FLIES!!!!

[lornaschinske]

This is just normal for New Mexico! I can't believe the flies out here. And they are tough too! Hard blowing wind (laced with sand) doesn't faze them at all.

[M1031]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Anyone else swarmed by them in their buses?

I went & bought some fly-strips today & hung-up.... and regularly let a dozen or so loose by popping the screens out.

Smitty

Only when I'm working on it!

[pattay]

Well, I think it depends on the area but I know some fly hot spots across the USA, in some parts of CA it's really tough ... Hitchcock's flies ... On the east coast I haven't experienced any problems with flies so far, I've heard that Florida also has lot of flies and mosquitos.

[M1031]

I know in Maine the mosquitoes check the tower for clearance before takeoff...........

[Abbott]

Originally Posted by mightybus

It is not my intention to piss off the mildly oversensitive, but you might try hanging this on the outhouse door.
https://www.bettermarriageblanket.com/

LOL WUT?

[lornaschinske]

A BBQ joint we used to frequent in NC used old jugs filled with water. A penny was hot glued to the exterior. Theory was the flies thought it was a wasp nest and would avoid it. I do know they had less flies than any other restaurant in town.

Today the flies aren't so bad. It rained big time last night. I figure many flies drowned. Downside... the rivets over one of the windows leak and at one of the seams in the roof (minimal leak). Upside... everything is opened up so no problems. We will be covering the whole roof, all the way down to the tops of the windows, with Snow Roof to seal up any leaky rivets. Also with the rain falling at about an 80 degree angle and the windows closed with only about 1 inch open at the top... no water blew in!

[wmah]

I have had it happen more often out in the country near by farm fields or in a wooded area. I'll have a citronella candle (metal can) up front on top of the front door release being held there by a round magnetic parts holder. And then to combat them up flying in the bus I use an electric fly swatter which also works good against bees that happen to find there way in. The electric swatter kills the bugs but will often just knock the bee silly. To kill the bee you may have to hit it a few times.

[Abbott]

Originally Posted by Smitty

..and swinging the flyswatter like Stevie Wonder in a batting cage...

[Redbear]

Originally Posted by wmah

. . . . . And then to combat them up flying in the bus I use an electric fly swatter which also works good against bees that happen to find there way in. The electric swatter kills the bugs but will often just knock the bee silly. To kill the bee you may have to hit it a few times.

Really, the electric zappers work! They look like a smaller tennis racket with thin metal bars across the business end instead of strings. You don't have to smash the offenders, just get them to touch across two adjacent bars while you hold the two buttons that activate high voltage from a mini-inverter in the handle. It is very satisfying to watch them spark and sizzle if they have been badly annoying you. The gadgets only cost about $15.

And the armies of mosquitoes in the northeast mountains aren't bad, once you live through the swarms of black flies earlier in the season. A few years back I was working on shingling the roof of a garage, and the black flies nearly blotted out the sunset. I swear they could carry away a cow if they decided to!

[M1031]

Originally Posted by Redbear

Really, the electric zappers work! They look like a smaller tennis racket with thin metal bars across the business end instead of strings. You don't have to smash the offenders, just get them to touch mesh across two adjacent bars while you hold the two buttons that activate high voltage from a mini-inverter in the handle. It is very satisfying to watch them spark and sizzle if they have been badly annoying you. The gadgets only cost about $15.

How about a link to the site? That would be cool to see bugs get zapped that way...

[Stuff]

at home i have one of them 80's big black square bug zapper. works amazingly!

for off the grid i heard that bounce sheets keep the bugs away.

[bus-ted]

Hey M1031- here's one at Harbor Freight- only $2 right now.http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...=&q=bug+zapper
They do work, and are satisfying to use on the pests. We have one, and my son's in charge of it. It takes 2 D cell batteries.

[Redbear]

The Harbor Freight model in the link is close, but not 100% identical to ours.

We got ours at the local Camping world. I checked the CW website before posting, and the gadget wasn't there, or I would have put in a link. The one we have has two pushbuttons, one under the thumb and one under the index finger, I suppose to keep little ones from burning themselves or pets. It feels a little bit like touching the edge of a very warm pot or a spot of medium sunburn, ask me how I know! Ours uses a pair of"AA" batteries, so must be a lot lighter than the 2 "D" cell model.

Despite the extra weight to swing around, the Harbor Freight model is about 85% cheaper, adds the fancy graphics on the "strings," and the "on/off" switch would be more convenient to use around adults. You don't want one of your fingers slipping off of a safety button just when you come into contact with and irritated wasp.

[bus-ted]

Like all of the Harbor Freight merchandise, it's cheap Chinese junk, but we've had this same zapper for going on 5 years, using it regularly in season, and it's still going strong. I'd agree with John- you don't want to touch it- it packs a pretty good zap.
I think we paid 5 or 6 bucks for it, but it's been worth every penny.

[Abbott]

Originally Posted by bus-ted

Like all of the Harbor Freight merchandise, it's cheap Chinese junk

That is no longer an accurate statement. Harbor Freight's items has been steadily increasing in quality over the past several years. A lot of their tools are of good usable quality.

[bus-ted]

Sorry Abbott- I'd agree with you there for the most part. The quality of Chinese manufactured goods is definitely improving for various reasons, but when you get right down to it, the tools you find at H.F. in most cases just barely pass muster. I know many people who have broken almost every type of tool that they've gotten from there- from manual tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, etc., to power tools. I hear and see that their goods are improving, but if I made my living with my tools, I'd stick with better quality. Now for their 'toys' like the bug zappers, or for weekend warrior types just needing a tool for bare minimums, then by all means go with the best 'price' value of H.F. and the like.

As an example, an associate of mine just bought one of their 'high end' MIG welders. Well, out of the box it fired up, and would even make a weld (if you have very low standards), but not even through his first project of welding up a small gate did it make it w/o a serious malfunction occurring. Of course when he returned it, they were more than glad to REPLACE it, but they weren't so happy at his request to refund his money, though I believe he finally scared them straight into seeing the error of there ways!
Now as I see it, if you have to spend time down, running around to replace tools- then you eventually are losing the money you may have initially saved going with a higher priced, better quality item.
Sadly, many of the once great tool manufacturers have farmed out to China- lowering the quality of their once-great tools. Especially power tools. Breaks my heart, really. Evidence that the U.S. ship is taking on water, perhaps sinking.

[Abbott]

Originally Posted by bus-ted

Sorry Abbott- I'd agree with you there for the most part. (snipped for brevity)

Well I own many tools from harbor Freight and several pieces of machinery which I have been using regularly for several years. The few items that don't work I return for a no questions asked refund. I could post a list of the HF stuff I own here and it would literally be a hundred lines or so long. I can base my opinion on 5+ years of personal experience with these tools.

I still buy name brand tools for certain applications where I need top of the line quality such as Lincoln, Hitachi, Milwaukee, Makita and Ridgid (to name some) but I would say that at least half of my very well equipped shop is equipped by Harbor Freight and all of their tools that I own do the job nicely.

[M1031]

Originally Posted by Iceni John

At our annual Buses Gone Wild get-together over Memorial Day weekend we had eight of the Harbor Fright hand-held zappers. We buy them on sale for $2.99 each, and they give many hours of mindless amusement to us simple-minded Crown and Gillig owners there. Bugminton, beer, BBQ and buses - life can't get much better than that.

The green winged bugs make the loudest pop, but moths also make satisfying Rice Crispy sounds. My Costco HID spotlight sends a tight white beam one mile up into the desert night sky, then the bugs fly in from all over the Mojave to meet their doom at the hands of us demented busnuts. Fun!

John

PS - don't lick the mesh when it's turned on. Unhappiness will result if you do so.

This sounds much like my favorite hobby:

Buy laser pointer, find two house cats (one sleeping, one awake and ready for some fun to make this work properly). Gain attention of awake kitty with laser. Play with kitty for about a minute. Then carefully guide laser to forehead of sleeping kitty and watch the ensuing mayhem, er, um, quality entertainment ensue! The best part is there's no pay-per-view, cable, etc fee or bill to pay (just the wifie's fussing something about cat's feelings.....).

[M1031]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Drool, drool, drool......

[crazycal]

One hot summer, I made the mistake of leaving the front screen door open. I looked in horror as I walked in the door and saw thousands of flies on the ceiling. There couldn't have been more than a 1/2" between each one. I got my 16 gallon shop vac out and started to vacuum them off the ceiling. The ones I couldn't get with the vac, I got with a swatter. It took at over an hour. I learned my lesson about leaving the door open.