Shoo Flies!
By Bill, posted on 06/28/2004
I was over my parents house for dinner on Sunday. Big topic was flies. Seems there was a small hatch in the house and there were a small handful about.
After they went on for a bit they said “You must have a lot of flies. What do you do?”
I told them that I just say hi when I pass them and we’ve pretty much gotten used to it. Also told them you don’t turn on a light outside a door at night. And if you do, you turn it off a minute or so before going out unless you want to breath flying insects.
They then told me all the things I could do — from zappers to strips to pheromone hanging balls. Then it slowly dawned on them it wouldn’t make a lick of difference.
So I said “Or I could just turn the light off a minute before going outside.”
Now sometimes I’lll turn on the barn light and open the door and let a whole bunch in. Then when I close the door and leave they swarm to the brooder light. The chicks have endless fun jumping up and catching them. My version of a bug zapper I guess.
The only thing I haven’t gotten used to is the frogs. The tree frogs are deafening come end summer, and in our once pool and now experimental swap-land ecosystem we have a couple of green frogs that sound like an out of tune banjo string being plucked. These tireless boys go at it 24/7. They lie in wait for me to approach and go “TWANG – Twang – twang” as I get near. It’s gotten personal. Several times I yelled “Oh, knock it off!” Which Ethan found terribly funny and now says himself whenever he hears them.
My dad also thought it was terribly funny when he heard the story. So much so that he spent a good deal of father’s day dinner saying “TWANG- Twang – twang” just to hear Ethan say “oh knock eet off!”
I just don’t get a break.
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