Garage Door is Done!

The rear track hangers were a big source of worry and headache for me, and I was feeling really relieved when I finally got this first one up. Then Hillary asked "How are you going to get the ladder out?" Oops.










This is me opening the garage for the first time after finishing everything. It works! But it has to be opened by hand because there is no opener yet.











Now I need to install the opener and finish clearing out the garage. And I need to stucco over the exposed wood where I cut the hole in the wall.

Garden: Round 2

 

Today we planted a new garden. This time we are equipped with a bird net recommended by David. We will see who will win this round!

Birds: 1  Culps: 0

Screen Door

The screen door that was here when we moved in was full of holes and would not have kept bugs out. A new screen door would be $50, but I found an $8 kit from Home Depot - I was able to keep the screen door frame and just replace the screen itself.

Garage

Used a grinder to cut the outline.

Finished outline.

The wall was really stubborn, but I finally got it out.

 That brings us to this point. 2 full days of work to knock out the wall, and get the garage door up. Then everything came to a screeching halt when I realized that I was missing 4 special screws that I needed to finish putting the track up. The company is mailing me the new screws now. The garage door and vertical track are in place, but I can't put up the horizontal track along the ceiling until I get those screws. So the door can't be raised yet.

Once the screws come in, I can hang the horizontal track and then attach the spring.

Horned Lizard

Murphy was chasing this little horned lizard around the back yard. I scooped it up in a dust pan because Murphy started snapping at it like she was going to eat it. Commonly called a horny toad, but it is actually a lizard. Very cool looking!

Arizona Giant Centipede

 Tonight I found this lovely creature scaling our wall. It was about 6 inches long. I wasn't sure what to do with it at first. I remember Andrew telling me they were poisonous. It seemed too large to smash, plus it was about 7ft high on the wall. I decided to let it crawl into a box but I was probably shaking too much because I knocked it to the ground. It took me about 15 minutes to find it. Luckily it was hiding under a very heavy speaker so when I moved the speaker to look for it, I smashed it.

I found out that they can bite and their legs are venomous. I have found and seen lots of interesting wildlife outside but this was the first unusual thing we have seen inside. I may have trouble sleeping tonight!!

War on Birds

Birds have mostly destroyed our garden. First they ate all our strawberries before they got big enough for us to eat. Then they completely ate or destroyed our biggest, healthiest plant - our brussels sprouts. Now they have dug up most of the seeds and seedlings that I planted recently. They also dug up and ate two of our onions. I'm so mad right now because I put a lot of work into this garden.

I'm going to buy a couple fake snakes and a fake owl to place around the garden, and I'm going to hang a string above it with CDs hanging from it. I read that the movement and flashing lights scare them away.