Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Whot The Hail Is That?



That is a Big Stinky Flytrap set up in our backyard. I am showing you this because drD over at Big n Juicy is asking his readers what they like and don't like about Autumn. My least favorite thing about it is in the photo above; the end-of-summer-beginning-of-autumn fly round-up. At this time of year the flies seem to know Winter is coming and they go into a reproduction frenzy. This photo shows three days worth of fly or about 12,000 flies. How do I know there are about 12,000 flies in there? I'm married to an engineer.

How To Figure Out Number Of Flies
1. Using basic math principles figure out the Area of the inside of the glass jar(30.7 square inches).

2. Measure the Height of the fly column and then multiply that number by the Area to get the volume of flies (107 cubic inches).

3. Take a small measuring cup and dip out 1/8 cup of flies. Pour into a small pan and divide flies into groups of ten and count (200 flies per 1/8 cup).

5. Basic math again: (107 cubic inches/ 231 cubic inches per gal) x (4 quarts/gal) x (2 pints/quart) x (2 cups/pint) x (200 flies/one-eighth cup ) = 11,850 flies.

I am looking forward to the first freeze and the end of all this.

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