My yard is so over run with voles and cotton rats that I go out of my way to catch snakes and release them in my yard when I can. It drives a lot of friends and visitors crazy because I don't care if they are poisonous snakes or not, as long as they eat rodents they are fine by me. Whenever I use bird netting to protect fruiting bushes or trees I check it twice a day to rescue any snakes or turtles that have gotten tangled up in it (this happens a lot!). My neighbors used to assume I was going to chop up the copperheads but I carefully cut them free and took them over to the brush pile. I need all the rodent eaters I can get. It helps that I worked for years and years as a zookeeper and had to handle snakes every day - they don't bother me at all. I enjoy them when I see them.

I'm not sure I'd want to use buckshot of any kind because of ricochet concirns, but there are rounds made for a .22 cal pistol called snake rounds. They have 150-175 very small pellets that do a pretty good job of dispatching snakes, scorpions and the like. Although I haven't had the opportunity to try it on a snake, I've known other that have and they supposedly work well. I have used them on scorpions with wonderfully interisting results. Because the pellets are small it's very effective at close range, but is no threat at longer range (such as the unintended stray shot) or from ricochet. Just google "snake round ammunition" to find a place to get them. Obviously, check your local laws on their use and possession and discharge of a firearm of any kind. BTW winged mammal, all animals protect their selves, most protect their family and territory (home). Often times one animal will intrude on another animals space and conflict ensues. I, and I suspect most of us don't go out of our way to kill anything we don't intend on eating, but like all animals, we may move into an area and stake our claim to our homes, protect it and our family. That's natures way. We are a part of nature. Republican? Well, we all have to choose between two evils. I tossed my coin and it came up heads. I took that to mean that I was not supposed to choose the party represented by an ass. :) .........Sorry, I just couldn't resist. :)

I have a link that discusses using vinegar. But I want to make it clear that in my post, the lady that I spoke of used vinegar to prevent the lice. I don't know how it works on lice if you have them. According to this website, it works, but others I have seen said it doesn't work. I even found a website that recommended mayonnaise and specifically said you had to use regular not low fat. It said that the mayo suffocates the little buggers. Anyway, my hairdresser friend, as I recall, just put vinegar on his hair while it was still wet and kind of combed it through. When it dried, you couldn't smell it. Also, this was a boy and his hair was really cut short for baseball season. Here is a link that might be useful: Vinegar Man

Oh Jane, I don’t know about the towel bar, I’m more concerned that you’re letting strangers into your home. I just don’t think of that as wise. (Sorry, but it’s true). When it comes to the people you hire, I think that maybe some of your own perspectives about the transactions may be part of the problem. For example, it’s not your job to make the construction workers experience a “positive” one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not about being rude or inconsiderate, we should always treat the folks we hire with respect, offer a drink and/or use of the facilities. However, doing a good job is what they are hired to do, breaking something or not doing it 100% correctly, is not. Hard work? Sure, but that’s their chosen profession and they know what the demands are, empathy should have nothing to do with the outcome. There has to be a good balance between, nice and assertive. IMO, your attempts to be nice and even rationalize their inadequacies, has gotten in the way of the end goal. When the tiler tiled beyond the point of where he was supposed to stop. Being nice and good at the job means nothing if it was done wrong. You should have absolutely made him fix it before you gave him the final payment. Regarding the deck. I’m sorry but I’m not buying into the idea that the vibrations of a power saw would contribute to the demise of your deck. Just my opinion, but I’m more inclined to believe that original install was most likely flawed. Cudo’s for installing your own though. I don’t hoover, but I’ve also never assumed some construction guy will treat our home with the care we do. It’s important to be present, ask questions, check things out before they leave and insist something wrong be corrected. And as a helpful tool, I also learn everything I can about the process of the work so I can tell if it’s being done right (and question when it isn’t). The only bad experience I’ve had so far is when our contractor’s helper was sanding drywall over our relatively new carpet upstairs. When I saw him, I went to the contractor who was downstairs and casually thanked him for the new carpet he was going to be installing for free (because mine was now covered in drywall dust and construction crap!). He ran upstairs and there was a lot of yelling but the mess was cleaned and tarps were down within minutes. However, the next day, he forgot the tarps. When I told him, no tarpies, no workie, he bought some at the store to use. He was not happy, but that wasn’t my problem. We have a crew coming in a week or so to polish and seal some of our stone. While the estimator was going over what they expected from us, I took the opportunity for him to note what’s expected from them as well on the contract. IE that if the crew showed up without tarps, they would be turned away at their own cost. Schoolhouse, if that flooring guy had done that with me, I probably would have suggested he come back another time or that I find someone else to do the job. That was totally unprofessional on his part. I don’t know if I’d trust him to still do a good job and I’d let him know that. Just curious, if he had to buy new, did he acclimate the new boards before installing them?