House Flies

I'm not sure how or why it came up but today Becky and I had a very robust conversation about flies in the house and the once common expression of houseflies. It seems to be unusual for us to have any flies in the house but it certainly didn't use to be that way.

Growing up in our house on Greene Street we seemed to be constantly swatting flies. They were everywhere and not just our house but everyone's home was infested with flies. There always seemed to be flies on the windows. Were all the kids going in and out of the house letting in flies? Were the screens inadequate? Were there just more of them?

It was a constant battle with flies when I was a kid and as a young adult too. We had a fly swatter hanging on a hook in the back kitchen ready for use. It seemed that everyone had a fly swatter lying about back in the day. Now we don't own one and I don't recall seeing any in anyone else's home but they used to be everywhere.

Mom was always yelling at us to close the door because we were letting in flies. They most have been hovering around outside the house waiting for their chance to come in and feed on our stuff. Our friends home's always had the same problem too. Flies everywhere. Some people, not us, used to keep a can of Raid handy for the flies and would chase them around the house trying to spray them directly with the poison. DDT which we would soon learn all about.

It wasn't just homes with kids that had all the flies. There were flies at Mom-Mom's house in Chestnut Hill, flies in Aunt Frances and Aunt Mary's house around the corner and flies in Nana Emery's house down the street. They all had fly swatters handy. In the late 1970's when I lived in the house on Seymour Street there were lots of flies there at that time too.

So I was looking up houseflies on the Internet and it seems that many people around the country still have lots of problems with those flies in their homes. I should ask Katie if they have lots of houseflies in their Philly home. I really don't remember flies being a problem there when we've been visiting and of course we will be there ourselves in a couple of weeks. Maybe the housefly doesn't do well in Buffalo because of he winters. Will climate change mean we'll have more flies in our house in the coming years?

I also noticed that the selling of flyswatters online is a robust business and someone somewhere is still buying them to keep their houseflies under control.