Return to Common Sense- 100th post :)

It is customary in this house to have some sort of home repair or rearrangement occur across EVERY major holiday. We all have our traditions. Come with me on a little stroll down a winding road...

When my grandmothers toaster (very much like the one pictured above) would break, she would take it to the small appliance repair guy. Well this was after my grandfather, who was quite a Rube Goldberg sort of machinist, had past. Otherwise it would still be his job :) There was a guy she trusted who put back together all of her old appliances, because they were worth saving and were well built. You did not just throw it out, you repaired it. My grandmother and her kind were on to something.

A few years ago the good Frater bought a vacuum cleaner. Since he bought one with a handle that I am allergic to, he got to do all of the vacuuming. It DID NOT have a lot of miles on it and about a year ago it broke. We tried to do the right thing, we tried to get it fixed. Only to find out that this two year old vacuum cleaner could not be fixed by the Dirt Devil dealer - because they could not get the roller. They could not get a hold of the parts on a two year old machine. It started me thinking about my grandmothers vacuum cleaner. It must have been built by the same folks who built Sherman Tanks, except it was much tougher. It would have been unheard of to not be able to get parts for a name brand vacuum cleaner. You were SUPPOSED to fix them.

Well today our very handy roommate, took it as a personal challenge to fix the vacuum cleaner. After some serious elbow grease he determined that there were two screws that you had to have a special tool for just to service the thing. This was the final straw. After a few false starts we ended up tapping out the screws and finding someone in Indiana who had the brush. With any luck within a week we will be back in business.

It just amazes me how we have come be a disposable society. Everything from cars to people are temporary parts of our existence. Well I for one have had enough. It is time to start moving back to common sense. You buy a good one of something and you repair it until you can no longer use it at all. Hopefully this is a lifetime or two. I know that I can get on my Druid compost box about issues but this is just silly. How many vacuums, toaster, TVs, VCRs, DVDs and gods knows what else have I personally put into the landfill in my lifetime? Too many to count I tell you. Enough to make me blush I tell you. So I am so done with this noise.

Well it is time to skry. Once more into the breach!