diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index af857fa..8e59fa5 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ begin
     gem.homepage = "http://github.com/ngauthier/hydra"
     gem.authors = ["Nick Gauthier"]
     gem.add_development_dependency "shoulda", "= 2.10.3"
-    # gem is a Gem::Specification... see http://www.rubygems.org/read/chapter/20 for additional settings
+    gem.add_dependency "net-ssh", "= 2.0.19"
   end
   Jeweler::GemcutterTasks.new
 rescue LoadError
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ begin
   end
 rescue LoadError
   task :rcov do
-    abort "RCov is not available. In order to run rcov, you must: sudo gem install spicycode-rcov"
+    abort "RCov is not available. In order to run rcov, you must: gem install rcov"
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/hydra.gemspec b/hydra.gemspec
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd72fad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hydra.gemspec
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# Generated by jeweler
+# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY
+# Instead, edit Jeweler::Tasks in Rakefile, and run the gemspec command
+# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
+
+Gem::Specification.new do |s|
+  s.name = %q{hydra}
+  s.version = "0.0.0"
+
+  s.required_rubygems_version = Gem::Requirement.new(">= 0") if s.respond_to? :required_rubygems_version=
+  s.authors = ["Nick Gauthier"]
+  s.date = %q{2010-01-26}
+  s.description = %q{TODO: longer description of your gem}
+  s.email = %q{nick@smartlogicsolutions.com}
+  s.extra_rdoc_files = [
+    "LICENSE",
+     "README.rdoc"
+  ]
+  s.files = [
+    ".document",
+     ".gitignore",
+     "LICENSE",
+     "README.rdoc",
+     "Rakefile",
+     "VERSION",
+     "lib/hydra.rb",
+     "lib/hydra/pipe.rb",
+     "lib/hydra/ssh.rb",
+     "test/echo_the_dolphin.rb",
+     "test/helper.rb",
+     "test/test_pipe.rb",
+     "test/test_ssh.rb"
+  ]
+  s.homepage = %q{http://github.com/ngauthier/hydra}
+  s.rdoc_options = ["--charset=UTF-8"]
+  s.require_paths = ["lib"]
+  s.rubygems_version = %q{1.3.5}
+  s.summary = %q{Distributed testing toolkit}
+  s.test_files = [
+    "test/test_ssh.rb",
+     "test/helper.rb",
+     "test/test_pipe.rb",
+     "test/echo_the_dolphin.rb"
+  ]
+
+  if s.respond_to? :specification_version then
+    current_version = Gem::Specification::CURRENT_SPECIFICATION_VERSION
+    s.specification_version = 3
+
+    if Gem::Version.new(Gem::RubyGemsVersion) >= Gem::Version.new('1.2.0') then
+      s.add_development_dependency(%q<shoulda>, ["= 2.10.3"])
+      s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<net-ssh>, ["= 2.0.19"])
+    else
+      s.add_dependency(%q<shoulda>, ["= 2.10.3"])
+      s.add_dependency(%q<net-ssh>, ["= 2.0.19"])
+    end
+  else
+    s.add_dependency(%q<shoulda>, ["= 2.10.3"])
+    s.add_dependency(%q<net-ssh>, ["= 2.0.19"])
+  end
+end
+
diff --git a/lib/hydra.rb b/lib/hydra.rb
index 7f4ad76..633a0ac 100644
--- a/lib/hydra.rb
+++ b/lib/hydra.rb
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 require 'hydra/pipe'
+require 'hydra/ssh'
diff --git a/lib/hydra/pipe.rb b/lib/hydra/pipe.rb
index f372894..e6d2dcb 100644
--- a/lib/hydra/pipe.rb
+++ b/lib/hydra/pipe.rb
@@ -16,8 +16,13 @@ module Hydra #:nodoc:
   #
   # A pipe is actually two pipes:
   #
-  # Parent === Pipe 1 ==> Child
-  # Parent <== Pipe 2 === Child
+  #  Parent  == Pipe 1 ==> Child
+  #  Parent <== Pipe 2 ==  Child
+  #
+  # It's like if you had two cardboard tubes and you were using
+  # them to drop balls with messages in them between processes.
+  # One tube is for sending from parent to child, and the other
+  # tube is for sending from child to parent.
   class Pipe
     # Creates a new uninitialized pipe pair.
     def initialize
@@ -43,15 +48,6 @@ module Hydra #:nodoc:
       end
     end
 
-    # Returns true if there is nothing to read (right now). However it is
-    # not exactly eof, if the other side writes, this will return false.
-    #
-    # It's a good way to tell if there is anything to process right now,
-    # otherwise, you can sleep.
-    def eof?
-      @reader.eof?
-    end
-
     # Identify this side of the pipe as the child.
     def identify_as_child
       @parent_write.close
diff --git a/lib/hydra/ssh.rb b/lib/hydra/ssh.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4cc9ec3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/hydra/ssh.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+require 'open3'
+module Hydra #:nodoc:
+  # Read and write with an ssh connection. For example:
+  #  @ssh = Hydra::SSH.new('nick@nite')
+  #  @ssh.write("echo hi")
+  #  puts @ssh.gets
+  #    => hi
+  #
+  # You can also use this to launch an interactive process. For
+  # example:
+  #  @ssh = Hydra::SSH.new('nick@nite')
+  #  @ssh.write('irb')
+  #  @ssh.write("5+3")
+  #  @ssh.gets
+  #    => "5+3\n"       # because irb echoes commands
+  #  @ssh.gets
+  #    => "8"           # the output from irb
+  class SSH
+    include Open3
+
+    # Initialize new SSH connection. The single parameters is passed
+    # directly to ssh for starting a connection. So you can do:
+    #  Hydra::SSH.new('localhost')
+    #  Hydra::SSH.new('user@server.com')
+    #  Hydra::SSH.new('-p 3022 user@server.com')
+    # etc..
+    def initialize(connection_options)
+      @stdin, @stdout, @stderr = popen3("ssh #{connection_options}")
+    end
+
+    # Write a string to ssh. This method returns the string passed to
+    # ssh. Note that if you do not add a newline at the end, it adds
+    # one for you, and the modified string is returned
+    def write(str)
+      unless str =~ /\n$/
+        str += "\n"
+      end
+      @stdin.write(str)
+      return str
+    end
+
+    # Read a line from ssh. This call blocks when there is nothing
+    # to read.
+    def gets
+      @stdout.gets.chomp
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/echo_the_dolphin.rb b/test/echo_the_dolphin.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c67875
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/echo_the_dolphin.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+# read lines from stdin
+# echo each line back
+# on EOF, quit nicely
+
+$stdout.sync = true
+
+while line = $stdin.gets
+  $stdout.write(line)
+end
+
diff --git a/test/test_pipe.rb b/test/test_pipe.rb
index 52932e9..9e19b97 100644
--- a/test/test_pipe.rb
+++ b/test/test_pipe.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-require 'helper'
+require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'helper')
 
-class TestPipeDream < Test::Unit::TestCase
+class TestPipe < Test::Unit::TestCase
   context "a pipe" do
     setup do
       @pipe = Hydra::Pipe.new
@@ -16,9 +16,7 @@ class TestPipeDream < Test::Unit::TestCase
       @pipe.identify_as_parent
       @pipe.write "Test Message\n"
       assert_equal "Message Received\n", @pipe.gets
-      assert !@pipe.eof?
       assert_equal "Second Message\n", @pipe.gets
-      assert @pipe.eof?
       assert_raise Hydra::PipeError::Broken do
         @pipe.write "anybody home?"
       end
diff --git a/test/test_ssh.rb b/test/test_ssh.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2367a70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_ssh.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'helper')
+
+class TestSSH < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  context "an ssh connection" do
+    setup do
+      @ssh = Hydra::SSH.new('localhost')
+    end
+    should "be able to execute a command" do
+      @ssh.write "echo hi"
+      assert_equal "hi", @ssh.gets
+    end
+    should "be able to execute a command with a newline" do
+      @ssh.write "echo hi\n"
+      assert_equal "hi", @ssh.gets
+    end
+    should "be able to communicate with a process" do
+      pwd = File.dirname(__FILE__)
+      echo_the_dolphin = File.expand_path(
+        File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'echo_the_dolphin.rb')
+      )
+      @ssh.write('ruby -e "puts \'Hello\'"')
+      assert_equal "Hello", @ssh.gets
+
+      @ssh.write("ruby #{echo_the_dolphin}")
+      @ssh.write("Hello Echo!")
+      assert_equal "Hello Echo!", @ssh.gets
+    end
+  end
+end