Tom Sawyer and the Hoover Floor Scrubber

Charlie, my husband just bought himself a Hoover FloorMate Pro spin scrubber. It was guaranteed to make the job of washing hardwood floors a breeze. Our house has nothing but hardwood floors throughout, except for one large area carpet in our bedroom; our only sanctuary from the 7 dogs and occasional cats who own the rest of the house.

Mopping the floors had been a "point of discussion" for some time between us. I opted for the sponge topped smaller squeegee mops that could allow me to get into the corners and up against baseboard moldings. Charlie liked the old swab the deck kind that he could swish around and feel like he was accomplishing something.

Of course we bought the big yellow bucket on wheels with the wringer lever, like the professionals. If you are going to do a job do it right!

My floor scrubbing days had become more limited with some physical limitations and insufficient time. I handed the baton over to Charlie to get the floors shipshape.

While engaging in the never ending task of doing some garage straightening -- or looking for a missing item -- Charlie came across a Hoover carpet scrubber from another time and place. He was so happy.

I think he was sure it could scrub our hardwood floors while he was busy doing 10 other things.

He fiddled with it for a while, searched the Internet for a Users Manual, and announced solemnly that it couldn't do the job. It was only for scrubbing carpets.

Never one to miss a chance to buy a new gadget or research an item to death, he then found a great mop replacement. He read all of the reviews and told me this could miraculously scrub our floors clean as a whistle, while he was dancing a jig in the other room. Meanwhile floors still aren't being mopped...

He searched for the best deal and even drove out to a local store with a coupon in hand, only to find they didn't have "the right one."

Of course he jumped back on the Internet looking for the best deal. He found one, ordered it and waited. Two days later, he somehow found time, in between teaching a virtual class, feeding the horses, etc. to track the movement of this package all day. He would come to me several times a day with status reports announcing that "it's out for delivery."

Since it hadn't been delivered yet, I thought the additional reports of "it's still out for delivery" a little superfluous. However, I kept reassuring him that the staff in brown would be sure to deliver it that very day. 

Of course he became more anxious as the day wore on. "It's not here yet...they're not coming today!" I heard it several times that day. Suddenly at 8pm, in the midst of consoling him – again, I looked out the front door and saw the truck. I told him, "It's here!" and I ran to the side door to make sure it got placed inside the garage in case of rain.

I greeted the driver, had him place the huge box just inside the door and almost ran inside to announce its official arrival. I guess his initial worries were over. All he said was "OK," and that was it.

I would have been shocked had he not been feeling "a little punky."  Normally a package arrives and Charlie can't wait to whip out his handy pocket knife and open it up. I'm sure he's even opened one or 2 miss-delivered packages in his speed to open a sealed box. It's always Christmas at our house when a package is delivered!

The box sat there unopened until Saturday morning. He then assembled his new toy in the garage and came in proudly to announce – again, "This is the one"! He had already expressed his desire to bush hog the pasture that day, another task that I am sadly unable do as easily as I could in the past.

He showed me the basics as he started in on the kitchen floor. I watched the catch basin fill up with filthy water (7 dogs remember ). He exclaimed how easy it was, what a great job it was doing. I couldn't just sit there and watch, I asked if I could try it. He insisted he just wanted to finish the kitchen floor but decided to let me give it a spin.

I pressed the right buttons as directed and watched it do a pretty terrific job on the floor. It seemed easy enough.

I continued scrubbing the kitchen floor. Charlie stood in the Great Room leaning on the kitchen counter watching me work. Maybe it's a male - female thing, but I can not stand still and watch someone scrub a floor, or do any job, without getting antsy to do something. He was content. He just stood there quietly - watching me - or actually his new toy.

Since he didn't seem anxious to jump back in and wrestle the floor scrubber away from me, I reminded him of the bush hogging he was anxious to do. He hesitated, then conceded, and left me to clean the floors.

I am usually enthusiast when I dive into a something new. I admit that I sometimes forget the time when I'm working; forget and overdo it that is. I figured I'd get just so far and stop.

However, I still had to clean the back hallway where our small dogs eat and sleep, a few big dogs eat and there is an great deal of traffic coming and going to the outside. Yes, it's also the main entry from the barn, pasture, yards - the most trafficked and dirtiest floor in the house.

So of course I kept going. I probably picked up dirt that was in between the floor boards since moving in! I was hooked. I got tired after emptying and cleaning out 3 dirty, dirty containers filled with lots of Aiken sandy soil and a million clumps of dog fur.

Tired but content, I felt a real sense of accomplishment. I could actually see that the floors were cleaner! OK, so Tom Sawyer struck again in the guise of my gentle giant and partner in all life matters. Charlie allowed me to use his new toy so he could go outside and use my bigger toy, the tractor he bought me for Mother's Day a few years ago.

So as Charlie floated off on his giant orange raft in a sea of grass, I scrubbed floors with his new toy.

P.S. He hasn't touched it since that first day...


Submitted by Linda Vola
Creative Muse
Forever Young Farm