I thought Shadow could only do two tennis balls - an impressive feat in itself. But three tennis balls!!!! The mind boggles. I'm, once again, giving marketing a try. So Shadow may get some more public recognition for his feats. Unfortunately, in "The Molly Chronicles," I have mistakenly given him credit for only two tennis balls. More information for my blog if I can ever figure out how to get a website up. My old one died. You can read it, but I can't add anything to it. I bought a copy of "Building a Website for Dummies." I hope it helps.

R, Good luck with the rats. The poison and getting rid of the ivy will be a definite first step. I didn't have much luck with cayenne pepper, but I didn't try blowing it into the cracks, which might be more powerful. Be prepared, when the ivy goes, it's inhabitants will be looking for new places to live, so, for a while, it will look worse than before. Also dead rats smell really bad. Dead mice not so much.
I'm retired, and still don't have enough time to do everything. I have no idea how I managed while I was still working.