links, lists, life

Paper Roses

I’d heard that cats do this - run off with the tp. Leave a little hanging, the furnace kicks on and it’s too much to resist. It only took a quick look to see that this was beyond the normal pranks of felis catus.

Lacking thumbs, a cat clearly couldn’t pull this one off - toilet paper roses? Call it “home alone syndrome” but I briefly thought of a much feared chimp that lives somewhere in our neighborhood. Chimp? Toilet paper roses? I declared chimp-terror most likely completely ridiculous and moved on.

I looked at the roll.

Across the room it unraveled and then turned.


Although Margeaux kept photobombing to give the impression of guilt, I just knew it couldn’t be true. She just wanted the glory!

The roses were less a weird gift and more the twisted mechanisms of a machine - built to clean but also ready to take on a throw rug, towel or loose bit of tissue left dangling. I had suspected foul play where there was no play at all. And Margeaux was merely showboating - nothing new. She loves to share in anything deemed household excitement!

The work saving robot now required my attention to round up the little paper wadlets, gather the tissue, clean the brushes and the paper it had sucked into the bin and while doing that, the dirt spilled out. A robot FAIL today.

No animals were even blamed in the making of this post and only about a third of a roll of cheap toilet paper was lost in the drama. Another lesson was learned in preparation for the robot to run. And there was laughter at the end of the episode just like on TV.

I, Margeaux, Come in Cuteness… to Destroy

When I, Margeaux, came to earth, I never thought it would be like this.

Nothing to do. How boring! I am bored and I will get my revenge.

A human precious thing?

I like it, it’s more fun than I expected!

I AM THE DESTROYER PUNY NAKED HUMAN MOLE RATS!

Stop!? I was just trying to help. I need to think about this.

I understand and am sincerely sorry.

Thanks for not being mad anymore, it won’t happen again.

(SUCKERS!)

DEVO is Called to Mind When Seeing Horrors of the BP Oil Spill

After reading the article about eyeless shrimp and watching the video all I could think of was the song by DEVO, It’s a Beautiful World, from 1982.

More than 30 years have passed since the song was released and here we are.

Flip Da Switch - Power On - It’s CATS!

Somehow kittens in capes beat out the DIRT REPORT today. Check out KittenAir!

Yeah, Back with the Dirty Truth

Okay after that break for the more interesting topic of CATS, I am back to show you what happens if you skip a day of running the Roomba.
My dirt bin runneth over! That is with the bin closed. But open, it looks like a lot of (blurry) dirt for one missed day. And it is not all fun and games with the Roomba. I can hear it when the brushes start to get full of debris. Kuhlunk, kuhlunk. UGH - then I try to beat the machine to its friendly feminine command, “open Roomba’s brush cage, and clean brushes”. I hate that. Since the kuhlunk tips me off before the robot does, I open it up and take out the brushes and remove the debris - usually animal hair. Darn these adorable pets! Note: that is Margeaux photo-bombing my shot of probably at least 1/3 her hair. So the robot isn’t maintenance-free but it is effective in its own way.

Want a Break From Dirt? CATS!

As we know, the internet is made of cats so I took a break from my dirty filth-mongering to show what happens when the cats can see the bottom of the food bowl. When Margeaux noticed,

she began to quickly gobble,
She appeared to be very worried -
Then the word got out and Vegas soon followed, assessed the situation,

and on went on to try to get her share.

I guess Laura Ingallas is on a diet or feels the pile of laundry she has claimed trumps the foodbowl frenzy.

Dirt from January 25, 2013

So here is today’s dirt. I guess the Roomba was inspired by yesterday’s post to do a better job. I may start documenting how much filth is actually robot-handled in this household. By weight or volume? That is the main question.

The Roomba 570 with Aerovac Upgrade

We have three cats and a Labrador so I DO go on about my relationship with the robot vacuum, the Roomba 570. I did the Aerovac upgrade, as it was supposed to increase the amount of dirt picked up and it does. Today, I had a light Roomba run because I’ve been consistent in running it every day. Here is the debris collected today. The Altoids can is for scale:

And up close for gross-out effect:

I run the robot most days and it goes over mostly solid floors, either wood or tile. We do have a couple rugs and the issue with the robot seems to be a lack of efficiency on uneven surfaces. Here you can see the beauty of a clean flat wood surface versus the carpet to floor edge:

Looks like that needs the upright vac! Completely unacceptable presentation.

So, the Roomba does a great job and picks up a good amount each day but does not take the place of a vacuum cleaner entirely if you want really clean floors. And while it does save time, I find myself watching it. If it rolls past some obvious dirt, which it does, I become frustrated, as if I expect the machine to use its robotic eye-stalks to be searching and questing for a wad of cat hair. This is most likely a personal problem though. On that note, I end this particular report on the Roomba.

Summer Menu

This summer has proven to be another scorcher here in Missouri. I’ve been using the microwave rather than the oven or stove top. Adding fresh raw veggies rather than anything cooked.