Pickles by Brian Crane for August 19, 2023

Roscoe likes getting the extra protein.

Dogs often do for us what we cannot bring ourselves to do for ourselves.

I’m rather new to FL (2 1/2 yr) 1st year inundated with love bugs. Last year was yellow flies, red hornets and carpenter bees. This year, few yellow flies and no red hornets, carpenter bees or love bugs. Is this their cycle?

I’m always pleased when I manage to smoosh a gnat that’s flying around my laptop screen. Does that count?

sky raisins for roscoe

Hey look there’s a fly in my poop

Parents had 2 dogs at different times, both were just like Roscoe at getting flies.

The flies are bad here too!

Cat used to sit at the screened window in our bedroom and bat at the flies, catch them and enjoy a snack.

I found a very useful information in a children’s journal, and am probably the most successful human in barehanded hunting them.They fly off backwards. So when it’s on a surface, clap hands at some 4 inches above and behind it. 10 out of 10, guaranteed.

Yeah but they reproduce faster than that.

Roscoe grants this fly one last flybye before enjoying it even more…

But that month can seem forever on hot, sweaty days.

That’s how it is in my house if one gets in.

Put Roscoe in the outfield. He catches flies.

The new dog treat ! But how do you get them out of the box one at a time ?

An individual fly might only live around 30 days, but there are always 1.27 million available to take his/her place.

What a good boy, Roscoe!

My dog does the same thing!

My dog Gracie could catch them in mid air like that very easily!

Who needs flypaper when you’ve got Roscoe?

Love my indoor bug zapper!

Sky raisins, as opposed to spicy sky raisins.

One of my dogs snaps at bees. Or did, until she caught one.

Toshiro Mifune.

Is it really comforting that the flies bothering you in 30 days will be different flies from the ones bothering you today?

I’ve found that Windex is an excellent bug spray. Although certain bugs may require a shoe sole follow up.

Gross.

Ha! More flies, insects, spiders, etc because of the sweltering heat

Here in the Florida Panhandle we sometimes get a pestilence of horse flies that bite the crap out of you. It has been traced to strong north winds which blow them down from farmland up in Alabama.

IMO the biting deer flies in Michigans UP are the worst

That’s NASTY

Sky raisins!

It’s alway so lovely when the protein comes to the diner.

Roscoe enjoys a good snack on the fly.

Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Poop to poop.

My Yellow Lab was a champion fly chomper.

I make sure they have the shortest lives possible.

That must have been one big fly. Roscoe looks a little shocked.

Yah. The cats love getting out into the catio during the summer. They love catching the little protein packets.

Interesting that this comic should air today. I had a dream last night that I opted to walk the 7 miles to work. To my surprise, I was most of the way there before I even knew it. As I was walking up the hill, I ran into a couple of young women, one of which must have been going the same way, as she walked up with me. Somehow, we came upon a culinary institute or museum on the way (not an actual place). I could not find the route through it to get to work, and told her I usually just drive past the place, I’d never walked through it. As we were looking across for the way past, we saw a large cloud of flies over the outdoor dining area in the summer heat. She said, “Ewww! They probably cook meals out of all the flies!” And I replied, “I’m not aware of any culture known for eating flies.” As I looked at my phone for directions, I saw on the map, a marker for, “Lunar lander site,” so I added, “But they were responsible for the moon landing.” I don’t recall anything after that.

Well, yeah…but in the meantime the females are laying umpteen eggs…

I wonder how old Opel’s fly was.

My dog eats cicadas once in awhile.

#skyraisins

Honestly, with that many flies around them, I would go inside. I don’t want to sit outside being bombarded and I definitely don’t want to take them back in. They could go for a walk, now that Roscoe has had his snack.