It’s a Good Thing

We are not going to discuss all my unfinished projects. We are also not going to discuss the fact that I got a door yesterday which has added to that list of unfinished projects.

Nope. This will be one of those posts where I compare some aspect of my current location to my experience/knowledge gained in other areas of the world. In this way I can add to your data bank and demonstrate that I occasionally pay attention to what is going on around me.

Today’s topic is the house fly: a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. It is believed to have evolved in the Cenozoic era, possibly in the Middle East, and has spread all over the world as a commensal of humans. It is the most common fly species found in houses.

When I lived on racetracks in Arizona I learned the true meaning of the phrase “no flies on him”. If you slowed down in your movement through the environment, or goddess forbid stopped, you would have dozens of tiny little flies landing on you.

This resulted in a constant unconscious twitching – of your limbs, head, anything to persuade them to temporarily get off of you.

On the west coast having a fly get into the house was a huge pain. They’re noisy and they rarely stop moving. Try approaching one and it just laughs at you.

The cats would chase them – but never actually caught one.

Here, if you leave your door open for a while, you get lots of flies in the house. Of course. Yesterday I looked at the windows in the living room and there were dozens of the little buggers.

I decided – with no expectation of success – to try the approach we used on wasps. Sneak up on the insect with a container, try to capture the bug by putting the container over it against the window, then slide a piece of cardboard underneath and carry it outside to be released into the wild.

Well. Not only does this work – but you can capture 6 or 7 at a time. Others will walk towards the container and you can add them to the rest of the prisoners. If they escape they don’t go anywhere. They just wander a bit and wait for you to come for them.

This place has the stupidest flies on the planet. How cool is that?