My Collection

Image found here. 

Some people collect vintage cars. Others, coins or stamps. 

Me? I collect vacuum cleaners. Yep. Got quite the stable of beauties, if I do say so myself. 

I remember my first - a Sears canister vac, that was back in the days before beater bars. Ah, she was a good old girl. Bought her in '78. Then I got married, kids and dogs and cats came on board, and she just couldn't cut the mustard. But what a classic. Wisht I would have kept her just to refurbish her as a collector edition, but oh well.....

Back in those vacuum novice years, it seems that all we needed was one good machine. Floors, cars, garages, and occasionally dogs (don't ask), could all be handled as long as we kept the bag emptied and the hose unclogged. 

I'm not sure when it all began, but I suspect my interest these gizmos was piqued with the first dustbuster. You remember - those teensy vacuums that you held in one hand? They were impressively loud, but didn't pick up anything bigger than one corn flake. I had to have one. I still do, and the new ones really don't work any better than the old ones, as you can tell by the cat hair featured prominently in this picture. 

I discovered shop-vacs next. There is nothing like having the power of a roaring shop vac to make a woman feel powerful over any and all species of dirt. This beauty has suctioned its way through three of our houses:

So since autoimmune disease and it's fatigue have arrived, one of the few household tasks that I (strangely enough) enjoyed, has become a part of housework that is extremely difficult for me to do. Lugging machines around the house and up and down stairs takes more energy than I care to spend most days. 

My solution to the alarming accumulation of animal hair and dust has been simply to buy more vacuum cleaners. I scatter them around the house everywhere, so that if I am so inclined, I can vacuum at will. At any time. When and wherever I want. 

This is my upstairs vacuum:

And this is my downstairs vacuum:

My favorite is the robot vacuum that one of the kids gave us for a Christmas present. 

The pets find this one pretty entertaining. You push the button, it takes off and cleans until it A) finishes the task and docks itself into it's own recharger, B) becomes hopelessly stuck underneath the sofa, C) eats a rug fringe and beeps pathetically until the batteries run out, or D) miscalculates where the stairs are and throws itself down a full flight of steps. When it's actually functioning, I am always amazed at the amount of debris this little guy can grab. 

If after reading this post, you are under the impression that I actually use all these vacuum cleaners routinely and that my home is pet hair and dust-free, well........

You would be wrong.