After we moved in, I noticed a mound of dirt in the front yard that wasn't there before. We were going to the hardware store anyhow so we got kitted up to handle fire ants. Before I dropped the ant poison, I poked the mound a few times and no ants came out. So that wasn't it.

I figured that maybe one of our neighbors poured a bucketful of dirt on our yard. If that was the case, then asking questions about it wouldn't lead anywhere useful. Isabel mentioned that the water department came out the previous morning and that made a lot more sense.

Then we saw another dirt mound a few days later. And it's looking like we've got moles. So off to the hardware store again to get kitted up to handle moles. We've got options. I don't know how to use traps. I don't want to get poison; we'd hate it if one of the local cats or dogs got in to it. So we got mole repellent.

First one we saw, active ingredient was putrescent egg solids. That was when I decided I'd rather have a mole problem than a putrescent egg solid problem. Second one, active ingredient was dried blood, and maybe I'm being superstitious but "We spread blood over our front yard" is the kind of thing you see at the beginning of a problem rather than at the end of one. So we've been putting castor oil granules down and so far it's moderately successful, I guess.

We had wanted to start a garden, but we can't do much until this is taken care of. But homeownership involves having a lot of things filed as plans for later on. Isabel is tending some potted plants and the cactuses are doing alright. Prickly, but generally alright. The others, we'll have to figure out a bit more about what we're doing.