A Purpose Driven Life

well, maybe not life, but definitely week. I needto find a solution to the gang of flies hoovering in my back yard. My neighbors have dogs and the flies are attracted to the dog piles. The flies cross the border into my yard. Occasionally they drift into my house and join the flight pattern of the 10 or so flies in my computer room. So, Monday I set about finding a way to eliminate those flies. I decided the best way to deal with the flies was to get them before they even find a way into the house.

My requirements were simple.
1. the trap had to be cheap.
2. the trap had to be made from things I found around my house.
3. it could not be poisonous.
4. it could not be that yucky hanging fly paper.

I decided to make a fly trap out of a soda bottle. Like this:
So, what should I put into the soda bottle to attract the flies? I think this discussion thread from Thrifty Fun had the most variety of ideas. And two or three met my requirements. I decided to start with the least gross of all the solutions.

I began with, what the author claims, is an Amish "recipe". (I wonder where the Amish get the soda bottle.) On Monday, I mixed 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of vinegar, a banana peel and water in the soda bottle. I made two traps using this method. I positioned one outside on my kitchen window sill and the second near my front door. It takes a week for the stuff to ferment and attract the flies. I had hoped the fly trap would work sooner. It doesn't.

So, today, a beautiful day, the kids are running in and out leaving the back door open. I have more flies than ever immigrating to my house and I need to implement a more immediate solution. So, on the same forum as above I read about how a plastic baggie filled with water above a door will keep the flies out. No body know how it works for sure (the flies are telling), but supposedly it works. Not for me. Maybe the light has to reflect off the water or something, but so far, no good.

My last attempt at keeping these flies away is the most disgusting of the fly trap recipes.
I took a piece of raw meat put it into the soda bottle fly trap and filled with water. An Australian guy on the forum suggested it. According to the Aussie the trap should begin to work in a day or two. We shall see.....