Photo by Audrey Pavia
rainfly wish to give ear out in the stall roof .
Urban farmers in Southern California do n’t normally have to shell out with pelting . Doing chore in blotto conditions just is n’t on our regular agenda .
But this preceding weekend , one of the first tempest of the time of year waste into townspeople and I had no selection but to do my outside work in the intermittent rain . This give me an opportunity to do something I have always eff to do : kill flies .
When I was a kid hanging out at riding stalls , I ’d bring my tent-fly swatter with me and go around smacking flies for what seemed like hour at a time . It was n’t sadism that motivated me . It was my love for horses . I saw how the fly tormented thehorses , crawling inside their eye and biting savagely at their pegleg . In my mind , for every fly I killed , there was a happier horse .
I did n’t realize it at first , but rainy days are a great time to kill flies . I found this out when I take place to look up at the ceiling of the stall roof over my three tobacco pipe cow pen . I ’ve often wondered where the flies go during cold weather condition and at night , the only times in this part of the world when they are n’t pestering the horses . It twist out flies like to fall out on the cubicle ceiling . They were line up all over the place , probably 100 or more , from one death of the stall deal to the other .
How often do you get to see so many fly sheet all gathered in one billet , firm and vulnerable ? Usually , they are buzzing around the horses ’ brass or clustered on the horse cavalry ’ legs . But here they were , chilled from the moth-eaten line , just reside on the stall ceiling .
I could n’t authorize up the chance to pass over out as many of them as possible . I ran to the tack shed and snaffle the most toxic fly spray I could find , but then reconsidered . If the fly decease and fell to the footing , the chickens would eat them and ingest the toxic chemical . So I instead opted for the all - natural fly sprayer , which , according to the recording label , drink down flies with only innate ingredients .
stand beneath the stall cover , I begin firing away with my spraying bottle , nailing one fly after another with the pleasant smell insecticide . Most of the flies take off as soon as the stuff and nonsense hit them , but others appease where they were , staggering around in a drunken shock . Those flies got an surplus dose of spray for well measuring until they overleap to the cubicle floor .
After 15 minutes of this anti - fly crusade , I make up one’s mind I had done enough terms to the fly devil . I ’ll be concerned to see if the fly population seems lesser in the next week when things warm up . If so , you’re able to bet I ’ll be outdoors armed with that fly spray bottle whenever it rain .
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