Shop Bugs (and obscure hazards)

[Guest]

There is a cow pasture on one side of our property, and while we enjoy watching the young Angus cavort, I could do without the manure flies. I expect there is something special about my white truck; there will be 50 flies on the sunny side of the white Tacoma, and three on my wife’s gray car. Get in quickly and shut the door!

The truck is always parked three feet from the shop garage doors, and once fly season starts I am loath to open that door in the daytime. Sometimes need outweighs desire; I needed to blow a considerable amount of dust out of the shop today, and made quick work of it – blower readied, door open and closed, less than 60 seconds to blow out a week’s worth of dust and shavings across the whole floor, even under the benches and shelves.

I moved the truck first and success, I was still shop fly-less. But I had let in one giant bee.

I am not allergic, nor melissophobic, but dang he was annoying, loudly buzzing bouncing off ceiling, walls and lights. Annoyed enough that I grabbed the sturdy metal flyswatter (none of that cheap plastic crap) and we did battle.

There was some moving target flyswatter flailing after the first swipe missed, and he was winning for some time before I trapped him in a corner and finally nailed him a good one in mid-flight.

Swatted, he rebounded off the wall and landing buzzing and more pissed off than ever atop my head. I panic-slapped at him with the flyswatter. He bounced off still buzzing onto some hidden shelf recess and I was left with a flyswatter crease in my forehead.

There was a denouement. A half hour later I walked out the side screen door. He had called a truce and was waiting on the patiently on screen for me open the door. I got a good look at him, but couldn’t tell is he had a crease in his forehead.

I do love my shop spider buddies. I’ll accept the old dingy web snarls and sucked dry bug carcasses, y’all keep eating your fill. Especially those dang manure flies.

 

[memaquay]

This is the first summer I have spent a lot of time in my garage, working on the party barge. This is also proving to be one of the worst bug years in recent memory. On the days when the wind is blowing at a gale force, I leave both doors open and it is tolerable. When the wind is not blowing, I batten down the hatches and get my little friend out.

Foul smelling, probably carcinogenic, the odour sometimes being confused by my God Fearing neighbours as the Devil's lettuce, good old Pic saves the day every time.

 

[Odyssey]

Cluster flies. You haven't really lived in a Stephen King world until you've enjoyed the freakish farmhouse delights of hundreds, nay thousands of big black and hairy house flies appearing like creepshow magic swarming around the windows. There's no magic going on however, they live in the walls and overwinter there just waiting for a warm day to come out and do whatever flies do. And one summer whilst up on an extension ladder up against a century farmhouse I discovered they love any crack and crevice inside or out to call home. As disgusting as it was to sweep away swarms of them perched 20 feet up it paled in comparison to working around bat colonies hunkered down behind the old shutters I was removing to repair and repaint. Seeing as how bats eats bugs I was extra kind and gentle to the little sleepyheads.

 

[Guest]

Denouement to the denouement. Apparently there was no truce. The next time I went out the side door he was waiting on the outside screen, and from what I could tell was still kinda pissed off. Seriously dude, give it up. I will kill you.

This is the first summer in memory that I’ve made it into July without having to install the window AC unit in the shop. Not so much for temperature, although the AC is welcome relief come the 100F dog days, but for humidity control with the concrete floor.

Fortunately the shop has three screened windows and a screened side door, so I can get some fan assisted cross ventilation going.

Ahhhh, I just figured out a puzzle. In fair temp still fly-less spring weather I will keep the big garage doors open. If I leave the shop for an hour I am almost guaranteed to have a pair of House Wrens inside the shop prospective shopping for an nest location.

Why is my shop such an instant House Wren magnet? Ahhhh, it is full of spider webs. Not just as super strong nesting material, that silk may have spider egg sacks and the young spiders will eat nest parasites.

“House Wrens have discovered an ingenious way of keeping mite levels under control. While the nests of other birds are ridden with the parasites, the House Wren places spider egg sacs inside her nest. When the egg sacs hatch, the baby spiders will have an abundance of mites to eat”

It’s like building a house in the Home Depot parking lot.