All hail the Dyson

It’s a sad state of affairs when a vacuum cleaner is a blog subject.

For years I have coveted the Dyson.

The roller ball technology.

The fun colors.

The bagless filter.

It’s the Cadillac of vacuums’. And I wanted one. I didn’t want the Dyson price tag which is a lot for a vacuum. A lot. Which is why I hung onto my under-whelming Hoover.

But I’m well into year 10 of our current carpet (which is crap in case you’ve never heard me mention it, although that’s highly unlikely since I’ll talk to strangers on the street about my crappy builders grade carpet) and I’m at least 12-18 months away from replacing it. Plus I have two long-hair cats that shed copious amounts of white fur. It was time to get a serious vacuum.

After some lengthy research I landed on the Dyson animal. It is purple (fun color) with a bigger canister and motor. I opted against the slightly smaller roller ball version of the Dyson animal in lieu of more suction.

The Dyson Animal 28 retails for a lofty $599. I know. That’s a couple of car payments or many many nice pairs of shoes. However, if you have a spouse that works for a major appliance company (and I do), you can take advantage of the factory direct program for like half the price…including shipping. I couldn’t send my check fast enough.

And a mere 10 days later a great big box from my new favorite company was on my front porch when I pulled into the driveway from work.

I think I squealed a little when I saw it.

A mere 20 minutes later I was vacuuming my very modest size living room with Dyson greatness and marveling at what was being sucked out of my carpets.

Frankly, it’s disgusting but also cool.

Like I said, it’s a sad state of affairs when a vacuum cleaner is a blog subject. I need to get out more.

The Great Escape

We have a hamster. He lives in a brightly colored wire and plastic cage atop my son’s dresser. His home is adorned with a green exercise wheel and mounds of eco bedding for maximum hamster burrowing, and an endless food supply. His name is Albany, although we just call him “the hammy”.


In case you are wondering…

If your son doesn’t close the top of the hammy (hamster) cage…the hammy will escape overnight. This is a hard lesson to learn at 6:20am on a Wednesday morning. Common sense would predict 6 different kinds of tragedy waiting to unfold.

The process of finding a live (or dead) hammy in a 1700 square foot house is the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack. It fills the hamster owners with dread. There is fear of finding him half dead, all the way dead and even more fear of not finding him until the smell of decomposing hamster wafts into the hallway. You can see the dilemma here.

As a matter of record, pure bred cats are not bred for hunting. This is a silent blessing. Cats will however tipoff said hamster owners to the hammys location ….say in the corner of the rec room, hiding under a sweatshirt.

Hamsters are fast. Disappearing into thin air is a hammy skill set. So is slipping under a door unnoticed. The hammy is unable to differentiate from big scary cats looking for a snack from human people who offer shelter, toilet paper rolls toys and yogurt drop treats. To the hammy – both are to be feared.

Ultimately, the hammy will underestimate the intelligence of his human people (and the flat out blind luck of those people) searching in the pantry. The hammy was safely captured and returned to his caged sanctuary (with a locked cage door). Although this owner has temporary high blood pressure from the stress of the great escape and cannot recommend this type of “excitement” at 6:20am on a Wednesday morning.

Current Score: Hamster – 0, Lazy Cat Predators- 0, Human People – 1.