This time of year is not the best time for a vacuum cleaner to go on the fritz. Not with pine needles from the Christmas tree and all the muck brought in the door even though we take our shoes off in the entry. Not to mention the 10 pound long-haired Weiner Dog who brings in his share of the outside, besides all the gorgeous fur he sheds.
Taking the vacuum cleaner to Sears for repairs was an unappealing option. I really dislike going to the mall, especially this time of year. Crowds and the perilous parking lot that you may enter but the possibility of never leaving is out there. Besides who knows when I would get it back, probably late January. Too late for my pine needles and other seasonal muck.
Borrowing my son and daughter-in-law’s vacuum was not a sustainable option, so this morning after working on a Sudoku puzzle in the paper to wake up my brain, I put on my MacGyver cap. I must confess here that I really liked that 1980’s show when it first came out and have been inspired a few times to attempt some interesting repairs. Some have worked and others not so well. Nothing major, and definitely nothing with electricity or on our cars. Although, we did once stick some gum in our leaking gas tank in Kazakhstan when we ran over something that put a hole in it. It worked well enough to get us down the mountain to a little town for repair. But it wasn’t my idea and that is a whole other story. I have to mention also, that I was quite proud of my youngest son with said vacuum cleaner. A couple of weeks ago he came out of work and his car door was frozen shut. He managed to get it open, but it wouldn’t close properly, so he used his apron to MacGyver it closed to get safely home.
Back to the vacuum cleaner. I narrowed down the problem. It was not the motor or clogged in the hose. It worked fine when I was using the hand tools. But that is no way to vacuum the whole house. The problem was it was clogged in the base. I tried earlier to put a chop stick in there to loosen things up, but that only helped temporarily. So this morning I took a few moments, said a wee prayer, and tried to think what I had in the house or garage that I could stick in there to clear the clog. The idea of a plumber’s snake came to mind, but we don’t have one of those. The thought of a plumber reminded me that I had a long plastic tool that came with some drain cleaner I had bought a while back. That plastic tool was just what I needed, with the little teeth on it like fish hooks. I laid the vacuum cleaner down on it’s side fully extended and went to work clearing the clog in the base.
Today I am grateful for many things. I’m grateful for how our brains work and how a small prayer can be answered in a few minutes. I’m grateful that I don’t have to put “go to Sears” on my to-do list. My husband and I talk about how we missed the 80’s because we spent most of it in China. I am grateful we didn’t miss everything. Glad we did miss all the funky big hair, but if anyone could rock a mullet it was MacGyver.
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