Fly swatters are a sore subject around this house. DH thinks they are wonderful and always has one handy,unless I hide it. I hate that filthy thing squishing flies on my kitchen counter. I can kill them just as easily by taking a dish towl,twisting it and then giving a quick flick. They always land dead on the floor and somehow I feel my way is cleaner than that fly swatter. ( the dish towl goes into the laundry afterwards of course.) You're right though,they are starting to hang in,and the lady bugs and stink bugs are making their way into the house in droves.

I know what you mean. They laugh at me too. We seldom have one in the house (thanks to whoever is in charge) but this summer we had ONE. Just ONE. It always zipped by just as I was at least three feet from something to hit him with. I never saw him land anywhere except somewhere that I wouldn't dare swat. He stopped coming around so I think that he died. Pity!

That's one thing about the Good Old Days when we didn't have reliable garbage pickup. We had flies. Lots and lots of flies. Don't miss them one bit.

Remember fly paper strips?

Do I ever remember fly-paper strips and getting my hair caught in them, dying flies buzzing in my ear - yech!
I use the fly swatter only where it is easy to clean up after the bodies (if I ever hit one LOL), DH used to hit everywhere, squash them on freshly washed windows and on lamp-shades - we had some rather acrimonious discussions about this, as bad as anything on the HT forum.

on lampshades?? yuk Wait a minute..how could he do that and not knock over the lamp?

He "finessed" the action, just enough flick of the wrist to get the fly, swore he never even messed up the lampshade, but I know better...

Back when I was quick and agile, I could slap my hands together really hard and loud about 2 ft above the fly. The sound would stun him and then I could do what I wanted to with the critter. I tried that this time. I couldn't bear to bang my hands together that hard.

Do you remember those old pump sprayers? And the smell of whatever we had to use in those days. It seems like everything stayed coated with a thin coat of oil. You would think they would land on something and just have to sit there, stuck in the residue, until rescued.

I haven't noticed an increase in flies, but now that the nights get cooler, there are a lot more "water bugs", which still look like huge cockroaches to me. ICK. I'll trade any of you 10 flies for one of those bugs!

Fly papers still make my skin crawl. When I was growing up, I had an Aunt who swore by them. She wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, trust me. Kept all the teaspoons in a milk glass flower pot in the middle of the massive kitchen table (it was bigger than a king size bed!). Hanging right above that pot of teaspoons, suspended from the big old kitchen light, was the fly paper. I can still remember sitting there during one Sunday dinner watching the stuck flies buzz and wondering what would happen if one fell in the mashed potatoes. I must have been about 10, and it was the last time I ever ate dinner there.

Maryanne

Not many flies around, but the ladybugs are trying to come in en masse. DH is spending hours on the enclosed porch, gathering handfulls and tossing them into the yard. You know I'm OG and thus consider ladybugs VIP, but I can't help but wonder how many of those bugs consider his tossing to be the same as a kid riding a rollercoaster -- yippeeee! and go back for another ride.

I remember fly paper, and in fact, it's still available.

Here is a link that might be useful: flypaper

Meldy beat me to it! It still exists. But what we used was a really thin, clear strip that adhered directly to the window. A couple of years ago, at the house before this one, we had a huge infestation. Never could figure that one out. One night, we were sitting on the couch when we realized there was loud buzzing coming from the windows. There must've been twenty in each! They were those floor to ceiling deals, filled with flies. Who knows, life in the south? I'd kill every last one, wipe down the windows with Lysol and stuff any hole I could find with papertowels.

The only thing that really worked were those clear strips.

I have not seen many flies at all, well, none in the house....I wish we had lady bugs coming in as at least I would know they are still living in my garden beds. I had a few hundred shipped to me 2 years ago and only see a few that hung around.

Now my DH is very talented as he can catch a fly in his hand, do a quick shake, and it is dead & throw it in the waste basket.
I also would not want one on the kitchen counter or on windows making a splat! God only knows what they carry with them.......

Are the lady bugs the real thing or the
ones that have invaded during the past few years?

My aunt in Indiana had what she called an infestation of
lady bugs, but they were a pale color with spots.
They weren't the traditional black and red lady bugs.

I always seem to have just one fly that I never see during the daytime but which appears in the bedroom when I settle in to read before sleeping.

The fly buzzes and buzzes and my younger dog, Rags, is actually afraid of it! In the beginning of this cycle, that began about six weeks ago, Rags would come into the bedroom, hear the buzzing and leave. He'd come back in and jump on the bed when I turned the light out and the buzzing stopped. Now he doesn't bother to even come in until the light goes out. At the point there is the soft patter of furry feet, a light movement of the mattresws and Mr.Rags has retired for the night.

These ladybugs are the real thing, in the original color! It's also traditional for DH to gently move them off the porch each fall, but they seem to be coming in much greater numbers than usual. I know they are looking for a place to overwinter, but they have no discretion --- I mean, if they'd sneak in overnight, they could probably take over the attic with no one knowing; but oh no, these critters are climbing and crawling just as fast as they can up the steps and around the door jambs so as to speedily enter should a two-legger open the way.

BTW, note on the link that good ladybugs also come in yellow.

Here is a link that might be useful: ladybugs

Have to add this as it makes me not so eager to swat 'em though I still do. Actually, they usually head for light so I turn off ceilinglight and lamps and then use wet papertowel to catch them on window.

Oh do not swat them..
Unhappy flies
forever wringing their thin hands. Issa

Seems like someone posted this link some time ago, but it sure seems appropriate to re-post it now! ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Practice makes perfect