If you are reasonably handy, yes, you can plumb a water softener. One issue is what type of piping (copper, PEX, CPVC, etc.) to use to make the connections. CPVC is probably the easiest, soldering copper takes a little skill but is doable (it's all in the prep work), and PEX requires tooling that you probably don't have and don't want to buy ($$$). You've run conduit as an electrician, so you should be able to transition to water-based conduit. lol! When you buy the softener, be sure to know what the pipe fittings/connections are going to be. Probably most accept threaded pipe or adapters, some are sweat-soldered. Plan for a bypass valve setup either on the softener or in the supply lines. Do the softeners come ready to install? Most don't, which requires one to assemble a few items and put the resin in the tank. It's not hard. You only need a twin tank softener if you will be using soft water in the middle of the night (when a typical softener regenerates). The computerized on-demand control valves can predict water usage and maintain enough reserve that you won't run out of soft water before the unit regenerates. Do get a softener that regenerates based on gallons of water used (demand type). It will save salt $$ in the long run. A good valve to consider is the Clack WS-1. Just google it for some softener vendors. It has a computer chip that does a lot of nice things for the softener. Fleck has a model to compete with the Clack (Fleck 7000??). A big issue is how big a softener do you need? Most softener vendors figure on 60 to 70 gallons of water usage per day per person. You will have to use some sort of adjustment factor to estimate your dog water usage (based on people). You probably want to bathe the dogs with soft water,but if you can replumb and use hard water for the dog drinking and kennel washdown water, I think you would be way ahead.

I bought some plastic screens that slide under the shingles and snap onto the gutter at Lowes. I have a huge maple tree with lots of helicopter seeds. They work really well. A box of them was around $40. I see now they have improved upon these by adding a micro mesh to the backside, this would filter out even more debris.

If we assume they have been waxed, you can store them in the warmest part of your refrigerator. Commercially they are stored at 46F and 90% humidity.

Forget the paper towel. Just plant it in a pot of soil. Keep it warm. I usually start them in summer in my garage where the temp is around 90 degrees F. They sprout pretty quickly at that temp. I remove the husk and plant the seed convex side up. Probably doesn't really matter though. I don't usually cover the seed all the way. Make sure it is not too wet or it may rot before germinating. If you must use the paper towel method, carefully cut away most of the towel except what the root is attached to and simply plant the adherent towel with the seed. That root is very fragile.