright splashes as she came back. It pooled under her leg from a good sized laceration. My ex-EMT brain jumped into action. I pulled of my t-shirt, wrapped her leg and put pressure on it. The bleeding slowed and we turned around to get back to the car. As the bandage loosened, I ripped the draw cord out of my wool hoodie and used it to secure the shirt.

Halfway to the car, she started favoring that leg pretty badly. Time for the fireman's carry, which only lasted about 50 ft until she got too wiggly. We made it my Grandparent's house and got the bleeding stopped with some improvised materials. We thought it was all under control until the bleeding started again. My shirt looked like evidence in a murder trial. The towels in the back seat looked terrible too.

Fast forward almost two hours and we left the emergency vet to drop off the other dog while puppers got her leg stitched up. Throw the blood stained junk in the washer..."what the hell is that weird smell?" my wife asked. Smells like burning dust, mothballs and hot electronics.

Shit.

The blower motor on the furnace has crapped the bed. Looks like I'm not going to work tomorrow. Time to learn my way around a HVAC unit. With a quick call to a friend that does Industrial HVAC (the kind you fly in on a cargo chopper) and he says if I can fix a washer, I can replace a blower motor. Pull the old one, buy a replacement and install it. We'll see how this goes.

I'm glad we have our wood stove!