Hmmm...I'm glad I don't have to deal with those headaches yet, especially the yellow jackets/wasp issues as I really, really, really hate those demons with wings. So, what kind of bugs are stealing your pecans? I understand how the squirrels could definitely contribute to that problem. Do you have a dog that could possibly help you with the squirrel problem? They are good at causing a distraction for the squirrel while you hunt them.

I have a friend who's house was destroyed over their hot water heater flooding their house by the leak running from the upstairs on down while they were on vacation. Why exactly do you have your's located on the upstairs? We have ours in our dungeon (aka. our brown recluse infested basement), where we have three sump pumps that could easily take care of the problem if it should happen to go bad on us while were gone.