Attack of the Flies

OK, getting ready to head for the West Coast for a couple days, and I wanted to post a quick note before hopping on the plane. It’s been a while!

So the other evening I noticed a large number of flies buzzing around the house. Killed a few of them and went to bed, not thinking much of it.

By next afternoon it was obvious there was a problem. Killed dozens and dozens of flies in the kitchen alone. Neither of us could tell where or how they were getting in, but we were both freaked out. Tina did some research and discovered that house flies could potentially be breeding/eating in anything organic that was left out, in any moist place.

Monday we tore apart the whole kitchen, cleaned everything, felt a little bit better… But the flies were still coming. Finally I drove out in search of a flyswatter and fly strips, which helped to kill more of them, but not solve the problem. By Tuesday morning, they were back — by noon they were back with a vengeance, and it was clear we needed to figure this shit out pronto. By this time, we’re talking hundreds of dead flies. They were coming in waves.

Just back from a run, Tina showed me the dozens of flies she had killed since I left — those were only the most recent ones. They were swarming the glass of the kitchen door. I realized they must be coming from around there. Looked outside and discovered a bunch of fallen pecans jammed into a space between the aluminum siding and the deck, smothered in moist dirt.

Then I re-examined a crack along the inside of the door frame. When I hit it with bug spray, a dozen flies fell out. Eureka. Eventually, we found a hole in the bottom of the frame where the crack ran down, connecting this area to the space where the pecans were packed in outside.

After consulting with our landlord, I decided to caulk the area shut, which meant another trip to the hardware store. The most chillingly disgusting thing was being able to watch them come out, one or two at a time, every 10 seconds or so… and the glimpse I had of a maggot somewhere deep in the muck.

Naturally, I scraped all that pecan crap out — though the nest was hidden somewhere behind the siding — and Tina boiled water to pour in, as she had found on the web this was the only thing that could actually kill the maggots and eggs. Did all that, then I sealed the hole tight and caulked it shut.

Today, we are fly-free, but still a little weirded out by the knowledge they might be down there, somewhere…

And tomorrow I’m off to California. Have a good break, if you’re on break this week!