Thanks for your answers. It didn't occur to me that there may not even be any dogs! Now I'm thinking I should contact the attorney generals of both states before March 25 because its possible they will close up shop if they aren't going to deliver on that date as promised. Its funny that we have a bit of a shortage of dogs here in NE. There are some lab and shepard mixes at the shelters, but I just don't want a big dog. I don't know tho, maybe I can get dh to move up to medium sized. We are more likely to find a local one then. The want ad is a good idea. I'll ask on Freecycle too. Kathy

I had a friend who got rid of her moles/voles by pouring ammonia down their hole. Another friend, don't laugh, put sticks of Juicy Fruit Gum down mole/vole holes and this worked well. Supposedly it "gums" up their interiors and they end up being compost. At least the Juicy Fruit is not harmful to pets or children.

Thank you for your replies. I, too (having been born and bred in New York), thought that all homes in the USA were had either basements or concrete slabs, but that's not true. In warmer states (Texas, California), a lot of "California Bungalows" and similar were built the same way as mine. In fact, two were recently featured on TV over there - one on "This Old House" ("the Austin project"), and another on "Monster House" (where they built the Hawaiian-themed backyard with all the surfboard stuff). As I'd only ever had homes over here built on slabs (no basements here), I've never had to deal with this type of construction before, although it's reasonably common, especially among older homes built prior to 1960 or so. One problem which later emerged was that the same type of footings were used, regardless of soil-type. We're on clay, and it's particularly reactive (just as in TOH's Austin house) to cycles of wet and drought. The problem here is that there's not much "wet" anymore to help expand the clay particles, so they shrink further and further. It is becoming a very common problem in the area in which I live. Couple that with the old "northern hemisphere" (non-drought-tolerant) trees planted along the streets by town councils of old, and it's even worse (the trees send roots out under the footings and suck even more moisture from the soil). Is is explained in more detail here, for anyone interested: http://www.greenweb.com.au/archicentre/html/diy_cracking_checklist.html And thanks again for your replies. Here is a link that might be useful: Why houses settle and crack

fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX, thank you very much for the advice, it's really appreciated. Now I know in what direction to move. And yes, there is one unneeded rootstock 4 feet away left after one apricot grafted on it died. I just didn't unroot the stock right away, wanted to see what are its fruits like, didn't realize it could hinder the pecan when I was planting the pecan nearby. Back then, I planned to unroot the rootstock in the future anyway because it's very thorny and, since is used as a rootstock, it isn't likely to bear quality fruits. And who knows how many more years it will take until it starts to bear? Afterwards, there will be only about 9 feet of space to a peach tree, 13 feet to a weeping willow, and 11.5 feet to a plum. By the way, is it true that if there is only one pecan tree in a large area, it will not set fruits? Are there some places in Texas where you didn't see fruits on any pecan tree just because it was growing alone? I know also that zone 5b is a bit cold for pecans and they might stay without fruits for that reason. When do they bloom and when the nuts ripen in Texas (how many weeks do they need after blooming)?