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battling bugs, blog, Catherine Castle, creative writing, Garden photos, Gardening blog, humor, romance author
Spring down Catherine's garden path
Saul slew his thousands, David his ten thousands … and me … I’ve slain my hundreds. Flies, that is.
Today in between weeding sessions in my garden I stalked my prey with a yellow fly swatter, creeping across the deck carefully so I wouldn’t make the boards vibrate. I mashed sluggish flies ranging from the size of a speck to nearly a quarter-inch. Funny thing was, after I’d smashed a few on the deck boards, I’d come back from a weeding session and find three or four flies crowded around the flattened remains of their compatriots.
Wham! Three for one shot. I had no qualms about that. But I whacked them so hard I broke the edge off of my fly swatter more than once.
I left my swatter on the deck table and when I returned it was lousy with flies crawling around the black and red fly bits left on the surface, like cannibals dancing around a boiling soup pot. No kidding! I’ve never seen flies congregate around their dead like that before. They stayed there making my slaughter easy, unlike shooting wasps.
Two years ago I was in a wasp war. Every day after I’d finished my gardening chores I’d stalk wasps around the yard, shooting at least a dozen until they started to get agitated and move toward, not away from, me. Even with a 20-foot stream of insecticide I knew better than to stick around when I became the target. Seeing the deck peppered with hordes of flies brought back those memories. At least these flies aren’t biting … yet … and when they’re not congregating around bits of their smashed friends they take off when I get too near instead of dive bombing me.
After five hours of gardening and swatting I finally came inside. The throng of bugs appears to be gone for the moment. But I don’t know what tomorrow holds. Will my tan deck be black again? Will I have to do more stalking? More creeping toward my prey on tippy toes? If I’m lucky the sun will be behind the clouds. Shadows give the multi-eyed pests too much warning. Maybe I should try fly paper, but in the windy conditions we have it would probably end up a big yellow, sticky ball that leaves adhesive all over the banisters, but catches no flies. Or maybe I need to invest in a gross of 20-foot shot insecticide.
From Microsoft clip art
One thing is for sure, I need to buy a dozen more fly swatters … or learn to kill them with a kinder, gentler hand.
Nah. I’ll go for more fly swatters.
Have you ever dealt with huge amounts of flies? Any suggestions for getting rid of the pests?
So now we know the truth! You’re not only a stalker; you’re a serial killer – of wasps and flies. 🙂
Yep. I have to admit to that. But, knowing you take care of your mom’s garden I’ll bet you’ve whacked a few too. LOL
My worst garden enemy fly is the deer fly. Ugghh, makes me shiver just to think about them. Not only do they bite, but they are persistent. I shoo them away and they dive back at me. I’ve been known to run into the house to escape a bloodthirsty deer fly.
It really hurts when a deer fly bites. I’m soooo glad all these weren’t biting or I’d have been hiding out in the house, too, and I’ve got too much spring cleaning left to do that. Thanks for stopping by, Rosanna.
I think I’ll just stay in and admire the garden from afar! I’m not too fond of bugs. But your garden is beautiful, so you have something to show for your efforts!
Bugs don’t freak me out as much as they used to. Guess it’s part of the gardening learning curve, but I still put on my garden gloves to handle earthworms.
🙂
At least the flies aren’t alligators. Alligator swatters would be difficult to wield, to say nothing of dangerous. Guess my black thumb isn’t so bad after all. Seriously, your garden is incredible, and I hope you find a remedy for the flying curse.
Alligators? Sheesh, I hope not. Thanks for the compliment on the gardens, and I think I might have killed them all, if not most. There are only a few around today.