Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Killing flies

Obviously Spouse & I open and close the door many times each day. We exit and enter the house to go to work, the grocery store, out to dinner, the gym, to get the mail, and let Jordan the dog out to do her business. With all the opening and closing we've never had a problem with flies in the house... until the construction project started. Suddenly we have flies inside the house everyday.

Since I work at home and the front door hinge has a slight squeak to it, I hear it each time the door is opened by the construction guys, and I hear a little swoosh sound each time the door is closed. Its not like the construction guys are leaving the door open an excessive amount of time or anything, so I couldn't figure out why we suddenly started being bothered with flies in the house.

They can be quite persistent and annoying so we feel no guilt or shame in killing them. One day I was trying to eat lunch while watching a little HGTV and 3 flies were absolutely driving me insane. I felt like Tippi Hedren in 'The Birds'.
Fly swatters are an inefficient waste of time. Flies have amazing reflexes and will surely move before you can swat them.

But Spouse found an easy way to kill flies: Windex.

Yes, Windex. Spray the fly with Windex and it will be stunned and fall to the closest horizontal surface (countertop, table, floor, etc.) Once its fallen you can quickly smush it with a paper towel, then wipe up the excess Windex.

I'm telling you, it works like a champ!

So yesterday the construction guys (Jay and Junior) cut the hole for the door that will give us access into the garage from inside the house. Obviously there was a large opening for awhile until they got the door jam into position and secured. Then the door was wide open as Jay installed the knob and latch.

Cut to me trying to make a sandwich for lunch with 5 flies buzzing against the kitchen window!

With a paper towel in one hand and the Windex in the other, I slowly approached the kitchen window then sprayed furiously for a few seconds. 3 of the 5 flies dropped to the window sill and I smushed them into the paper towel, then folded it over and wiped up the Windex.

When I returned from eating my sandwich a few minutes later, the other 2 flies were buzzing around that window again, so I repeated the steps above and killed them both, too.

YES - I killed 5 flies in less than a 1/2 hour! Think I'm getting excited about nothing? Well then, when was the last time YOU killed 5 flies in less than a 1/2 hour? What? Never? Mmm hmmm, I thought so.

Oh, and we now have the cleanest kitchen window and window sill in town.

Crush du Jour: Colt Brennan

12 comments:

Bob said...

No flies AND a clean kitchen?
It's a win-win!

Anonymous said...

What a great tip! I never would have thought of that. My sister used to kill spiders with hairspray. I'll have to tell her about the Windex.

Kailyn said...

Why do I feel like I'm watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding again?

Oh, and Natasha takes care of all flying creatures in my home.

behrmark said...

The Tippi Hedren reference is pricesless!

Anonymous said...

The dumpster is about 8 feet from the dining room window. It isn't bad smell wise but flies are a real issue.

Add to the fact that I like fresh fruit and you get not only the big flies, but the fruit flies.

Dealing with fruit flies turned out to have a serendipitous solution. Fruit flies love wine. So I always leave a cheap bottle with about 80ml in the bottom. The little bastards drink, get drunk, then can't fly and drown in the wine.


The big flies, I just corral them in the bathroom. It's the darkest spot in the house at lights out. Flies will automatically land if there isn't enough light.

When you flip the light back on I'm prepared with a couple squares of toilet paper. Come in above and over the fly and then SLAM. Dead fly.

I've become quite the expert. I'm not sure if I should list that skill set on my resume though.

Stephen said...

& I had heard this about you, Mark:
"he wouldn't hurt a fly"!

Joy said...

Helpful, Tippi! I'll try it.

These comments crack me up!

Miss Ginger Grant said...

Kailyn- the first thing I thought of was "MBFGW!" Sissy: is spouse perhaps Greek?

wcs said...

Ok, I'm trying this. Here in France, window screens are rare, so flies visit at will during the summer months. There aren't too many, but the few that decide to come in are annoying as hell.

And, my windows could use a little cleaning...

Mark in DE said...

Miss G: No, he's 100% Italian, but he has a Windex addiction.

Java said...

Brilliant! I'll keep that in mind as I deal with the flies. We have fly problems sporaticially. I can hardly wait to zap flies with the Windex!

Angel said...

Ginger! ME TOO!!!!! WINDEX is good for EVERYTHING!!!!