No, long grass doesn't "attract rats." That's an entirely bogus excuse for town officials to impose their personal sense of aesthetic acceptability upon those who are more enlightened or innovative. I encountered that same scheme on my property. On my five rural acres, during construction of the house, I was served notice by the county health board that my "weeds were providing harborage for vermin" and I had five days to "cut and remove" the offending vegetation. I took the citation to the chief sanitarian and inquired what this was all about. He told me that the weeds on my property would "attract rats" and it was illegal to allow rats to persist in such untidy environments next to houses. I told him that I was a graduate field biologist, and that there is not a shred of scientific evidence that rats can persist in "weeds." I therefore invited him to set as many rat traps as he would like in my prairie "weeds," as evidence to be used in the court case I said I would pursue if he persisted in pushing the matter. He know full well that rats donÂt inhabit weedy fields, prairie or otherwise, and I asked him how many of these citations does the health department issue each year. He said over two dozen, and he gets 100% compliance. I asked him what the rate of compliance might be if an appeals court were to rule that the law is unreasonable, crushes my free speech rights, and therefore could no longer be enforced (as was determined in a previous case in another Ohio jurisdiction). At that point, the health officer knew that I had both scientific evidence and a court case on my side. He then volunteered to "overlook" my "violation," to preserve the health departmentÂs ability to coerce citizens to conform to landscape conventionality  whatever that might have to do with public health. Case closed. I continue to have OhioÂs tallest front yard, with 7-ft tall prairie grasses. Not a rat in 25 years.

Thanks for the great reminder Lisa. Those ants can build up rather quickly before you even notice them. I use Tanglefoot up under the stovepipe guard and that seems to do the trick for me.

Sure am glad it wasn't more serious than spilled coffee (and some major dog licks!) Bet your heart was beating pretty fast as you sprinted to the kitchen!

dabunch: "I'm talking about people WITH MONEY who just don't want to pay the mortgages because their houses are not worth today what they were worth 2 years ago... " A foreclosure is a foreclosure is a foreclosure. It doesn't matter WHY someone didn't pay the mortgage, only that the bank foreclosed on the property. As a matter of fact, how would (or could) you differentiate between someone who stopped making mortgage payments because they couldn't afford to, and someone who stopped making payments because they just didn't want to anymore? I don't think the bank is going to try to make that determination (correct me if I'm wrong Dave or Tricia), they're just going to take the property back after X number of missed payments. Of course, I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. ;-)