Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A Great Little Sucker-Upper


I love my Oreck upright vacuum cleaner. When we bought it a few years ago, it came with the Oreck Super-Deluxe Compact Canister Vacuum and a cordless iron. I love the compact vac for a reason Mr. Oreck probably doesn’t promote. Yes, it comes in handy to clean up the paint chips and dust I’ve been kicking up around the house. But my favorite thing to suck up with the little cleaner is wasps. Sometimes I leave the door open and with no screen doors, invariably a big fat wasp finds its way in. Then, I have to think about exactly how close to I want to get to the creature to kill it. Is it death by smacking it with Time Magazine or a possible reprieve by sucking it up into the little vac’s bag? Kind of a catch and release. I’ve learned to carry the vac outside and leave it a while in case Mr. Wasp decides to crawl out the hose to freedom again inside. Yes, that did happen and I had to “catch” him again. So far I haven’t gotten stung and the little vac that’s “Strong Enough To Pick Up A 16-lb. Bowling Ball” has been mighty enough to pick up every wasp, fly, hornet, yellow jacket or big fly I’ve come across.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've GOT to try that. I don't have an Oreck, but our dust buster thingie should do great!

AlexD said...

Sheila,

I thought I was the only one who used the "Vacuum Cleaner O' Doom" to remove stinging insects from my home. Hey, my machine is not an Oreck, but it does the job. Thank you for your comment on my recent blog. New Orleans is recovering like a man on life support. There are not words to explain the destruction and did you know the Army Corps of Engineers have installed faulty pumps in the city? This does not bode well for the Big Easy. The next hurricane will be the hand that pulls the plug permanently.

Thanks for your wonderful comment.

P.S. I LOVE Hotel Talisi's string beans!

Alex ~D~

Sheila said...

Dan, don't blame me if you get stung although I don't think you would. I have an extension for the vac I have but I usually can't find it when I need it and do fine without it.

Alex, great minds think alike. I thought I was all smart too. It must have been a sad day visiting New Orleans. And I remember reading about the pumps. Can't they do anything right for New Orleans? I don't know that I would want to live there at all especially as you mentioned the high murder rate.

I need to add your blog to my links. I enjoy your perspective and hope you'll have time to continue like you're doing.

Sank said...

I have one of these. I left in the garage in the winter. Next spring it didn't run so well, Opened the bag, there was a pile of sunflower shells and dog food. Pulling stuff out of imagine my surprise when the mass moved and the mouse who had crawled up the hose moved.

I nearly soiled myself!

Naomi said...

Oreck vacuum cleaners are popular over here too. We have a clever gadget in England, it's sort of a clear plastic "box" on a long stick. You press a button on the top and a suction device sucks up and tracks any creepy crawlies and nasties and traps them in the plastic box so you can release them safely outside. It's particularly good for people like me with a spider phobia as it keeps them at arms' length!

Sheila said...

Sank, Holy Cow! It's alive! I would have screamed bloody murder from the shock. That's what I do when confronted with mouse critters.

Naomi, that gadget sounds really neat. I wish I had one since we have so many bugs here in the South.