Message board topic:

Jr with CyberCat mouse......remains, lol.

His other favorite is the packing paper, gets upset when I move it out of the middle of the floor. He loves to hide in it.

He's a natural born hunter.  I wouldn't want to be that mouse, or that packing paper!  We've had a plague of flies lately and I have no idea why.  Van Gogh will suddenly jump at thin air, then we'll see she's chasing a fly.  John

We had a bout with flies a few weeks ago and Jr and I were both 4 for 4. Lol. Guess we needed 9 flies to break the tie buy I sort of cheated, I used a fly swatter, he caught them mid air! Kim

We were really overwhelmed with them.  They seemed to go away for a week or so but then they came back.  I really can't figure out why they're here.  It looks like the Exorcist in here!  They don't hang around the litter box or around Piggy's cage like I might expect.  We don't leave food laying around in the kitchen.  They never land on anything where I could use a fly swatter.  It's always the television or my computer.  My laptop seems like a fly magnet and I can't figure that out either.  Maybe it's because it's white, maybe it's the low hum or vibration of the fan, or the light from the screen, or maybe it's that it puts out a lot of heat.  They're as likely to land on my keyboard as the screen and of course I can't be swatting at my computer.  So, I have a little one inch paint brush and I just brush them off.  They won't listen when I tell them to go outside, (maybe because it's getting cold out) so next to the computer and over by the television I have sticky traps.

The other night Cheri asked me if ants lay eggs and I told her yes, they do.  "Are these ant eggs on my computer screen?"  (She has her own computer next to mine.)  "No, they're fly specks!"  Disgusted, she cleaned off her screen.  Mine doesn't have that problem because I brush them away.  I'm hoping this is about the end of them.  After all, it's late October!  John

Yikes! I hope to not have them that bad ever. My brother did at one time and he kept a vacuum handy, guess it suffocates them. A little hand held next to your PC might be helpful. But either way, please keep them there! LOL

Today, I don't see any.  (I probably will at some point.)  Hey, the hand-held vacuum sounds like a great idea.  They always seem to land on something you can't swat at.  The coffee table is covered with pens, coffee cups, flashlights...there may be 6 square inches of actual coffee table top.

Anyway, your vacuum idea reminded me of something permanently burned into my memory from at least a half century ago.  There was an old-style A&W root beer stand where the car hops brought the food out to your car.  Off to one side was a fan, about 6 inches by 6 inches, mounted on a pole 5 feet off the ground.  Hanging from the fan was a clear plastic bag...about 3 quarters full of flies!  Even at about 10 years old I couldn't help being repelled, but again, at 10 years old I was fascinated enough to remember it all these decades later.

My brother did an experiment with the suggestion that you hang a bag of water with a few pennies in it to keep flies away from his barbecues.  I know a lot of people swear by it, but he sent me a couple of pictures of flies walking around on the bag.  I'm still laughing about that.  John