Sneaky little thing, huh? I haven't had to trap one of those but did have to use glue traps for field mice some years ago, had to because we had small children and anything else was dangerous for them. Our squirrels won't go after peanuts or pb but bird seeds (black sunflower currently) will lure them into the havaheart trap (we release them into the big park a couple miles away). Good luck getting that thing John, he's eating you out of flora and fauna! ;)

They normally do not mind the 20s for extended periods but I prepare them by watering deeply on the night before the cold (cold = 32F or less) fronts arrive and by making sure the y are well mulched with 2-4" of organic mulch to or past the drip line. One set is on the north of the house and the other on the south side (protected by the house from northern winds and protected from the sun). We got down to low-mid teens this winter twice and had no issues other than some flower buds that browned out in the japonicas. No bud drop as a result of the cold so I am happy. They basically stop blooming (if they are blooming) or delay blooming for later. The first time that we dropped to the teens last year, the sasanquas were finishing their blooming so they stopped blooming and restarted blooming with a handful of flower buds two weeks ago. The second time that we dropped to the teens in January, the mid-season blooming japonicas were not blooming yet so the japonicas delayed blooming & started blooming about two weeks ago. Then a late blooming japonica began to bloom last week; not sure if it cared about the cold as it normally blooms late. Flower buds for me can hold on to the mid teens if I water deeply the night before the cold arrives. The plants should be able to carry on even much colder temps. I am in the DFW Metroplex. Hurst is almost touching the western side of the Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport in north-central Texas. Sasanquas and japonicas in the Hill Country and here require amending the soil to acidify it. I amend with garden Sulfur, greensand, iron-chelated liquid compounds, etc in Spring and sometimes again in the Fall if I notice signs of iron chlorosis. The Piney Woods Region is the only location where the soil is typically acidic enough so as not to require amending this way. Areas where you have caliche soil would present the biggest problem to either camellia as the fibrous roots in the top few inches would have difficulty penetrating the soil. Sasanqua leaves suffer less from summer sun than japonicas do here. There is a shopping center that has them growing in full sun at all times of the year and they do fine even thru our daily 100s in the summer. But they will require that their soil be moist as evenly possible (not periods of dry soil, followed by wet and dry soil again). I keep them well mulched and I water deeply so as not to have to worry much about it. If unsure about whether they need water, I insert a finger to a depth of 4" and water if it feels dry or almost dry. Start with 1 gallon of water per watering for a new shrub of the size typically sold locally (2' tall or something like that?) and tweak that as needed. More or more often in the summer & early Fall; less often in winter. But plan to water thru winter as well since dry years may cause the semi-dormant camellias to need water. I almost lost one camellia when I shut off the sprinkler system at the start of a big cold spell and then forgot to restart it after the cold left us a week later. As for planting location, I give them summer sun until about 10am-11am. Dappled sun is also ok. So is bright full-time shade. I have a single japonica that gets sun from 11am-1pm and some (very few) of the leaves get sunburn but usually just a handful... 5 or less say. It is getting big so I cut the leaves off if they look ugly. I am considering putting shade cloth in that area though because of other shrubbery that is more sun sensitive than the camellia. Regarding wind in a planting location, I would choose a location with less winds (or something that blocks wind somehow): light summer winds help dry out the soils and require more watering $$$. ;o) I had a japonica in a location that was subject to wind and it required hand watering in the summer, something that is not fun when it is hot outside. Does that help, jaceymae? Luis

You might check with IGM - International Granite & Marble. They have a branch in Carollton and a branch in Houston where I am. The granite I wanted wasn't available here in Houston by the time I was ready to order but they had it in Carollton and shipped it down for me for free. So... if you find something you like in the Houston location maybe they'd ship to Carollton and you could have your fabricator pick it up there. When I was shopping for granite, I fell in love with "Blue Eyes" early on. I was told that any granite with blue in it was automatically going to be in a high price range. So you might be in for an expensive proposition no matter which blue granite you pick. Good luck!

I've re-done my yard at several houses I've lived in over the years. I drank the Kool-Aid and tied zoysia once. For the premium I paid, I was disappointed to say the least. Within a year, I had wild Bermuda popping up. I tried to hand weed for awhile, but finally gave up and just let it do its thing. I was also disappointed in its vigor, or lack thereof. Some spots were thick and full as advertised, but others were thin and spindly. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it as far as light either. While Bermuda can rebound better from drought that St. Augustine, it'll still look crappy and weeds will take over if not irrigated. One of my wife's friends had a new house built and she got the builder issued 419. After hardly watering in our micro drought last summer, the wild Bermuda popped up and has really taken over in some areas. It's easy to spot since it grows much taller and has a wider blade. Based on what I've read about it, if a gun was pointed to my head and I had to pick Bermuda grass, I'd try celebration. I don't have any firsthand knowledge to back that up though. As much as St. Augustine gets vilified, I'm still partial to it overall. Yep, a good watering once a week will get it by. Any other grass needs the same, really. It's not the PC or sexy choice in our neck of the woods, but that's what we're going with in our backyard we're renovating. It helps that our neighborhood's all St. A though. If we were the only one, I'd MAYBE reconsider. My $.02.