I love fireflies. In fact, they are really the only thing I enjoy in the summer. The last 3 summers I lived in Tennessee my daughters and I caught fireflies for a research foundation and made money doing it. Yes, you read that right! Here are some (bad resolution from a really old cell phone) photos of the second summer
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| Some large fireflies |
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| Checking our collection |
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| Weighing our collection |
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| Writing our check |
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| Dwight posing with our check |
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| Woohoo! Big check! |
We had to catch the redheaded fireflies - not the brown headed ones. By the second summer I caught on to that and learned how to tell the difference before we even caught them. We experimented with catching methods. At first we were just catching them with our hand and putting them in cleaned out plastic jars - we would have to shake the jar or tap the lid a few times to get them down in the bottom before putting a new one in. That was very slow going! Then I found nets at the Dollar Tree and wow, that made a difference! The nets were bug catching nets, sold in the summer for just such a thing. We could catch a lot in a net and hold the net closed while we added them to our jars. Still not effective, so I pondered it and we switched to plastic bags - newspaper bags worked great! We could hold the bag closed with our left hand, catch with the net in our right hand then transfer them to the bags. We were catching thousands a night sometimes, combined. After we caught our fill for the night we would put our bags in the freezer and the next day we would count them (very fast so they didn't thaw) and add our total to the "Bug Catching Sheet" I had on the freezer door. That was how we kept track of who caught what and how much money we potentially made. They were worth a certain amount of money per ounce and it took quite a few to make an ounce! We were the top catchers by the second summer and got our names in the newspaper :o)
When we moved to Louisiana there weren't any fireflies to enjoy and I really missed that. Here in West Virginia we have them and it is just so nice to sit outside at night and watch all the blinking around us, but Dwight of Project Firefly, who collected them for the foundation, doesn't come here so I can't collect them anymore. Not only do I miss running around collecting fireflies, I miss the exercise too LOL! Supposedly the fireflies in TN had bugs with some of the highest concentration of the chemicals that make them light up, which is why he traveled across the state of TN collecting them, and he lived in California! The research foundation used the bugs' chemicals in cancer research, among other things. The chemicals could literally burn up cancer cells from the inside out without burning up the patient. Pretty cooool, huh? I thought about trying to find out if I could still catch them and send them frozen but haven't found that out yet. I'll post again if I do.
So, what brought this up is that I found a giveaway on Pink Dandy Chatter for a My Pet Firefly by Gemmy Industries. It looks ADORABLE! I could have a firefly to look at all year long LOL! And it has a smile on its face :o) It comes in a jar with batteries under the lid (included) and you tap the lid to activate the firefly.
Janae Chang of Pink Dandy says this and has these photos posted:
I was so excited when the My Pet Firefly arrived in the mail. There are actually three different colors to choose from: green, pink and blue. The girls got the green firefly in a jar. It's amazing to watch the little firefly light up in green and fly around the jar. So, how does it work? The underside lid of the jar holds batteries (that are included) and you tap on the lid to activate the firefly.
Inside the jar is a very small firefly that holds a little smile...I think he is happy to have his home in the jar for all the kids to enjoy him. The firefly has a thin, clear string attached to him, which allows him to flutter all around the jar. He flies around and sits down and flies some more...just like a real bug would do. And, of course, the really awesome thing he does is light up. He is fun to watch in the light and in the dark. All he wants is to be watched and no food is required. This is the kind of pets that all parents want their children to have.
ABOUT GEMMY (from their website):
Gemmy Industries was founded in 1984 in Dallas, Texas. Since then, Gemmy has been a groundbreaker in the fields of novelties and animation. Gemmy’s animation expertise has created such names as Pete the Repeat Parrot, Douglas Fir and, of course, the Big Mouth Billy Bass sensation.
Over the years, Gemmy has been equally successful in the seasonal decorations market, creating new categories and performing brilliantly in others. We were the originators of Airblown® Inflatables, which have since become a staple of holiday decor. Gemmy has also pioneered the way in life-sized figures for Christmas and Halloween, and blazed new trails in lighting solutions and technology – most notably with our LightShow™ brand. Our products have enjoyed time in the limelight, and lodged in pop culture. We’ve appeared in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the Washington Post and have been featured prominently on The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and the Colbert Report.
Gemmy Industries is the premier trendsetter in the areas of entertainment technology, decorating solutions, and animatronics, continuing on in our role as an industry leader and innovator.
Needless to say, Gemmy has some pretty great products, but this one is the one I really want. Really. My second choice would be the peacock light decoration. I can't say that is a Christmas decoration, it's just a pretty decoration, hehe. So, I'm going back to Pink Dandy and put in my entries for My Pet Firefly. I hope to get it too! Thanks for stopping by and reading my history. I would have had more pictures but you kinda can't take photos in the pitch dark with flashing fireflies all around while you have a net in one hand and a bag in the other, still I wish I did have some even though I have great memories :o)
Hugs and blessings to you!! Deborah
