This is Stumpy.

Stumpy joined our house in August of 2005, as our anniversary present to ourselves. In a house with no carpets and six cats, a Roomba was a marvelous addition. Even though Stumpy wasn’t as independent as we’d hoped he might be (despite suggestions to the contrary, we could never quite go off and leave Stumpy unattended, because he has a tendency to get stuck under chairs, or suck up a cat toy), he still made a huge difference in the level of fuzz in our house.

Then we moved. And during the move something in Stumpy decided it was time to quit. We would stick him in his charger, and then he’d run for about two minutes and then sing his sad little “I’m low on battery” song. We both checked the iRobot website, and it appeared Stumpy needed a new battery. Off to Amazon I went, battery bought and ordered. It arrived today. Stumpy is now quite zippy, even more so than before, so luckily that’s all he needed. Although it’s quite possible Stumpy’s just excited about what else arrived in the mail along with his shiny new battery.

Meet Gretel.

Because iRobot is having a terrific sale right now (buy a Scooba, get a Roomba for free), Gretel brought along her little brother Hansel.

Gretel is a Scooba. So not only does she sweep the floor, she also mops. Hansel is a basic model Roomba, so he just sweeps.

This evening, after they’d all charged and we read the directions on how to fill Gretel’s tank and prime the pump and all that, we set all three of them running. Gretel was put in charge of cleaning the kitchen floor. Hansel was tasked with cleaning up cat hair in the living room. Stumpy, now with brand new battery installed, was given the chore of cleaning the entire downstairs. And Richard and I sat in the computer room and (except for a few hops up and down to make sure they weren’t getting stuck somewhere) hung out while the three little robots cleaned our floors.

Richard has decided that we shall henceforth refer to our little army of robot floor cleaners as The Staff.

So, here’s a group shot of The Staff, all together, batteries charged, ready and eager to take on their next assignment.

Now if iRobot would just come out with a robot that cleans bathrooms we will be all set!

Happy Holidailies!