Wanna Roomba?

My friend Terry went to spend the weekend with two of her grandchildren while her daughter Kara, and husband were out of town.  The kids were teenagers, so it was a pretty easy job.  

Terry slept in the master bedroom.  Upon going to bed the first night, she heard this purring motor kind of sound, but after listening to it for a few minutes, decided it was just a house sound. One of those things you get used to after living in a house awhile.  She went to bed and didn’t think anymore about it.  

She awoke suddenly to the sound again. Only this time....it was in the room !! Terry did not tell me anymore about the situation but, having been to the movies with her many times, I am sure there was screaming involved...probably lots of screaming. 

Terry discovered it was her daughter’s Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.  Kara set it up to charge during the day and vacuum at night after everyone had gone to sleep.  Kara had forgotten to tell her mom it would be vacuuming at night....

With my border collie (BC), Skye.....vacuuming is an every day affair.  I vacuum up enough hair every day to start a new dog.  Skye thinks vacuuming IS a sport.  She dives at the vacuum and snaps at the front of it, and occasionaly snags it and picks it up....so in her puppy years I got in the habit of locking her in the bathroom when I vacuumed.  

I happened to see an ad on the “New Improved” Roomba, which reminded me of Kara vacuuming her house.  “New quieter, version, improved sensor to sense the animal hair and dust.”  How nice it would be to have my house vacuumed every single day, without me having to do it.   I checked on the price of the series 800......a whopping $699.  After seeing the price I gave up on the idea.

Fast forward a year.......

Through a friend, I happened to hear about a lady who was trying to sell an 800 series Roomba for half price, it had only been used once. I called her, she said it worked great but it just “Didn’t work out for her family”.  When I inquired further about its operation, once again she said, “It worked perfectly, but just didn’t work out for their family.”  Which I thought was an odd reason, but inquired no futher. She told me it was packed and in the box, just as it had been when purchased. 

When I got to her house she asked me if I had any pets.  I told her about my BC, she gave me kind of a startled  look and then said, “Well just keep all the packing and put it back in the box like it came, if it doesn’t work out for you.  I won’t cash your check until you call me.” I told her I would call in a day or so to tell her to cash the check. I headed home with my bargain, knowing full well it would be perfect for our family.

Once at home I set it up, docked it and waited for it to charge.  Skye watchED me carefully, but she wasn’t terribly curious. She was a dog, she had no idea what this thing even was.....it looked nothing like my old vacuum.  With my Roomba all set, I went to bed. 

I drifted off to sleep to be awakened suddenly by a crash and then vicious barking. I tore through the door, down the hall...there in my entry was an overturned lamp table, a lamp on the floor and the dog dancing and barking at the little Roomba, which was tightly cornered and beeping.  I put Skye in the bathroom....still barking, now clawing at the door, then I went back to the entry. I put Little Roomba back at her dock, cleaned up the broken light bulb, put the lamp back together again, set the lamp table back up and went back to bed.

Skye had settled down in the bathroom, and all was once again quiet.  Skye would get used to the little Roomba and she would be the dream appliance I had thought  she would be. I went back to bed.

But.....once again I was awakened by barking.  This time I could hear vicicous barking, from the bathroom.  Over the barking I could hear Little Roomba’s motor churning like she was stuck.  I tore out of our room and down the hall.  There was Little Roomba grinding and pulling. From under the bathroom door was a hairy arm.....a hairy dog arm with her claws firmly curled around the little Roomba, holding her to the wall, and all the while, barking as loud as a dog could bark.

Jim was wiped still out on his Parkinson’s meds, still sleeping and missing out on all the excitement.  By now, badly in need of sleep, I took the  little Roomba, turned her off, and simply left her on the table for the night.  Skye had pretty much done away with the paint on the inside of the bathroom door.  This time I locked her in the laundry room.  I was afraid if she saw Roomba, even turned off, it might set her off again.

The next morning, Jim asked how Roomba had done, I told him I was still working out the kinks.  After surveying the damage of the night before, I decided that since it was going to be warm tonight, Skye could sleep in the back yard.  I would give the little Roomba one more chance to do her magic on my floors. I painted the inside of the bathroom door and set Roomba on her dock to be ready for the evening.

What I didn’t think about was that our laundry room door to the outside is a French door, so Skye, even though she was outside, could still look in and see what was going on down the hallway.  When Roomba started to do her magic, Skye once again went crazy, this time outside.  I was once again awakened....but now by my phone, our neighbor ws calling, telling me our dog’s barking woke them up.

After painting the outside of the laundry room door, I packed Little Roomba back in her box with all the packing just like she had come, I felt like I was taking a pet to the pound. Then....I called the lady.....she had not cashed my check......I told her “Little Roomba just didn’t work out for our family.......either.”