Oh Jolana, I just noticed the thread you saved. How in the world did you save that? We sure had a lot of fun. I'm glad it kept you going through rough times. My vote is for George Clooney. He can mulch my beds any day. lol Shoo...is it hot in here?

If you have just moles, then you have the raised tunnels across the yard and no plant damage. They eat earthworms and grubs and such. I've used a castor bean oil repellant with good success. If that's what you have, the repellant will help if used exactly according to directions. It needs to be watered in so it's in the ground at the level the moles are tunneling. Voles are extremely destructive to plants, eating the roots and crowns of many kinds. I lost several hundred dollars worth of hostas many years ago before I realized what was going on and my MIL lost a huge rose bush that literally fell over from loss of roots. I don't know if the repellants work against them or not. A cat is an excellent solution since they think vole and mole hunting is great sport. They usually kill the moles and leave them lying around but will eat the voles. At least that's what our cats have always done. The other solutions are traps or poison bait which can be enclosed in specially designed bait stations. I worry about the poisoned critters being caught above ground before they die and eaten by cats or other predators and then the poison going up the food chain. I've done it in the past when we didn't have outside pets and the neighbors were far enough away that I was reasonably sure no pets were going to get in trouble. But it's not my favorite thing to do. I much prefer letting a cat do my dirty work for me. LOL They will also keep the chipmunk population under control. The mulch, compost, and manure can be stored near each other without problem. Tarps might keep the dogs out but are not really necessary for any other reason. The manure will age better without a tarp and be ready for the garden faster but I understand the need if the dogs are fond of it. We had one that loved to follow the neighbor's cows around and find the freshest pile available to roll in... then thought he was the sweetest smelling thing alive and wanted to be petted! Nasty little critter, but we loved him anyway! LOL

Thanks for your replies so far! I would just like to respond to a few of the issues which have been raised here. 1)There is a weight limit where I live on how heavy the dog can be and therefore, although I would love a golden or a lab, they are way beyond the acceptable weight. 2) I have a securely fenced in back yard which my pup would only be in when I accompanied him out there, leash on him of course, just in case he got a scent and wanted to escape/explore. 3) For the past 7 years (the time I have been in a wheelchair)I walked my cocker spaniel 3 to 6 times a day every day, rain or shine in my wheelchair, pooper scooper in hand. She died six months ago and up until the week before she died we were out walking, doing our thing. I could be wrong, because it has been a very long time since I have had a puppy, but I believe if the puppy ia exposed to me in the chair, that will be the "norm" for him and the way he expects to be walked when we go out. I should also say that the puppy is only 2 1/2 months old and has not completed his puppy shots, so he will not be going outside to potty until the vet says he is ready. I have "piddle pads" for the puppy which will be placed near the door for him until he is ready to go out. Until then I will be introducing him to a collar and leash so that he knows what to expect when we do go out for a walk. And I do agree with those of you who have said you thought the rescue folks were rude and inappropriate to me. I got off the phone with that person thinking I had just spoken to a psycho beagle nazi! Please keep your wonderful comments coming. They are more helpful to me than you know and I will of course keep you all posted to the eventual outcome of this saga. Many thanks!

Hazel, It isn't common for the chickens to drop dead in the heat. It is just that 2011 was so insanely hot. There are many ways to keep them cool. Some chickens will stand in a flat water pan filled with only a couple of inches of water and will cool off that way. I have used a small cat litter box for a chicken wading pool in this manner. They will dig into cool soil in a shady area, spread out their wings and cool off that way (just like they do when sunning themselves on a cooler, sunny day, but in this case they usally do it in the shade and I think they're cooling themselves. Oh, I did put ice cubes in their waterers that summer. I would put a whole lot of cubes in. Well, actually I made cubes. I froze blocks of ice in my deep freeze, using those freezer containers sold on the canning aisle. They hold 32 ounces. I'd put one block of ice in each waterer before I filled it with clean water in the morning, and I'd refill the freezer boxes to make new blocks of ice for the next day. That kept their water cool, which I think helped them in the tremendous heat. We keep a fan running in the coops, and the coop windows are open because we have quarter-inch hardware cloth nailed over the windows to keep coons and other beasties from breaking through the window screens that came with the windows. They are small windows, but between the windows and the fan, the chicken coop is not, at least, unbearable. I also gave the chickens some sort of melons every day, or Armenian cucumbers. I'd chill the melons or cukes, then slice them in half and put them on the ground. They'd clean out that rind completely, and I'd pick up the rind and toss it on the compost pile. I just did everything I could to help the chickens in the heat. When it became apparent that it was going to be a hot summer, I hurriedly planted more melons and Armenian cukes just so I'd have something wet and cold to give the chickens in July and August. I don't remember if I had anything like that to give them in June. On the day I came home to 3 dead chickens, we were at a wildfire in a Wildlife Management Area that was very hard to access and we were out there for many hours. We had at least one firefighter get a heat-related illness. He had to be treated by paramedics. I remember that Fran and I took coolers and coolers and coolers of bottled water and Gatorade and everyone stayed hydrated, but the heat was overwhelming that day. The ice in our coolers melted ridiculously quickly. I remember sitting down once in the middle of the road to cool off because it was the only shady spot. It was a twisty, winding road and you could hear someone coming from a long ways off, so it wasn't like someone was going to be able to sneak up on me and run over me. A young woman who had family members fighting that fire showed up unexpectedly at the fire and brought us Fire Rehab people soft drinks in very large cups filled with tiny ice cubes. At that point, it was like manna from heaven and I've never forgotten the kindness she showed us that day! We'd already had so much water and Gatorade that we were tired of both, and an ice cold soda was a refreshing relief, and then we got to enjoy eating the ice for as long as it lasted. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that the chickens died, but I felt terrible about it. After that, for the rest of that hot summer, the first thing I did every morning was the whole ice and cold water routine with the chickens. If we were at a fire overnight and came home sometime in the morning or middle of the day, I made it a point to check on the chickens and get them their ice first thing before I even went indoors. We didn't lose another chicken all summer, but I also don't think we hit 115 another day except once. I only remember that day because our big fire of the day was a moving truck on the interstate that had a family's whole accumulation of possessions, including their car, inside the moving truck and the thermometer on our fire rehab vehicle showed 115 about the same time a young firefighter began getting sick out in that heat. Our ice melted fast that day too. The hardest part about the ice jugs wasn't freezing them. It was having to clean them every day before I could put them back in the extra fridge to refreeze them. Being chickens, you know they managed to make the ice jugs dirty, so I had to stand out there in the blazing heat at the water faucet outdoors, sponge and dish soap in hand and wash those jugs. Then, just to be safe and not dirty up the fridge, I dried the jugs and put them in trash bags before putting them in the freezer. Because, you know, I had nothing else to do in that hot weather than stand outside and wash those ice jugs off. I was worried about our chickens yesterday but they seemed to take the heat in stride. Maybe I'll freeze some ice jugs this morning. I do have two banty hens sit setting on eggs in the big coop. I really wasn't ready for it to get this hot this early. Dawn