The first thing this morning, a fly flew directly into my face. I was minding my own business, making coffee, and he banged right into my forehead. Yesterday, also in the kitchen, one crashed right into the side of my head. We’ve had an influx of flies lately, a complete barrage of them in our house this week. But that isn’t where I was going.
I was thinking as I stood there, with Keurig cup in hand, “Flies are complete idiots when it comes to flying. Either that or they are angry, vindictive little insects.”
In either case, I came to the conclusion that flies were not “family” animals. I mean, their offspring are maggots, after all. They probably didn’t mate for life or anything along those lines. Again, with this. They eat poop. Manure. Gross garbage. As such they carry all sorts of disease on those little sticky feet of theirs. Who would want to mate with that for life? Although, it wouldn’t be a terribly long commitment. Flies only live for about two weeks.
I did discover, however, that most flying insects have four wings. Flies only have two wings, which may explain a lot when it comes to their navigational skills. I think they are bereft.
You may think I am silly for wondering if flies mate for life. But some insects do just that. Termites, for one. Yes, if a colony of termites settles in below your home, two things are going on there.
The first? You are in BIG trouble mister.
The second? The thousands upon thousands of termites chewing on your wood are from one colony, all with the same mama, the queen termite, and the same papa, the king termite. One big happy family. “Pass the salt, would you junior?”
But let’s hope that doesn’t happen. There are certain insects I have an appreciation for, like bees, and ants. Dragonflies, or fireflies. But I don’t care so much for worms or slugs, and I’m not fond of flies either. They have a right to be here too, I know. And as long as we steer clear of one another, I am happy to be sharing this good planet with them.
It is hard not to run into them on occasion though. There are between six and ten million insect species on earth. I’m told that insects always have six legs, and two antennae. So if you see one who looks different, it may be injured or alien. Which brings me back to worms. Technically, they are animals. Insects are also considered animals. Both worms and insects are classified under the Kingdom Animalia. But they fall along different lines from there.
Insects can be interesting if you take a good look at them. For example. One dung beetle can drag 1,141 times its weight. That would be the equivalent of a single human pulling six double-decker buses. That is a big pile of dung if that is what dung beetle’s carry.
Or what about this. They have found that large groups of fireflies sometimes flash in unison. Imagine, out in the woods, they flit around in the darkness, and then you hear a little, tiny voice say, “Okay everybody. On three. One, twooooo, three.” And the whole forest lights up.
And how about grasshoppers. They existed before dinosaurs. We should bow and pay homage when we see those little gals. They’ve been through a lot. And they communicate by rubbing their legs together, making that grasshopper kind of noise. Maybe they are on to something.
Anyway. I just wanted to let you know that flies are horrible at flying.
Which once again illustrates the fact that you can’t always trust what’s in a name. If a fly can’t fly, who knows what the rest of the world really means.
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Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
— Albert Einstein
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The earth has music for those who listen.
— William Shakespeare
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Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.
— Lao Tzu
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