The Perfect Day

 

Yesterday was a perfect day. It was already beautiful and sunny when Nick and I commuted to work together. After work I went body surfing for a little before picking Nick up and swinging down to La Jolla for an amazing beach yoga session. The breeze was refreshing and being able to hear the waves and smell the salt made it that much better. Julie joined us and I think it's going to become a regular activity. We made a nice dinner after and opened a bottle of wine which provided the perfect cap to a perfect day.

Heavy Causulties

Nick and I prepared for battle this morning. After laying siege to the fruit fly colony in the form of a suffocating trash bag for 6 days we were finally ready to inspect the damage.

HEAVY CASUALTIES HAVE BEEN SUSTAINED BUT THERE ARE MANY TROOPS STILL ALIVE.

When we removed the plastic bag hundreds of little corpses fell out but there was also many flies still alive. We haven't opened the lid yet so we won't know the full extent of the damage till tonight. Further exploration needed.

The War Continues

Even as I write this from the bunker three fruit flies enemy scouts are sitting on the top of my laptop. I have to admit Nick and I were incredibly pleased with how well our kitchen traps were working. We woke on Day 6 to find the hundreds were buzzing around stupidly in the organic salad trap, lured by the irresistible smell of rotting banana peel, balsamic vinegar, and a strawberry that had literally melted into the container. It looked uncannily like blood...

Nick was so pleased in fact that he had taken to making comments to the flies as he walked by.

"At this point there's a good chance there's a second generation trapped in there."
"God, they are so stupid but you have to hand it to the buggers they certainly are persistent."
"BOOYA."

Then he began to smush the ones that had crawled up into the lid lip leaving a war zone of bloody little fly bodies-a warning to the other.

"It's like bubble wrap."
"Only squishier..."


The war was going well! We were feeling great and in control until...

We woke day 8 to find all the traps missing and a swarm fruit flies in the kitchen, bedroom, and living room.

Blind Love & the 1st Day of Summer

After a few glasses of red wine with Julie and Billy our Wednesday night turned into an art party. We ended up spending a good part of the evening drawing blind contours of each other. The whole idea being that you can't look down and you can't pick your pen up until your done. It was a lot of fun and we now have quite a lot of new art for the stairwell :)

I couldn't have asked for a more fun night or a more perfect start to Summer. I have this inkling it's going to be a really good one!

The War Begins

It seems that in the process of trying to save the planet and recycle our food scraps and start our compost bin Nick and I have inadvertently provided the ideal new home for thousands of fruit flies.

We've decided to wage war.

 

 Day 1: Our reconnaissance mission to the base proved frightening and we almost lost Nick. We can't afford to be so unprepared in the future because I'm certainly not equipped well enough to take on the colony alone.  

Day 2: Determined to learn as much about these little bastards as possible we started our mission to research and ascertain any possible weaknesses. They breed extremely fast and a colony can multiply and double in a matter of a week.  

Day 3: Nick comes up with plan to set fire to the colony.  
Day 3.5: Caitlin vetos Nick's plan to set fire to colony.  

Day 4: We come up with a two fold plan which involves killing off the flies in the house and then suffocating the main colony.

Nick rigged up a fruit fly trap using an overly ripe banana peel and a plastic salad bin. He poked holes in it and placed the banana inside. Turns out they're too stupid to fly out the same tiny holes. Outside we cut open a trash bag and tape covered all the holes in our rubbermaid compost bin. Trapping and (hopefully) suffocating the flies inside.  

Day 5: Woke to find several hundred flies angry and buzzing in our kitchen trap.

Stay tuned to find out who will win the war!

Remote Beach Camping

Nick and I just booked our campsite for a little backcountry camping on Catalina Island in September. The weather should be nice, the kids are back in school, and the site we chose is only accessible by a three mile trail or by boat so we aren't expecting much company. One review warns of an overly friendly buffalo nicknamed, "Fluffy" and courageous and daring squirrels willing to beat the odds to get into your chocolate. BRING IT ON.

Welcome Back

I've been absent from blogging for a while now and I feel my long hiatus should come to a close. I've missed it. So, welcome to my blog!