It's a bug's life no more when this cordless vacuum gets to buzzing
And you can thank Bill Wade and his wife T. Lou of Farmington, Whitman County, for it, too.
Bill's a guy who likes clean windows. And he's a guy who really doesn't like when flies and whatnot land on his clean windows.
"I'm a thinker. I try to resolve my own problems, and then I think somebody else might like a solution, too," he says.
So Bill just sucked it up, so to speak, formed his company, Insect Aside, and invented the cordless Bug Catcher Vacuum. That's right. Bugs go in, but they never come out. Well, they do when the user changes the cartridge, which is lined with a nontoxic, sticky gel. And that's the key to using this vacuum over a regular vacuum cleaner.
"I tried a handheld vacuum, but they crawl back out or they breed in there in the bag," he says.
Nobody wants that.
Also, the catcher never has to touch the catchee because the telescoping tube extends to get at spiders and even bees from what the company refers to as "a safe distance."
The Bug Catcher, which weighs a little less than 2 pounds, costs between $39 and $49, and five replacement cartridges run from $12 to $20. Bill and T. Lou know their customers. They say 65 percent of the Bug Catcher Vacuums are purchased by women 35 and older, and 50 percent are purchased for gifts.
But, wait, there's more.
Bill's always thinking. And what he started thinking about next was a way to take the critters out mid-flight, nontoxic-like. Next thing you know, he's come up with the Bug Rack-It. Basically, badminton with bugs.
"It came as a result of our vacuum customers asking us if we could come up with something to catch bugs in the air," he says. "It's got a nonpoisonous sticky net. When you get tired of seeing the bugs on there, it snaps off, you dump it in the garbage and snap the new one in."
He swears it's deadly on mosquitoes, gnats and flies, yellow jackets and hornets.
The marketing team at Insect Aside (that would be Bill and T. Lou) will have some units of the Bug Rack-It to sell this year, but they're really gearing up to promote it next year.
The Bug Rack-It, which weighs less than a pound and looks a lot like a handball racket, is priced between $7.95 and $9.95 with three replacement nets at $4.95 to $7.95. It also has a plastic cover for sanitary storage. And while it's probably not aerobic, you might get some exercise while you're at it.
The Bug Catcher Vacuum and Bug Rack-It are available by calling the Wades at Insect Aside at 800-899-0009. You can see them at www.bugrackit.com.
It's summertime, and the livin' is buggy. Batter up and go get the little critters.
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