The weekend arrived, usually a time when me & the Presto Dog pack go out to the "pasture land" (as we refer to our slightly large back yard) and chase balls, birds and generally have a good time outdoors. However, this particular weekend turned out to be on devoted to a semi-large job I needed to accomplish in our den, thereby precluding me from participating in the aforementioned activities.

See, we have this contraption called a water heater that was giving us problems for the past couple of weeks. We experienced days of no hot water at which time we'd have to go down to our unfinished basement, push the red reset button and then pray that the darn thing would, indeed, reset and give us hot water. Other times, I'd take that trip down to the basement and find that the darn water heater was leaking, the temperature & pressure relief valve having gone a little haywire, depositing little puddles of liquid on the floor. So, on Saturday morning I bit the proverbial bullet, got up my courage and purchased the necessary materials to install a brand-spanking new water heater...and an energy-efficient model, to boot!

The first thing I did when I got home was to cut the thing out of the box it came in. This effectively put a temporary halt on the project, as I now had no way to maneuver the bulky item down a flight of stairs into the basement! The Presto Dog First Lady came up with the brilliant idea to load the water heater into the yard wagon we use in the spring/summer to drag things around the pasture land on the back of our small tractor. We did that and then towed, pushed and cajoled the darn thing around the yard through the snow and into our basement. Whew! Now that was a lot more exercize than I wanted.

The installation itself actually wasn't that bad. A lot of planning, about six hours later (that included two separate trips to our local big box store 'cause I found out I really didn't plan all that well) and on-the-job training on how to use a propane torch, flux & solder eventually resulted in one of those completed home projects we take pride in.

Here's a picture of our bad old water heater, inoperable now that it's been severed from the house as it wasn't performing its job any longer:

Old Water Heater

Did you happen to notice that tell-tale brown streak of rust & sediment running down the front of said water heater, a clear portent of things that were to come, a harbinger of doom for the device, a visceral indication of the hours of work that were to come on my behalf in my successful effort at installing a new heater? Hey, you did just go back and take a closer peak at that picture, didn't you?

Now, revel (as we do) in our new water heater: pretty, clean, hooked up and working, sending streams of hot water to all who want to shower, bathe, or just plain luxuriate in one of those simple creature comforts we sometimes take for granted:

New Water Heater

By the way, the whole install was made without putting a single scratch on our new heater!

I recognize the majority of you didn't come here to the Prestodog website to read about a stinkin' old (or new, for that matter!) water heater, so here are a couple of pictures I took the day after I was done instlling the device. We'll start off with Dougie, our three-year old tri-color Collie who's resting on the couch after chowing down his breakfast:

Doug on Couch

When my son leaves the house, our Shelties all run after him, barking (and herding) him as he makes his way to the door. Here's a shot of Lily (top) and Maggie, two of The Chasers,  after they've accomplished their latest mischief toward that end:

The Chasers

Lyric watches all, making sure both humans and dogs are all kept in order:

Lyric Sees All

Later, folks!