Mystery Solved

Some may be embarrassed to admit they share their home with fruit flies. I'm not embarrased. I share my home with fruit flies, and sometimes I hear critters in my attic. There are little geckos that come and go from a hole on the outside of my house near my front door. Sometimes I'll come home and one of them will be hanging out - half way inside the cement wall while the other half basks in the sunlight. These are parts of home ownership that I don't pretend to be fond of - they actually make me crazy. I will read online, trying to fix these little annoyances using tried and trusted methods of others who have gone before me. But usually they don't work - and usually I end up consigning myself to either paying $700/year for a pest control guy to visit my house once a quarter in his big truck with an anteater on the side of it or living with these little pests. So far, it's been the latter.

Fruit flies have been in my home for a few months now. Fruit flies, for those of you who haven't been blessed with their company, are really annoying. Most pests will stay out of your way and just show themselves from a far scurrying to their hiding place. Fruit flies, however, enjoy being up in your business. You're on your laptop - they're on your screen. You're watching TV - they're flying in front of your face. You're eating dinner - they make their way into your food. "They think my eyes are grapes!" Jason often exclaims in desperation as he tries to watch ESPN in peace. Reading online, I learned that they only live for about 10 days, so if they're a problem in your home, they're feeding on something. I cleaned and cleaned. Amy cleaned and cleaned. Jason cleaned and cleaned. Danielle cleaned and cleaned. Fruit flies stayed.

I have a plant - it's dying. I bought it at IKEA several months ago. It came in a plastic pot. I knew that wouldn't do, so I bought a big ceramic pot to be used as its permanent home. I brought them both home and instead of re-planting as I should have I "temporarily" placed the plastic pot inside the bigger ceramic pot. There it has stayed. There it has turned brown. There it has almost died. In my last-ditch effort to save this little guy, I decided to take the plunge and replant it properly. After mowing my lawn tonight, I enlisted the help of my roommate Amy. We took the tall, heavy plant out back and you will never guess what we found. Nasty, raunchy, smelly, brown standing water trapped under the plastic pot but inside the ceramic pot. And guess who was hanging out down there - a billion little fruit flies who were about to meet their maker.

Mystery Solved. Now let's hope the plant grows its green leaves back.