I spoke way too soon

I spoke way too soon on two accounts:

1) The mole. Wouldn't you know it, I noticed a new mole tunnel in the backyard just yesterday, albeit a short one, but one nonetheless. So much for the cat theory - I was rooting for that one!

But of far more concern to me...

2) The bristly rose slugs are back with a vengeance and on all THREE rose bushes, including and especially the newly planted one:

Damage from young bristly rose slugs on our new rose bush.

Needless to say, THIS MEANS WAR! (again). I overturned just about every single leaf on the new bush and killed over 40 of them by hand (yes, I counted). Most of them were very small. On the other bushes I found less, but still plenty (10 or less on each).  I'm more tempted now to use a insecticidal soap (or maybe try the flour approach), although, in turning over every leaf, I saw just how many other little critters have made the bush their home and I'd prefer not to kill everything on the plant. For now, my battle plan is to have several waves of slug hunts for the next couple of days to see if I can get them all by hand.