Lord, the Flies…

Merlin and Emma

With such lovely weather here in Central Indiana this past weekend I couldn’t help but get outside as much as I could.   I’m sure you probably did the same.  Due to a malfunctioning window screen things in the house got a bit less pleasant.  Thanks to the screen issue my place became the “all you can eat” buffet for the local fly population.  However, all is not lost when you have a houseful of pets.  I have a dog and two cats all with fly catching expertise.  Allow me to introduce Merlin.  Merlin is my handsome 8+ year old hound mix whom I adopted about five years ago from a rural animal control facility.  His ten dollar adoption fee was the best bargain I’ve ever found.  Amongst the boy’s many talents is the ability to pick a fly out of the air.   (Yeah, he eats it.  He’s a dog!)  Merlin has never been fast or athletic.  So how does he do it?  Simple- he’s got hound in him and those hound dawg jowls to prove it.  Now those jowls actually do serve a purpose.  They act as a funnel to send smells right up to his nose.  Merlin smells the fly.  He knows exactly where it is.

Merlin is not alone with his fly catching prowness.  Perhaps the most predigious fly catcher of them all, Mickey (aka Mick da Cat) as a youngster had a unique strategy for taking down a fly.  Mickey would leap in the air and knock a fly against the wall, stunning it.  The fly would fall to the floor, where it became a quick protein snack for a hungry kitty.  Mick’s better half, Emma has her own methodology for the pursuit of flies.  Miss Em will generally wait until they come near her then smother the thing with her big mitten of a paw.  The problem, well, the problem with this approach is that cats are curious.  Emma cannot wait until the poor fly smothers to death in a mass of cat fur.  No, she has to lift her paw and peek, do a quick check to make sure the fly is still there.  Alas, the fly escapes.   But this evening at least Emma is doing a brilliant job with the flies, and they keep her occupied until I finally come up with a rolled up newspaper and dispatch of the evil creatures with the efficiency of a mass murderer.  I am generally a gentle soul, but put vermin in the house and it’s time to kill!

Mickey