Backyard wildlife sanctuary or neighborhood nuisance?

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/page1/3241936

Kelly Walker just may be my soulmate, but I damned sure ain't moving to Houston. I don't know why any true nature lover would want to live in a big city to begin with.

It's so dry here 220 miles NNE of Houston that not even my weeds are growing anymore. And I do have a working lawnmower (battery-operated at that) with which I obliterated most of the pesky wisteria that had been making a huge comeback from being cut to shreds last November.