A Tip To Keep The Pesky Flies Away While Eating Outdoors

You are probably wondering just what that is in the picture above?  Let me give you a hint.  It is a lemon studded with cloves.  Does that help any?  Do you have any idea what it's for?  Let me give you another hint.  It is sitting on a table out of doors.  Have an idea yet?  Here's the answer.  It is to keep flies away while you are eating.  Really.  Seriously.

Now you are very skeptical I know.  How do I know?  Because I was extremely skeptical.  For years I have been trying to find ways to have a pleasant meal out of doors and not be accosted by flies.  I really, really, rally DISLIKE flies.  I mean, who doesn't?  They are some of the most annoying creatures on earth and there is nothing appealing about looking at food with flies all over it.  Ugh.  Even worse is spending time swatting them away from your face and arms.  It will make you temporarily insane - at least that's the excuse I use.  You'll have to pick your own excuse, but you're welcome to use mine.

We had family over for dinner Sunday evening and it was so beautiful outside, I wanted to enjoy the weather.  I knew all the grandsons would want to spend their time in the yard, so why not kill two birds with one stone?  We'll eat in the yard and watch them play.  They don't like to take much time to eat when they are all together.  If we are inside, they all want to go outside and no one gets to enjoy their food.  We live on a corner and the yard is not fenced.  Get the picture?

So, the issue was how to keep the flies away.  I looked up some things on the internet.  You supposedly can fill zip lock bags with water, lime juice and pennies, but most everyone said it doesn't work so why bother?  Another suggestion was putting vinegar in bowls and setting it on the table.  Now that is supposed to work well, but there would be no way Pawpaw Dan would sit at the table if he could smell the vinegar.  Which is worse, flies or vinegar?  He would say vinegar.  So, I nixed that option.  Another suggestion was to spray the area with hydrogen peroxide and needed to be reapplied with regularity.  Sounded like a lot of work, so that one went by the wayside also.

Next, I went to good old Pinterest where you can find a suggestion or tip for just about anything.  (Oh why did I not think up Pinterest?  It's a genius site for sure and what did we ever do without it?).  Anyway, I typed in "how to keep flies away" and up came this suggestion and let me tell you, it really works.  The tip came from a blog called My Creative Time and the writer said she and her husband had spent time in San Diego years ago and ate at as many outdoor restaurants as they could to enjoy the beautiful weather.  All of the restaurants had these cut lemons with cloves on their tables and she finally asked why.  Their server said it was to keep flies away and she commented how there weren't any that bothered them.  She said she has been using this tip for years.  That's when I knew I was on to something.  Also, EHow.com said using lemons, oranges and cloves as cleaning agents helped keep flies away.  Aha!  This is the one.

Fortunately, I had lemons in the fridge and some whole cloves.  I cut the lemons in half and studded them with the whole cloves like she said.  I would have used more cloves, but I was at the bottom of the bottle.  The lemons in her picture had a few more cloves which probably would work even better!  I have some small red ramekins that I used to put the lemons in and simply sat them on the table.

They are unobtrusive and somewhat decorative actually and they really did the trick!  I saw one fly make a fly by and he landed on the lemon.  It was a touch and go landing, he quickly left.  That was it. So, the next time you are going camping or want to have a pleasant meal out of doors, give this easy tip a try.  They actually should last for several days if you are camping.  It's an inexpensive way to keep those pesky little critters away.  Now, if we could just come up with a real solution for chiggers, we would all be happy campers.  My grandparents used kerosene rags tied around their ankles and wrists.  That's really not an option for me.  Have you ever worn essence of kerosene?  Just sayin'.

Here's a special thanks to Emma, writer of My Creative Time blog for one of the best tips ever.  Give it a try, you will be glad you did.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.”  Groucho Marx