The latest Affairs. . .

Fly Repellent

 

Fly Repellent . . . mostly

 

You may have received this on Monday. With the transfer issues, it was deleted. The only way to get it back on the site is to re-publish. Sorry for the duplication. 

 

It’s spring and we all know what’s right around the corner. Warm weather and sunshine. Sitting outside sipping tea, reading the paper, and . . . 

. . . swatting flies.    flies

We have a horrible time with flies. Sam and Penny feel the need to poo in the yard. Every day. I scoop. Every day. Unless I’m gone. My guy is gone most of every day, so he doesn’t have time. I catch up when I return home.

We live in an old neighborhood. It’s in the historic district. Which means absolutely nothing, except that you have people telling you what you can and can’t do with your own property. They don’t own your house. They don’t pay your taxes. But, they want to— and can— tell you what kind of fence or windows or facade you can put on your house.

It’s not a great neighborhood. Just old. About 30 years ago, our historic society was created. These society folks wanted to revitalize the downtown area. But, with the economy in the shape it’s been in for the past however many years— at one point, unemployment was nearly 20% in my area— their plans have been slowed down considerably.

I think, basically, they meet for tea and make a lot of rules. We have hoodlums a few doors down the street. There’s an attorney, CPA, bed and breakfast, and three old ladies. Four churches and a funeral home. A few drug dealers. A hooker.

And us. On a good day, we live in an eclectic neighborhood. Most days, it’s the ghetto.

Our house was built around 1900. We share the driveway with our neighbor. We have sidewalks and the mail box hangs by the front door. The floors are uneven. Most of the interior doors will shut, but not latch closed. That means one will randomly open on its own. Usually, when I’m home alone. Wouldn’t it be neat, if we had ghosts   a ghost!? Everything tilts a bit. It has character and we like it. The basement’s scary.

All of the houses are close together. I’ve had mice problems, roach problems, mosquito problems, and fly problems. None of these problems lasted after the exterminator came. He sprayed. He baited. He trapped. They disappeared.

Except for flies.

With the houses so close, so old, and certain neighbors having no idea of what constitutes clean or missing entirely the concept that trash goes inside the can— we have flies. Tons of flies.

I bought fly catcher bags. These are plastic bags with bait inside that you activate with water, then hang nearby.

Fly catcher bagsThe flies fly in, can’t get out, and die pilled up on each other. It’s a nasty looking, swarmy mess. I doubt 20 of them hanging around would be enough. It’s also tacky.

Besides, it’s fly BAIT. It attracts flies. I wanted to get RID of flies.

I asked our exterminator what to do. He said, ‘There’s nothing you can do. They only live about 24 hours and are in a mad dash to procreate. That’s why they’re in such a frenzy. They’re just horny little buggers and running out of time.’

This became my goal in life. I searched at farm stores, horse supply stores, tractor and tool supply stores, and Googled around. I finally found this idea and tried it. It’s simple, cheap, and easy.

A baggie with four pennies and water. Total cost = ten cents.

 

 

Original fly baggie

 

 

 I hung two on the front porch and one near the back door. I didn’t tell my guy about them. I left on a 4-day trip.

When I returned, we were sitting out front catching up and I asked, ‘How have the flies been?’

He said, ‘You know? It’s been remarkable. They’ve been less the past few days. I bet down 80%. I don’t know where they went.’

So I showed him the baggies.

The water and pennies catch the light. The theory is their compound eyes see the baggies as the eye of one giant predator waiting for them.

So they stay away.

But, it was not lovely. It was tacky. I  mean really tacky. I’ve even seen them on TV– hanging on the front porch of a derelict house. There’s a bum sprawled on a plaid sofa and a washing machine sitting in the front yard. Yep. That kind of tacky. No, wait! That was a picture of my ex-brother-in-law.

I went to the dollar store. We have several brands of dollar stores in town, but only one sells everything for an actual dollar and I wish they had more stuff. It’s a great place to take our grand-kids shopping. I give them each $4 and let them buy whatever they want. I’m not cheap, but about $4 worth of twenty-cent junk is all anyone needs at once.

I found little glass rose bowls. 

 

 

Fly baggie cute


 

Now, it’s lovelier.

Be sure to cover the top with plastic wrap. Otherwise, you’ll have bugs fall into the water and die, making a mess (the baggies are zipped shut, so you don’t have this problem). Cover the top with plastic wrap, then wrap cord or wire around the rim under the ruffly edge. Trim off the plastic below the wire so it doesn’t look messy.

I try to hang them in places the flies will see, but not in plain view of people. It’s not a centerpiece.

I’ve had this one hanging at the back door since last summer— 10 months. It froze during the winter, making a lovely round ice cube inside. Now that it’s warm and thawed out, it still looks like it did when I first hung it up.

Total cost = $1.07.

There are fewer flies.

Now, only the really, really horny ones show up. Lucky us.

 

69x 44 BB

 

 

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