Sunday, June 6, 2010



I have over a hundred dead bodies spread all around the bottom floor of my cottage now. I think I might have around twenty more to killl until I´m happy again. Well it sounds like I have to crawl over the corpses to get around, but they are very small to be honest. I´m talking about flies and mosquitoes. When I grew up all crooks in films usually still were german nazis, usually talking english with a typical accent. So I talk just like that when I´m walking around here killing all flies. I do hope no one outside hears me, they would think I finally had fallen over the edge so to speak :-) :-) :-) The vacuum cleaner is already standing beside me, redy to be used to get rid of all evidences :-)






Maianthemum bifolium, May lily. We call it Squirrel berry for a reason I just can´t understand :-)


While commiingt mass murder I was thinking that I couldn´t remember that it was this bad last year. But then my brain started to work and I remembered that I had those fly traps all around the cottage. It´s a plastic bag one puts a powder, mixes it with water and hangs the trap in the sunshine. It works great after two weeks, leaving a weak scent of rotten meat. Flies can feel it much better than we can, thankfully. I wasn´t especially disturbed by the smell at all. Only once or twice I started to look after that rodent that must have died somewhere close :-) :-) :-)








After that my brain did some more work and I remembered that I still had one that wasn´t needed last year. It now hangs just a couple of meters from my kitchen door. Wiyh a bit of luck I can have that door open during days in two weeks time. I´m also thinking of getting a couple of fly eating plants. Both to have by the pond and pot plants to have indoors. There is a family of plants called Nepetens (I don´t think they have an english name because I can´t find any), these have a sort of jug filled with fluid that attrackts flies. The fly walks in to it and slippes down into the fluid, drowns and are eaten by the plant.







The only problem with it is that it has to have it rather warm during winter, a bit more that is comfortable for us humans. It does survive otherwise too, but takes longer times to make those jugs. It´s expensive too, but it´s worth it!









I´ve also killed two wasp queens (is it yellow jackets You call them in the US?). I know that they are really great as fly catchers. They feed their younglings with flies, but these two just refused to get out when I offered them a chance to. They seldome bother me during summer but in autumn they´re just a pest to be honest.




It may look as if Teodor is relaxing, but he is keeping an eye on his brother.


These two can play all dy. I´m soo glad that they never have real fights!


Now it´s time to vacuume the house and then I think I´ll make another pot of tea.
Have a great day now!


I´m happy for all help I can get in my war against flies! I call all spiders for Charlotte. This Charlotte has a slightly bigger sister living in my kitchen. This is probably the tenth generation of these that lives in my home. No one has written anything on their webs though :-)

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very funny. Oh how I hate those horse flies and am allergic to bees and wasps. Once they bite me it's off to the hospital for me. What is that red object in the middle picture? All the photos are really good today Christer. Thanks for sharing.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
:-)
I´m allergick to bee and wasp stings too. I never get problems with breathing or so, but I get so swollen on the place I´ve been stung that it is rediculus :-) :-)

That´s the door to an old root cellar that is almost completely hidden by tall grass. It´s still in very good shape, but no one uses it any more. It belongs to one of the forestowners that doesn´t live in the village. But I know they don´t mind if anyone uses it if they only ask first.

Have a great day now!
Christer.

caryn said...

Hi, Christer.
I have to ask if you have window and door screens. I get the impression from reading various things that those are not so common in Europe.
I'm not sure screens are all that helpful sometimes so I also rely upon the local spiders.
What is the very interestingly patterned insect in the first photo?

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Caryn!
I have a window screen that a previous owner once made, but no door scree. As You say, they are very uncommon here in Europe. But how hard can it be making one? I´m really thinking of making at least one door screen. If I got rid of at least half the ammount of flies I have now I would be happy!

I have no idea what that fly can bee. I see some every year, but they aren´t especially common. But I think it´s quiet beautiful, for being a fly :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer...i would hate all of those flies! i remember last year that something nit you on the butt and you were sore for days. there is a new screen that is sold over here and i bought one. it is a screen that hangs from a tension pole and the pole slips between you door frame. the screen is weighted on the bottom so it does not blow around. it is split down the middle like a pair of drapes so you and the animals could walk through the middle. it's great when you have animals. i bet you could find one on the internet! joyce

Ann said...

Christer-I am so happy that you and your photos are back-I always enjoy you adventures!!!! I am rooting for you in your battles with flying blood suckers. Like your idea for insect eating plants-here the Nepetens you spoke about are called pitcher plants which are carnivorous plants-and quite beautiful I think... Angie

HelenJ said...

Du är då verkligen blodtörstig! =) Jag kan precis föreställa mig när du vandrar omkring (haltande?) och slår ihjäl flugor med tysk accent...
Härliga soliga bilder du visar idag!
/Helen

Annelie said...

You crack me up!
Anade inte att du var svensk först. Kul blogg!

Du fick mig att asgarva så som du skrev om myggorna. Extra kul att medans jag läste om Nazies så spelade mina söner Wii Call of duty, och jag hörde gunfire och tyska språket i bakgrunden.

Annelie

Perovskia said...

*scrolls by the picture of the spider*

*but feels the close-up of the bleeding heart makes up for it* :)

*hugs the kitties* I like watching cats play.

I like how you caught the trees in the wind (I presume?). Everything's leaning to one side. Fantastic.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I was just thinking of that fly :-) :-) We have to much of those things here, otherwise it would be a perfect place to live.

That was a great kind of screen! Easy to do too I guess. I must try making one! Thanks for the tip!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Angie!
Thanks, I need all the support I can get :-) :-) :-)

They have the same name in swedish :-) Well the shape of those things is the same as a pitcher :-)It´s both beautiful and helpful. I had a customer that bought one, she owned a farm and she said life got so much easier after getting that plant.

I´m very glad to be back :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Helen!
Verkar som om jag inte var blodtörstig nog, det vimlar av flugor i köket igen!

Inte så mycket haltande längre dock. Bara när jag är stel i benet efter att ha suttit ett tag.

Det var nog de sista soliga bilderna på ett tag är jag rädd, regnet är ju på ingång.
Ha det gott!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hej Annelie och välkommen hit!

Sådant roligt sammanträffande :-) :-) :-) Det finns inget bättre sätt att spela ondsint än att prata engelska med tysk brytning :-) :-) Stackars tyskar egentligen :-) :-)

Ha det gott och välkommen tillbaka!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Perovskia!
I used to be terrified by spiders, but thankfully that´s gone and I see them as friends in the war against the fles :-) :-)

Five minutes after I took the photo of my cats, they sat down and "washed" each other :-)

This is a windy area so the trees are actually looking like that. The winds have forced them to lean like that since they were small, but it was a bit windy when I took the photo and it hejped to show it even better.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Valerie said...

Not such a fan of insects...it's a dog eat dog world out there for most of them. I truly do try to leave them be...but once they're in my house...it's game over! LOL

Wasps/yellow jackets...UGH! Painful stings for sure! They seem to enjoy my wrap around porch and floral wreath on my door, so they often try to enter the house when the littles leave the door opend. Double ugh!

Great photos as always,

Val

Anonymous said...

Hi Christer ! It is so wonderful to see all the life sprouting up in Your end of the world . I love having a spider in my kitchen too to catch those pesky house flies .
I wanted to let you know I have an award for you and some other great bloggy friends on my natural catholic blog .I can't figure out how to email people via thier blogs so I am just posting .
Thanks so very much Christer
lov rox

Sharlene T. said...

You need to take back your time! There is another portable door screen that you could probably find on the Internet. It attaches to the outside of your door frame with velcro and has an opening in the center that overlaps when closed. Very easy to put up and would certainly save you fly-catching time.

How about a Venus Flytrap or two? Must solve this problem...

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Valerie!
I do like many insects, but mosquitoes, flies that want my blood and flies that wants to take a deeper look into my nostrels and ears do tend to make me hate them :-) :-)

It´s been a couple of years now that there´s been a shortage of wasps here. They doe aet loads of other insects, but in the autumn they´re just a pest :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Rox!
I´m glad that You commented here today. I lost most adresses when my old computor got hit by the lightning.

I´ve realised that one can´t have too many spiders in the home :-) The more the better. I have around four Charlottes in my kitchen now :-) :-)

An Award! Thank You! I love getting them but is useless sending them to others since I think all blogs I read are worth them :-) I´ll pop over to Your blog later then!

Not all of us have our e-mail adresses on our blogs. I have enough spam as it is :-) :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
I´ll take a look on the internet later today! Just wait until the horse flies comes around, then I really go crazy :-) :-) :-)

Venus flytraps isn´t that common over here. They usually comes late spring. But they never have many since people thinks they are difficult to keep alive. It´s actually the opposite if one does as they teel us to do in the shop. No nutricion and very weat.

Some kind of screen door is on its way, that´s for sure :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.