Just reading a blog of a woman visiting Crete inspired me to go back to my blog. Of course, my post cannot match hers for writing or excitement. The only excitement I have had the last 3 days has been the joy and anticipation of watching my house being invaded by houseflies and trying to a) eradicate them and b) figure out the source - are they entering thru a gap somewhere or are they sprouting from somewhere inside the house (like the carpet or the dog food)? I am fighting an endless turf battle while attempting not to have a meltdown at the same time.

I'm reminded of a teen horror flick from years ago. Called something like "the babysitter"? She's getting these weird creepy crank calls all night and she calls the police. Finally they trace the call. There's the famous line, "We've traced the call....it's coming from inside your house!" And everyone shrieks.

This whole semi-futile attempt to figure out where all these flies are coming from reminds me of that movie. Only I'm not being terrified, I'm just going crazy because I can't stand not knowing where they are coming from. I'm literally banging my head against walls (and then listening for buzzing noises). If you saw my house right now, you'd know I'm not exagerating. I've got a clear plastice tarp taped over the fireplace. Blue painters tape around the french doors to the porch and some outlets. All the furniture is moved around because I keep vacuuming non-stop. The garbage cans are all outside. Their are flypaper mobiles by the windows and a big window fan running at the crawl space entrance. I might as well be wearing a tinfoil hat with antennae for all the good its doing. I threw about $20 worth of dry dog food (a bag that had been sitting open) I even covered up the kitchen sink drains. I've sprayed every crack and crevice and with bug killer both inside and outside the house, hung some bug killing contraption in the garage....I have made numerous trips to Home Depot to purchase everything from a fly swatter (works ten times better than a rolled up magazine and won't break your window screens).

Somewhat comfortingly, I've read numerous posts on the internet by other people with the same problem. Most of them further south (like Texas, Texas is a great place for flies apparently) or near horse farms. Nobody yet has posted a viable solution. I don't think a water bag with a penny in it, hanging over the back door is going to do much, for instance. Also, its clear that having a lot of rain adds to the fly problem and in Lewes we've had more rain in the last 2 months than we get in most years. There are mushrooms and mold growing everywhere and normally well-manicured gardens have run amuck all over town.

I have to go get ready for work now. Tomorrow is my day off. I'm actually excited about the fact that I'll be able to sit at home during the afternoon hours (which seems to be when most of the flies show up here). I'm going to sit and watch allthe windows and doors to see if I can figure out where they're getting in. If I don't write here again its because I'm in a strait jacket.