There is a tall plastic bottle on my desk that is a constant reminder that I am a mass murderer. I don’t like it, I don’t enjoy it, but sometimes you are left with no alternative. It matters little that I can plead self defence, diminished responsibility and crime passionel.
Though they are driving me nuts.
The narrow necked bottle is half filled with a sweet, fruity liquid and a dozen flies. One of which is still swimming, frantically trying to escape while I sit and attempt to ignore its plight, feeling like the greatest beast in nature. Yes, I know they are only flies, and they are nasty creatures that transmit more germs than a dirty missile. And they leave horrid traces of their presence that send me running for the bleach… which, incidentally, kills millions of lifeforms with every sweep of the cloth. Even so, flies serve a definite purpose on the planet, are fabulously well designed … and they are fellow creatures.
I’ve tried pretty much everything to get rid of them. When I moved in recently, every nook and cranny was bleached and disinfected before anything was put away, just as a matter of course. It is not as if the place is in need of a clean… but it gets done daily anyway.
Even so, the past couple of days have been a nightmare. The place is heaving with flies.
Okay, there were probably ‘only ‘twenty or so, but they are attracted to the light of my screen, so it feels like it is heaving. And they are intrusive. They are even indulging in internet porn, attempting to breed right in front of my cursor.
I can’t eat or drink without a bloody fly trying to get in on the act. I can’t type without finding a fly on the keyboard. I can’t expose as much as a toe without some little blighter landing on it. And it is summer, hot and muggy.
The problem is two fold, I believe. Cows and dogs. . The cows occupy the field behind the garden. The flies occupy the cows. If I open the doors, the flies come in and refuse to leave. The dog has the door open from morning to night to access the garden. If I shut the door, we both broil in the heat… and England doesn’t do aircon.
I tried the natural deterrents. Apart from the well-established artemesia plants that I don’t have flanking the door because I can’t find any to buy. And I don’t have any more lavender yet. And the cloves that were, according to the article, guaranteed to deter them just seemed to attract the little swines.
I’ve chased them with the nozzle of the hoover, becoming a dab hand at the stealth attack. They are crafty though, pretending they don’t see you till the last minute lunge before flying off. I have waited till dusk, when they settle down for the night, then vacuumed them up and taken them back to their field for live release, a dozen at a time. I turn round and the monsters are back. With reinforcements.
Fly spray is dodgy with a dog… she does her best to catch them and, if successful, eat them. I’m not overly happy with the idea of spraying poisons into the air in any case, though it is an impersonal method of destruction. Squirt and walk away. Plus, I have the aquarium which has to have every vent covered and wrapped for the slightest squirt of fly spray. It kills fish.
It doesn’t, apparently, kill flies.
Enter the plastic bottle.
While I am desperately trying to create a no-fly zone, the dregs of my abandoned drink sit on my desk… and within five minutes of me placing it there, three flies had found their own way to heaven.
Every so often, attracted by the sweet liquid, a fly crawls in to investigate…and can’t get out. It is a clear plastic bottle and their struggles to evade their fate are visible and desperate.
And I do nothing.
And feel like a murderer.
It is of no use to try and evade the blame by saying it is more of a mass suicide than a murder. Or quoting all the health issues they can carry. I could prevent it by removing the bottle. I could rescue them before they die. I carry the responsibility of leaving the bottle there deliberately…and of failing to intervene when I could. I am responsible for my choices.
And conscience is inescapable.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Edmund Burke
And I wonder about that… about how often we ‘do nothing’ when we could act, how easily we justify both our actions and inaction and how often we deem one life to be of more value than another. Our comfort more important than what we know is right.
I may have to learn to live with the flies.
Summer can’t last forever.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Dear Sue, I have chased individual flies out of my apartment with a stick of Tibetan incense by leading them toward the door. I do not have a cow pasture outside however. I wonder if burning the incense on your desk would help. Also, how about an opaque drink container? At least then you wouldn’t have to watch. But have you thought of a doggie door with a flap for going in and out?
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Hi Margaret. I burn incense all the time…the flies seem to love it unfortunately. The doggie door is out of the question… the doors are all glass and this is not as small a dog as she likes to think 🙂
The opaque drinks bottle would serve the purpose of hiding the crime… but it wouldn’t make it go away, would it? Id still know.
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I had a neighbor who complained that he always had squirrels in his garden. He couldn’t understand where they were coming from. After all, every week he would catch one in his “Havahart” trap and take it to a park on the river, a half-mile away. He didn’t believe it when another neighbor told him he had to take it 5 to 10 miles away, or it would come right back home. So, the next time he caught a squirrel (the next week), that other neighbor put a tiny dab of red latex paint on the tip of the squirrel’s tail. Bob released the squirrel down by the river. Surprise! A few days later, he caught squirrel with a red-tipped tail, so he took it for a ride into the country. Bob still caught squirrels, but not as often (since the long trip had the desired effect), but he was in his eighties, and he wasn’t really into taking a drive every week, so he became less fanatic about ridding his garden of squirrels.
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That’s a lovely story, Ken, and if it were squirrels, I wouldn’t mind at all. I’d take the flies a longer distance… but with the cows a few yards from my door, I doubt it would make much difference!
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I confess I, too, have been a mass murderer. In Afghanistan we used to mix up a black powder with water in saucers and leave them on the windowsills. Within minutes flies were swarming to their deaths. It was horrible. What did help to keep them outside was hanging gauze (the ordinary stuff used for dressings but in large sheets) at the open windows and doors. Ani would still be able to go out and in.
One other fly story from Afghanistan – when I was in the city we overlooked the neighbour’s flat roof and I was both fascinated and puzzled to see it covered in a shimmering irridescence. I asked what it was and was it they were flies – green and bluebottles – feasting ont he tomatoes laid out to dry. When I came home it was a long time before I reached for a jar of sun-dried tomatoes without remembering the neighbour’s rooftop.
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It really is horrible watching them like that.
I have been hoping not to cover the doors as the room is so small it gets clustrophobic once the curtains are up. I may have to give in though.
And sun dried tomatoes will be off the menu for a while…
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Oh! dear this is deep!
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It really made me think, you know.
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I must confess to using fly spray and to feeling rather guilty when I hear the creatures slowly dying (the buzzing becomes, gradually less and less). Being blind I am never sure whether the insect buzzing arround is a fly or a stinging creature so I zap the lot to avoid unpleasant surprises, despite my qualms of conscience. Kevin
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Mosquitoes are the only thing I normally zap, but the fly in the ointment of my new place has to be the flies.
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I tried cloves too! No, it doesn’t work. But it smells good.
I confess to flypaper and a fly swatter. Not 100% effective either. (K)
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Yes, it smelled good… the flies appeared to think so too 🙂
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How about burning citronella candles…I know they’re good for mosquitoes..love the Burke quote too.
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Tried that too… they don’t seem to mind. Hardy little sods.
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Oh gosh…another thing to drive me round the bend.
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The flies certainly know how to do that
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Sounds horrible.
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It isn’t good 😦
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No.
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My friend has a great way of keeping the door open for the dog, but screened against flies. It is a set of two overlapping poly-screen curtains on a spring rod suspended in the door casing. The hem is weighted so it stays in place and swings shut after you or the dog pass through. Maybe you could make a set?
PS I’m a mass murderer, too. Mostly of slugs, snails and Japanese beetles. 😉
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Slugs and snails I can live with. The aphids I leave to the ladybirds and caterpillars I rehome… but the flies are a problem. A screen is going to be a must, I think.
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Oh, I forgot to mention that the two sides have lightweight magnets to keep them shut, but easily open when you pass through.
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we booked a holiday on a dairy farm once, and the flies were a menace. We all woke up in the mornings with tiny black dots all over us! I love cows, but won’t be anywhere near them again, thanks very much! Hope you find something that works!
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The bedroom remains fly-free, thankfully. The living room is the biggest problem.
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The bottle idea is a good one. Maybe loads more, and cover them with labels?
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It is effective, though slow…but labels wouldn’t cover my conscience.
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but at least you wouldn’t have to watch?
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It doesn’t stop me knowing.
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
Sue’s trouble with flies.
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Hmmm. I suppose I’m a fly murderer too, but not too often. They are the most annoying of insects. We try to keep the screens down for their own good 🙂 Those magnetic screens work great, by the way!
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I bought one today… unfortunately, is is too narrow for the double doors. Most annoying.
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I hate flies, and don’t feel too bad, it the nature of their lives to die young.
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I’m no lover of flies myself, but I still feel bad taking their lives.
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Flies I can manage, having grown up in Australia they were a fact of life, albeit a very annoying one … but mosquitoes on the other hand … I have no qualms of conscience removing as many of them as I can from all of existence, for all eternity!!! … (I have welts from one end of Summer to the other) Unfortunately given the current state of environmental affairs, I’m not going to succeed in my ambitions … le sigh.
P.S. on reflection … there are flies here in Canada called horseflys, which take actual chunks out of one’s exposed person and leave trails of blood behind. On our trip across the Prairies last year we stopped at a town called Moose Jaw to see the sights. As soon as I got our of the truck I was inundated with skeeters and biting flies. I kid you not, there were rivers of blood on all my limbs within 15 SECONDS!!! … needless to say, I bought up every can of insect repellent in the entire town within the next 15 seconds.
The locals told us that that summer was the worst in living memory for ‘plagues’ (direct quote) of the nasty little buggers!!! (not that Canadians would use that word. I’m afraid it’s my upbringing showing through. 🙂 )
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Now the mozzies I have no qualms about either, I’m afraid. I get the huge lumps from the little blighters. And we get horseflies too… with the great swollen bulges and holes they leave behind. Horrible things.
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Wow you are lord of the flies, lol. I’m guessing the flies come with the cows. 🙂
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So am I… but I wish they’d stay with the cows. 😦
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Ahh nature, can’t live without it. 🙂
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But without flies… yes 😉
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Lol yes. I’m in with that. 🙂
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🙂
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