Shoo Fly

I’m home and ten pounds heavier. I like to think of it as ten pounds of happiness and not my mother’s cooking/my over-eating.

However, one thing that does not make me happy is the swarms of horseflies that can be found by our backyard river. Kayaking, swimming and floating all become almost unbearable when they are out. Today I lost a pair of sunglasses in the current when I was thrashing about due to their terrible bites.



My mom’s advice on battling the flies: “Put a feather in your hat.”

My mom, Katie, and I, in swimsuits and hats, had no feathers. We replaced them with branches and made our way down to the river. Looking like hobos, the flies still bit.




My dad had a more straightforward solution. “Wear a shirt and put a fly-strip on the back of your hat.”

That is how I caught five (live) flies on the back of my head during a two-hour kayak trip today.

It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

No. Joke.