Ouch!

It was a long hard weekend and I am missing a good portion of skin off of a few knuckles and have some nice scratches, but the good news is that the hardware cloth/wire mesh is all on the coop! I also was able to get the door built and the mesh on the door. My dad came today to help put the upper section of hardware cloth on which was a huge help - it is pretty hard to hold up a big length of the hardware cloth by yourself while nailing in poultry staples - so I cam really glad he was able to help. After he was gone I finished up the lower wire, my son and daughter helped stain the door (which still needs to be hung) and I back filled around the coop piers. I decided behind the coop by the fence I should put in some pavers to keep it from being a weedy mess since the space is too narrow to mow and would be a bear to weed whip. The limestone pavers and crushed granite I used to fill in between the was left over from a garden project last year and I need one more bag of granite, but I think it is going to look very nice. I have some pavers not too far from this around one side of the house - so at some point I may connect the two areas to try to tie it in and make it look a little more finished.

I did some work on the garden as well, things are doing very nicely and growing really well - I am hopeful that I may start to see florets on the broccoli soon. I did a little weeding and spread a layer of compost around all the plants in the fall veggie bed to add a little more nutrients to the soil to see if I can't kick those veggies into production! I have a lot of yard clean up around the beds to catch up on once the coop is done - but for now I am focusing on the coop and keeping the veggies going - the rest is going to have to wait. Although I did manage to at least mow my front yard Saturday so it doesn't look like I have also taken to growing my own hay!

I have to do some traveling this coming week for work, so other than what I can get done tomorrow night after work I have to wait until the weekend to be able to do any more work on the coop. I am determined to get the exterior siding on the hen house next weekend, but I think I am going to have to call in the reinforcements to get that all done in one weekend. There is still a lot to do after the siding goes on, but I am hopeful that the chicks will move out of the house and into their new house by April 10. I love watching them grow and watching their antics, but the dust in my living room is unreal. I dust one day and three days later there is a layer of dust on everything that makes it look like my house got hit by a dust devil.

I am exhausted and will be happy for a long nights sleep tonight - I am hoping to get the door hung tomorrow evening, but I also have to pack from my trip so I will have to play it by ear. Wish me luck everyone!

Happy gardening!