Right on Oil Robb, I was baffled as to how a person on this planet could be unaware that food is grown in manure and has been as long as people have been growing food. I thought everyone had driven within a mile of a crop field and realized it smelled like a cow's primary product. Stating that you grow melons in the lot that is coated with manure was pleasant to read because watermelons evolved in Africa to grow in the wake of the animals that leave them. Watermelons evolved to grow in piles of poop after their seeds traveled through the digestive system of elephants... And it's a pretty common adaptation throughout the plant kingdom. The only down sides to dog poop that I have found are that I have to cut the grass more often, and when I gathered some up to put in the worm bin my dog mistook that action for "don't go there" and now spreads it all over. So now I need to put on shoes when I go outside. On the bright side, pooping dog is now a source of entertainment as I hope for her to go close to the fruit trees so I don't have to buy poop to put on them. Buy poop... Imagine that. Next people are going to start insisting that forest fires are bad for the forests when they are really only bad for the morons that put their houses in forests that depend on wildfires to stay healthy.

My cats love to watch out windows. Molly thinks the bathroom window is her own private bird-viewing platform, and she wants it open in all weather. (You can probably guess that winter is her least favorite season, because that window stays CLOSED most of the time, lol.) B.C. likes windows, but doesn't want to be outside. If he DOES get out (and a door closes behind him), he cries until he gets back into the house. I think Sophia would be happy to be outside, but she doesn't try to get out. When the weather is nice I let them out on the tiny back deck and stairs, and I sit with them so they don't wander. I'm sure if any mouse was foolish enough to get into the house, it wouldn't last long. We don't have a problem with many critters, but I've thought that a dog might help with the woodchuck issue we've had in the past. Our neighbor's outdoor cat occasionally leaves us a mole as a gift. Sophia, the grand dame of the house. B.C. (Bad Cat) and Sophia, in their favorite bird-viewing spot - the feeders are outside that window. B.C. is almost 13, and Sophia is 11. My favorite picture of Molly, and our son Ian. Molly is the baby, not yet 2. Sophia thinks she's a pain in the behind; we jokingly call Molly "Nermal," to go with Sophia's "Garfield," and B.C. does a very good "Odie." Laurel

They are super cute and pretty funny. They will lay in the shade of the pots on my porch and sprawl out on their stomach, all limbs sticking out. Hilarious. I have read that they can be pretty bad pests but our yard isn't really a yard, it is a prairie and we live in a townhome so we have like, a few random trees and some flowers next to the porch and that's it. My only annoyance is they like to kick up the mulch everywhere.

just really heavy rains, usually 2-3 times a year. This year we had more. I am not so worried about insects as rot and mildew from moisture, and keeping small animals out. The ground is sloped for good drainage and we are going to keep that slope. Water does not sit in that area. We will have weed fabric on the ground with gravel over it, whatever that is worth.