Friday, January 28, 2011

VACUUMS AND PROPOSED LAWS TO KILL FERAL ANIMALS

MY PRIVATE WAR ON FILTH-aka VACUUM WOES
We have a war on hair here in the CA desert. With five dogs, all long haired, a long hair cat, the wide open desert out our door, two kids, a PE teacher for a husband, I bet you can imagine the hair and dirt, and sand that is tracked into my house. My house really ought to be the test grounds for vacuums.

Last round of vacuum cleaners we got ended up with us getting a Dyson Animal. The Dyson worked really well for a couple of years, but you know they just don't make vacuums to last forever now days, actually very few things seem to be built to last now days. My husband is a bit....economical he would say, cheap I would say about things like vacuums. When the Dyson broke he tried to get it fixed but the parts would have made it more then a new vacuum. His solution...he went out without talking to me and bought this really cheap stick model vacuum cleaner, I think he really went all out in his mind and bought one that was like $39. Humm, keep in mind the desert, natural landscape back yard (dirt), five dogs, two kids,....You remember.

I was really mad he went out without even talking to me, but we nursed that thing along, and it has never done a good job. How did I know it was not doing well? Picture a nice evening with the family sitting in front of the TV, Breeze who gets pretty OCD about her ball starts drooling and the ball is soon covered with drool, it roles along the floor and is quickly a hairy rubber ball. GROSS! I keep having to chase Cricket down and grab hair ropes out of her mouth, and when Kimmie is clicker training and gets a treat from the floor she coughs and sputters trying not to swallow the hair that came with the treat. My house was embarrassing.

I got tired of the whole thing and was at Target and saw they had a Hoover Pet Vac on sale, so grabbed it on a whim. Not really cheap but definitely not expensive by vacuum standards. It was a really cool vacuum, the accessories were well planned and positioned on the vac and I could not believe how much it was picking up. The beater bar and the little hand vac attachment had rubber type material so it really did well with the hair. About two hours into our whirl wind cleaning session my youngest vacuumed up a sock, but realized it and turned off the vacuum right away but too late, the motor was fried. UGhghghghghgh, no good. So back to Target we went to return that vacuum and get another.



We get the new one and bravely continue the cleaning project. Within an hour that vacuum was smoking and smelled burned. SERIOUSLY! This time I made Bill take the vacuum back. I realize my house is a real vacuum challenge but vacuums are not tissues and not disposable and they should last more then two hours. Of couse Bill had instructions to return it and get a credit, or a refund. He comes home with a third of the same brand.....if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, when will I learn ;-).


Anyway, my hubby has not made peace with his anger at the Dyson for dying.... and I have had an Oreck that just did not get the hair well....so I did not know what to do. I saw a LG Kompactor vacuum at Target and it came with a $50 gift card, and a 5 yr warranty, and was quite a bit less expensive then the Dyson so the very large, heavy Kompactor came home with me.



The funny thing is we continued our cleaning mission...about an hour into it the vacuum will not work. The third vacuum will not work......WTF?????? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I grabbed the manuel and started checking everything and seems.....the filter was clogged and needed to be washed. THE FILTER THAT NEEDS TO BE CLEANED EVERY THREE MONTHS was CLOGGED.....AFTER AN HOUR!!! LOL, like I said my house should be a consumer guide test field for vacuums. I cleaned the filter and we are back in business, so hopefully.......The good news is that I can not find animal hair on the living room floor for the first time in a long time, I am doing the happy dance!

A REALLY SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS
My mom lives in Salt Lake. Usually their city is very animal friendly, and their animal rescue workers are tops. They do a lot of trap and release of wild cats, they trap them, spay or neuter and release them. There are some people trying to make a law that it would be fine to kill any animals a person has a belief are feral, check out what Steven Colbert has to say about the proposed law. Of course it would all be done humamely,....RIGHT!
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Mr. Smith Goes to the State Legislature Then Later Possibly Washington - Curtis Oda
www.colbertnation.com
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9 comments:

Chris and Ricky said...

Vacuums - can't live with them, can't live without them! I grew up in N.Canton - the home of the Hoover vacuum cleaner - and have always owned Hoovers. But they sure aren't made like they used to be (and they sure aren't made in OH any more). Hope your LG works for a long time!

That killing feral animals idea is ludicrous! What is wrong with people?

Sara said...

I've had a sears bagged progressive drive for at least 8 years. It is beltless, which I think makes a difference. Cost is up there, but it works like a champ on long dog hair.

Steven Colbert is hysterical. What a bizzare bill, especially when animal cruelty penalities are getting stronger and stronger where I live. Hope it doesn't pass.

Hillcrest Border Collies said...

We too had a Dyson and loved it for a while. It lost suction and I had to vacuum the same area over and over. We ended up getting the Eureka Pet Love Plus and I LOVE IT!!! It has great suction and really gets things clean. I think it was only $175, so it could break 3 times and still be cheaper than a Dyson.
Well, now we only have one room that has carpet and that is soon to come out.

Nicki said...

Somewhere way back in my blog I have an angry vaccuum post too! I ended up with a regular dyson (didn't pay extra for the ball or animal version) and so far so good! Good luck with your new one!

Unknown said...

LOL!!! My vacuum gets clogged easily and I thought I was the only one, thanks for telling me that I'm not alone. In order to save my vacuum and let it have a longer life span, I sweep the floor first, use the spade to get most of the hair and dirt out then I vacuum again (here is humid and hot and dry, I don't have much carpet which also makes a different story). I know I am silly and do the double and triple work, but that's the way that my vacuum can function like a vacuum : )

Diana said...

They really just dont make things like they use to. I bought a new washer/dryer afte having the last ones 13 years with never breaking down. The new ones has had to be fixed 3 times in the last 5 years. It makes me so mad. I hope this last vaccum works better.

What the heck is Utah thinking?? or at least Utah's goverenment.

Epicurus said...

LOL that is hilarious, if not aggravating Kathy! I am glad you finally found one that works. I wish I had a better one.

Sagira said...

We ended up getting rid of carpet in our house with 9 animals, carpet was not our friend so our whole house is laminate now. The top level is wood looking and the bottom level is kind of stone looking. But SO easy to care for and no more vacuums! :)

Cynthia said...

Vacuums are just not made for animal houses! We have tile, concrete floors, no more carpet. But we have a couple of Sears Vaccuums, canisters, that have worked well for us for about 10 years now. But if they had to work on carpet, they might die over night. :)

I live in Salt Lake City, too, and I have to disagree with you, SLC is not a dog friendly city at all. In addition to that bill about killing feral animals, they are also slowly taking away our off leash dog areas. It's really sad. I work for the State Govt so I can't leave, but when I retire, we might have to find some other, dog friendly, state to live in!

oh, and Utah is the only State with a State Gun, so I want to ask, can we use it to kill feral animals? =P