Wow that's unfortunate. Sounds way to dry, gets dangerous for forest fires as well. Hopefully you get some rain soon to test your new roof and to rehydrate the soil and rivers. We had a few dry years here, it was hard. We seemed to be oversaturated the last 2 years, no middle ground.

Rodents are no picnic, they make a legit mess and can chew thru anything. Gross. One thing we have going here, there was a war on rats and Alberta has been rat-free for decades. We still have mice outside but house cats take care of them.