A Busy Two Weeks

We have gotten a lot done around here the past two weeks.  I went and got 2 truck loads of compost and one of bark.  Our yard looks great and Blake tilled our garden to get ready for planting.  The compost I got was from Weber County Compost Facility.  My friend, whose husband is the Director of Agriculture for the state of Utah, said he swears by this stuff.  So I am taking a chance.  It is beautiful stuff, however, it contains bio-waste (human poop) as well as bark.  This stuff isn't nearly as strong smelling (meaning chemical smell...not the other), than the stuff that was all bio-waste I put on two years ago.  Last Saturday I planted peas, lettuce, and spinach.  Blake stared a new sprinkling system for our garden and finished it yesterday.  It looks SO good.  It should work so much better for our garden.  Our garden used to get watered when we watered our lawn.  Even though I only water every 1-2 days, it was too much water for tomatoes and corn.  This should work a lot better and I am so excited to see the outcome.
Another thing that has happened is our dog, Skipper, keeps getting out.  Several times a day he would get out of his kennel.  Now normally he roams all fall-winter, when my garden is no longer growing, but this year he has been caged up.  I let him out for a few days, only to find him in our chicken coop letting the chickens out.  I got really tired of getting a dog and 5 chickens in their cages several times a day.  I couldn't figure out how my dog was getting out.  I finally figured it out.  He has peed so many times on the bottom bar in one spot that it has totally rusted through.  He was lifting up the bar with his nose and crawling under it.  So for days, I wired the kennel together thinking that would help, but he kept getting out and then would get the chickens out.  I thought I finally figured it out, but I was wrong when I came home on Friday to find him out as well as my garbage all over my backyard.  However, he didn't get the chickens out.  So I finally took chicken wire and wired the inside of his kennel and bought more parts and he hasn't been out since yesterday.  So far it has been 24 hours and he hasn't figured a way to get out.  That is a record for the last two weeks.
Another thing we did while Blake was off, was replace our garage door that leads outside.  The trim was completely rotted on the bottom from the elements.  In fact you could put your hand through to our garage. We never use that door, because our truck it parked there and blocks it.  So Blake and my dad put in a new door.  However, there was still holes on each side.  Blake had to go back to work so the holes sat.  All I could think about was mice getting into my garage.  I could easily put my hand through so nothing would be stopping those nasty things from getting in there.  Oh how I HATE mice!  For Christmas my parents gave us a nail gun.  That is what I wanted.  So I got out the handy dandy nail gun and took a trip to Lowe's to buy supplies.  I was so proud of myself.  I but a 2x4 to fill in the gaps and then put a piece of 2x2 on the outside to cover it there and put the trim back on the door in the inside.  I did a pretty good job if I say so myself.