090922 - Racquet of Death
Racquet of Death
Every campsite or region has their own variety of bugs and things that are placed on Earth to teach us that man is not as all powerful and in control of as he would like to think. Mother nature has her favorite “pets” that she likes to tease us with and remind us that size doesn’t mattter when it comes to invaders and the home team.
I like to refer to them as “The Insect De Jour”.
We have dealt with ants, spiders, noseeums, bees, hornets, wasps, cockaroaches, fleas, moths and mesquitos – especially the Texas type that are so large they should have numbers on their wings…. but the most common and to me the most bothersome is the fly. I have heard them called houseflies, horseflies, blueflies, shoflies and some other unpleasaant names, but other than size, they all look alike to me. I beleve they have a very short life cycle, but one day is too long for my liking.
. It doesn’t matter if the windows are closed or the screens are in, they manage to infiltrate the Beast and buzz around us at the most inappropriate times in the most inappropriate places.
Years ago I bought one of those battery operated fly swatters – the kind that looks like a small yellow tennis racquet and sends an electrical charge to anything that touches it. Sounds great except for a few points that were not mentioned in the advertisement. First, you have to actually hit the damn fly with the racquet. Of course, you don’t want to hit it when it is sitting on anything valuable or breakable like the TV, computer, glass or plastic items, Danny or myself. Next, you have to keep two buttons on the handle pushed for the circuit to be active at which time a small red light glows. Thirdly, touching the grid when the red light is on will deliver one hell of a shock – and I’m not talking about the sissy kind when you rub your foot on the carpet type shock.
To date, I can report that I have never been able to hit a fly “on the fly’ and kill it. The only success I have had was frying a spider as he descended from the ceiling and a few moths who were definitely slower and I guess dumber than flies. They tend to hang around light fixtures and make easier targets. A mosquito or two and many moths has been cooked in flight, but those damn flies either have better radar or superior aerodynamic skills than their fellow aviators, because they are the most elusive.
Good old hanging flypaper has come to the rescue when I get desperate and overwhelmed. If anyone has any good suggestions for getting rid of flies – please advise – I can’t keep the door closed because Danny likes to go in and out frequently.
Every campsite or region has their own variety of bugs and things that are placed on Earth to teach us that man is not as all powerful and in control of as he would like to think. Mother nature has her favorite “pets” that she likes to tease us with and remind us that size doesn’t mattter when it comes to invaders and the home team.
I like to refer to them as “The Insect De Jour”.
We have dealt with ants, spiders, noseeums, bees, hornets, wasps, cockaroaches, fleas, moths and mesquitos – especially the Texas type that are so large they should have numbers on their wings…. but the most common and to me the most bothersome is the fly. I have heard them called houseflies, horseflies, blueflies, shoflies and some other unpleasaant names, but other than size, they all look alike to me. I beleve they have a very short life cycle, but one day is too long for my liking.
. It doesn’t matter if the windows are closed or the screens are in, they manage to infiltrate the Beast and buzz around us at the most inappropriate times in the most inappropriate places.
Years ago I bought one of those battery operated fly swatters – the kind that looks like a small yellow tennis racquet and sends an electrical charge to anything that touches it. Sounds great except for a few points that were not mentioned in the advertisement. First, you have to actually hit the damn fly with the racquet. Of course, you don’t want to hit it when it is sitting on anything valuable or breakable like the TV, computer, glass or plastic items, Danny or myself. Next, you have to keep two buttons on the handle pushed for the circuit to be active at which time a small red light glows. Thirdly, touching the grid when the red light is on will deliver one hell of a shock – and I’m not talking about the sissy kind when you rub your foot on the carpet type shock.
To date, I can report that I have never been able to hit a fly “on the fly’ and kill it. The only success I have had was frying a spider as he descended from the ceiling and a few moths who were definitely slower and I guess dumber than flies. They tend to hang around light fixtures and make easier targets. A mosquito or two and many moths has been cooked in flight, but those damn flies either have better radar or superior aerodynamic skills than their fellow aviators, because they are the most elusive.
Good old hanging flypaper has come to the rescue when I get desperate and overwhelmed. If anyone has any good suggestions for getting rid of flies – please advise – I can’t keep the door closed because Danny likes to go in and out frequently.
posted by The Highway Guys @ 12:59 AM
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