And just when I thought we were getting a handle on the flies. All day long my mind has been flooded with fly quips and witty inventions (for the demise of the flies or a fly’s demise, which ever applies). As I was going around (yes, again!) with the wand of the shop vac (for hours!), I was getting a bit haughty with my newfound success at sucking up flies. I’ve learned some clever new fly catching maneuvers and have captured now hundreds and hundreds of flies. But… as they are multiplying at four or five times the rate of captures, I’m not appearing to be all that successful at my attempts to eradicate the fly population in our home.
None of the stores in town have any fly paper strips. They did, however, have this fly catching contraption that cost Wes about seven dollars… and I have discovered that he paid about 6.99 too much for the plastic bag that (after lifting the plastic housing and filling the unit with water and dispersing an extremely foul smelling solution) is hung up and then attracts flies… supposedly by the hundreds ―the bag boasts a promise that it can hold 10,000 flies. Well, that’d be a good start, here. A dozen flies have met their demise by landing on the black cylinder and falling into the cesspool in the bag. O… and the bag is decorated with flies. I’m sure this is to let the other flies know that their relatives are hoping for a visit or something.
In the meantime, with the silence and finesse of a skilled burglar, I’ve learned to stalk the flies in their favourite landing spots. It’s become a game to me as I stand almost motionless, wand in hand, waiting for a group of flies to land as I calmly move the wand near them. I experience a tremendous rush of satisfaction if I can get five or six flies: thwp, thwp, thwp, thwp, thwp… bonus if I get a couple of the repopulating culprits. Extra bonus points if I get both flies and cobwebs at the same time. See, I didn’t know I had cobwebs until I started poking that wand into some high corners. So, I suppose there should be seen in all of this an additional benefit. However, this benefit brings me little satisfaction as the flies multiply in ever increasing numbers throughout the day and throughout the house.
Had I been Pharaoh, I think I’d have chased the children of Israel away after the swarms of flies… no, come to think of it, it would have been even before that. The thought of frogs gives me the creeps. So I suppose I see another benefit in all of this… these flies. At least it’s not frogs!
