Waking up the flies

It's been unusually cold in Petaluma this winter. Although, technically it's still fall, with the first day of winter coming right up on Dec. 21. Still, it feels like winter. We've had weeks of frosty nights up here in the north bay. Today I had to scrape thick frost off my windshield. Brrr!

To help ease the heating bills, I followed this advice: to stick bubble wrap on all the windows. It looks a little funny, but it lets decent light through and makes the place cozier. Check out this instructional video, compliments of PovertyLabs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqD5fdEj8t8

So the whole project took me a couple of days, and for $65 in materials, I now have double bubble over the windows and two sliding glass doors. There's only one drawback: we have flies.

It took me a while to figure out what was going on. I sprayed on the first layer of bubble wrap: bottle with soapy water and a touch of bleach. Afterwards, I noticed a dozen or so flies flailing around. They're the big ones, giant houseflies, and they're slow and stupid. After the second round of bubble wrap, we had three times as many. I was bubbling Paul's office when I saw them: black slits jammed into the frame of the wide aluminum windows we have, compliments of 1969 construction. The suckers were hibernating. And I woke them up.

I've managed to get a couple out the door. The rest are trying to wedge themselves under the bubble wrap or have succumbed to life in December. My hope is their numbers will dwindle as they find their way back to the slits in the window frames. Fingers crossed.

We're all ready for Christmas around here. Like Thanksgiving, it's going to be a quiet holiday at home. Although there is talk of Elephant Seals next weekend, and sledding in Tahoe the weekend after Christmas. My job, as I understand it, is to make cake. Chocolate. And rewrap the presents that the dog has deemed fit to denude. What a cutie.

Love and light to all. And remember, it's one less week of pre-Christmas mania this year, with a late Thanksgiving, so should be just the right amount of time with Christmas carols. Happy holidays!