Scott Meyer

How to Get to the Root of the Problem

Added 2023-09-11 07:00:02 +0000 UTC

It’s a handheld vacuum, a Dust Buster, to be specific. I don’t know where the offending bit of “dirt” came from.

…

Let me rephrase that. I know all too well where it came from. I don’t know where the vacuum picked it up. I don’t think it’s anything either of the cats deliberately hid. I suspect it was what is commonly referred to as a “Klingon.”

What a proud addition to Gene Roddenberry’s legacy that bit of slang is.

Anyway, I pulled the dirt chamber apart, cleaned all of the immersible parts with soapy water, and left them and the washable filter out in the sun for a while. When it was all dry, I put the device together and used it to vacuum up about a teaspoon of baking soda, which I left in it for a day. So far, that seems to have fixed the problem. Of course, the first time I tried to use the thing after this treatment, it sprinkled “used” baking soda all over the thing I intended to clean, but I was able to vacuum that up with the mess.