cimorene: Grayscale image of Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont in Rococo dress and powdered wig pushing away a would-be kidnapper with a horrified expression (do not want)
[personal profile] cimorene
In the past when flies have been inside our house, it's usually been fruit flies... because of fruit. A couple of years ago one time we had a serious problem with regular house flies that we couldn't seem to completely get rid of, though, and at that time we had a hell of a time looking for flyswatters and flypaper everywhere. Wax's mom looked for them everywhere too and she couldn't find them either! Diligently trying to swat them and attempting to clean anything they could possibly lay eggs in and making homemade fly traps was the best we could do, and it seemed to take forever to get rid of them.

This time they've only been getting on our nerves for the length of the summer, but... once again we have screens in the windows, but the door to the balcony stands open all summer, and there's an extra opportunity for flies, bees, moths and other winged creatures to buzz in. There's really no way to fix this; putting in a screen door wouldn't work because the cats have to be able to come and go from the balcony. Tristana loves it out there. Maybe we need one of those electric bug zapper lanterns hanging in the hall near the balcony door. Or one in every room, at the current rate. Wax has ordered fly paper online. There's got to be a better kind of fly trap than the ones we made last time, which seemed incredibly, frustratingly slow to work.

I'm so tired of scrubbing fly poop off of my beautiful cabinet doors and shelf edges! And it's so enraging to be sleepily making a morning pot of tea and be confronted with flies on the handle you're reaching for, or perching on the stove hood, or trying to fly up your nose!

(no subject)

Date: 7 Aug 2021 05:44 pm (UTC)
twistedchick: watercolor painting of coffee cup on wood table (Default)
From: [personal profile] twistedchick
Where I grew up we used to get enormous numbers of flies in the attic, coming in during the autumn to shelter for winter. However, we were also growing garlic, and we hung braids of the fresh garlic in the attic (because it had to go somewhere). Apparently the flies don't like fresh garlic -- we had less than a handful of them that winter. Might be worth a try, getting some fresh garlic.

(no subject)

Date: 7 Aug 2021 06:18 pm (UTC)
princessofgeeks: (Default)
From: [personal profile] princessofgeeks
Maybe you could do a screen door on the balcony and put a cat door in it. That's what my sister did for the balcony door for her dogs. The dog door is a plastic flap, not screen.

(no subject)

Date: 8 Aug 2021 07:01 pm (UTC)
princessofgeeks: (Default)
From: [personal profile] princessofgeeks
They are French doors, then? Not sliders?

(no subject)

Date: 9 Aug 2021 12:32 pm (UTC)
princessofgeeks: (Default)
From: [personal profile] princessofgeeks
tnx. and good luck!

(no subject)

Date: 7 Aug 2021 07:48 pm (UTC)
krait: a sea snake (krait) swimming (Default)
From: [personal profile] krait
Coud you hang a net/screen curtain over the open door? Cats could learn to go under it (maybe keep it a few inches above the floor for a week or so, and gradually lower it), but it would block a lot of the winged wildlife out.
Edited (typos, typos everywhere!) Date: 7 Aug 2021 07:49 pm (UTC)

screens

Date: 8 Aug 2021 03:08 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
they make screendoors that are curtains. They open in he middle with a magnetic closure and I think you Velcro them in place. I am getting them for the bus and possibly the ramp door from the kitchen. In fact , I have ordered them, but had the order cancelled when I had to cancel a card.They are weighted, but of course not stretched tight like a real screen door.

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