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Two flies

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by santeewelding

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Older ones, I think, since they are larger and they alight for longer, compared to younger, which are smaller, more frenetic, and unpredictably harder to hit.

The two are where the action is -- me -- ignoring the other end of the office, where no one is. They buzz me, God only knows why, at my end.

They cause me no end of distraction. I've slapped and missed, now, several times with a 3X5 pad. This has taken me completely away from the sublimities of TR.

(HAH! Got one!)

Makes me think of the old ways. Does anyone sell the old-fashioned wire flyswatter anymore? Or, those sticky tape thingies you would hang from the ceiling? Last time I looked, they didn't.

Maybe if I publicize this, and the remaining fly is wired, glued as it is at the moment to the monitor, it will take a hint.

I can't believe I am the only one in the world harassed so.

46 replies

by seanferd

in a long time. But a variety of flyswatters, I have seen.

Perhaps CA is perceived as "too cool for flyswatters" by retailers, fiddling about with their demographic research.

by jaqui

The electric bug zappers are the modern style fly swatters.

the glue strips, the pack of 4 rolls, I can find them in Chinatown shops still.

by purpleskys

but try local fish and tackle shops, i've seen both fly swatters and sticky strips there before. Up here we can normally get them at corner stores or dollar store, just not so much the big box stores; not sure why. In a pinch though, I've rolled up a newspaper ;)

edit for spelling...lack of coffee

by ansugisalas

Was going to post that.
I hit them in mid-air, less mess, more sport.
Just have to remember to pick up the "carcasses" as they're just unconscious, usually.

by santeewelding

I do the same. Just enough to stun them. Not enough to smear them. Then, you have to be quick to deliver the coup de grace as they stumble and struggle -- again, not enough to smear.

by av .

I'm a country girl and there are lots of flies in the country. I can usually catch them (I'm pretty quick), but because I have a heart, I let them go free elsewhere. If they come back though, I take out my big old-fashioned flyswatter and let 'em have it. They don't know what hit them.

Usually a local mom and pop store has the flyswatters. You know what I've found though, if you take it out, the flies see it and disappear without you doing a thing. They're not stupid.

AV

by santeewelding

Santee: 5; flies: 0.

Only, the last one bounced and landed in my Madeira.

Small price to pay, for now there are none.

by santeewelding

As well as your commiseration, for which I thank you, [b]AV[/b], that it was Paul Masson, which sucks. No loss.

An intimate presented me with the real thing last Sunday, from the island of that name. It was really, really, really, really good. My first ever.

I killed the 750ml bottle in one evening, so enamored and tipsy was I.

Thing is, it's $25 a bottle. Today I went looking for what I had hoped would be a cheap substitute. It was cheap and not a substitute.

Yech. It and the fly got flushed.

by seanferd

I highly suspect I would rather have one in my ointment than in my liquid friend. A slain fly in Madeira is beyond the pale.

by santeewelding

Those stakes we each drive into the ground, delineating how it is that we are; how the rest of us are.

I have this -- sensitivity -- to words.

by santeewelding

There is another. It plants itself on the monitor. It is not perturbed when I wiggle the arrow in its vicinity.

What is this? Virtual intelligence?

by ansugisalas

Space in language and cognition.
It's a hoot. One of those books that makes the brain all itchy with new perspectives and so-close-to-revelation-I-can-taste-it sensations.
There are peoples out there to whom origo is nothing, axes everything. Absolute direction and mind-internal inertial compasses, non-stop 24/7 dead-reckoning. To them "doesn't know where he is" means "crazy".
Well written too.

by ansugisalas

I was a fan of Islay single malts. Laphroaigh. Lagavulin. The greatest achievements of scots thrift.
They are not cheap, but I learned that, by cutting out quantity, also of other things, I could make them affordable.

by ansugisalas

One can do it eyes closed, and have a Jedi moment... caution, not recommended near crystal chandeliers.

by mr_m_sween

I've found that hairspray or Windex works really well to slow down the ones that dont like to land. By messing with their wings they land, giving you a moment where you can stun them with the newspaper or other weapon of fly destruction. The fly is faster than you, but you are smarter than the fly.

by ron k.

That's where I nail them with brake cleaner, the kind with the little plastic tube on it. Hit them and they're finished in seconds. The brake cleaner doesn't leave much of a residue either. Do NOT spray your monitor or any plastics!
The fumes probably aren't good for you. We have adequate ventilation so that's not an issue. If you get a lot of fumes you'll begikl ot giblaar adn gooflegab. So bec cfreul.

by tink!

Supplies both cheap-o plastic fly swatters and fly strips.

I use the rolled glue strips above our kitchen sink since I'm a very bad housekeeper when it comes to doing dishes which makes fruit flies magically appear in swarms.

We keep fly swatters handy at work since the industrial park is across the street from the local landfill. BiiiiiG flies tend to migrate in here when the door is opened for air.

by seanferd

that this fence I erect lies closer to me than does a glass of Madeira with a fly in it. At least for purposes of forum hyperbole.

by dr dij

you can get plastic ones at 99c store
they have 4 sticky strips for 99c.

When I was working in IT at a juice packer in LA area, had lots of flies in acctg office. I had my own office off this and kept a bottle of water mixed with liquid dish soap.

You spray them and it clogs their wings and breathing tubes and they scream 'help meeeeeee...' in very high pitched tones, as they writhe in agony and plummet to the floor. Very satisfying, almost like that movie 'the Fly' or where bart simpson is turned into fly boy.

You need to get a good spray bottle with adjustable nozzle for a $ or two. Put it on stream, not spray and you'll get great target practice.

The good thing is that you don't get alot of bug spray toxic stuff into your office.

The sticky strips work but better on gnats and fruit flies at home.

Even found rat traps (not mice traps which are smaller). Fruit rat had been climbing up to 2nd story and eating my tommies as they ripened. Every evening around 11:30 to 12:30. I put a tommie as bait around 11, was working on computer and heard a yelp. Poor little varmint had brains bashed in ,w asn't nice.

At a garden show saw a black box that they could enter and shocked them. Much cleaner. but mucho dinero$.

by ansugisalas

Had to pluck it off the cat's face.
And as I looked to see if I had got the head out too, it wriggled it's "fingers" at me, headless.
Few things inspire me to extinction drives, but these do.
I would see a tickless tomorrow.

by santeewelding

Very briefly, of making my own, which I did once long ago, using a coat hanger and a swatch of window screening.

At today's rates, it would cost me a couple hundred dollars, and I couldn't profit by selling the one for less than a thousand.

by bodonnell11

you would have to be including your time. Wouldnt you rather have someone in China or somewhere else make them for nix and then +-1.

by ansugisalas

a powerful blower, a catch-pipe and... something nasty at the end of that pipe.
You probably have something like that in your shop, right?
I got one the other day with the vaccuum cleaner.

Someone should get that dyson fellow to invent a motorless flysmasher... that bladeless fan on the "Geeks in heat" thread's parent blog looked very neat.

by ic-it

Then a nice clap, about an inch over the top, will usually result in demise of said offender.

by ansugisalas

I can clap with one hand (either). But not hard enough to stun a fly. I'm good, but not that good.

by av .

One hand on the mouse, and the other quickly grabs the offender, setting it free outside. Its the ultimate test of your reflexes, and nothing dies in the process.

AV

by ernststavroblofeld

I thought this was the old Rorschach ink blot test joke:

An old European guy goes to see a shrink, who proceeds to do a Rorschach ink blot test. In response to the first blot, the old guy blurts out: "Two Flies F**king!". Somewhat taken aback, the doc shows him another - same immediate response: "Two Flies F**king!". Now really concerned, the doc shows him another, gets the same response.

Doc: Well, Mr. Spritz, I can only tell you that I think you have a serious sexual obsession here. A serious problem indeed.

Patient: Problem? Me? I'm not the one with the dirty pictures!

Anyway, Two Flies .... brought it to mind.

by cmiller5400

DIE, DIE, DIE YOU STINKING FLY!

Can you tell I [b]H A T E[/b] flies? Nasty, disease ridden, filthy, vile buggers. YUCK. I especially hate those suckers that are as big as a Volkswagen. I can't work until they are all squished flat. I have gotten quite proficient in catching them with one hand. The other thing to remember when trying to use a fly swatter is that the fly must move backward a little bit before it can attain flight...

Speaking of flies... Bzzzzzzzzzzzz... SMACK! Quiet again :D

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