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Windows

 It’s not in the 100s here anymore, but it is still hot and sunny.  We have a couple windows that get blasted by the sun every afternoon. We got some sunscreens installed to cut down on the solar gain. These are like the sunscreen we attach to the big windshield on our motorhome when we’re parked.  We can still see out, plenty of light comes in, but that direct sunshine inside is diffused.  I took these two pictures at different times of the day.  Really, it’s the same house both times; the camera just sees different colors depending on the light.  
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Projects and progress

 Tuesday.  7:30am.  The crew returns.  The cement truck arrives and parks out front.  Have you ever watched how this works?  It’s pretty cool.  The drum has big fins inside, spiraled in (Or out, depending on how you look at it.)  They spin the drum one way to mix the cement up good, then turn it slowly the other way to deliver the cement.  Precision.  They poured the cement into wheelbarrows all morning and never spilled a drop:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFuLPQ20My4 Over where the cement is delivered, it’s a busy place.  Wheelbarrow dumping, cement spreading, stomping, mesh lifting, dirt wetting, boarding.  An intricate dance.  A Concrete Ballet:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbYoC_r1lIg&NR=1 More spreading, boarding, and tamping:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sof2ogNInRw Smoothing with a giant trowel:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5rI7lp_1nc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL Smoothing with hand trowels:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA0ZsWyOM78&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL Once they got through the pouring and the truck left, the crew got progressively smaller.  For hours afterword though, they troweled.  Even when they were all done, a couple guys waited and watched.  If anything happened while the slab was drying, they were right there to take care of it.  And Voila.  The finished product: And it all happened under the watchful eye of Henry.  He never left his post.  
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Meanwhile

 Back at the ranch.  The prep work is done for the extended cement slab; the first phase of our slab/cover/deck project.      It happened pretty fast; just a few hours. Here is an Excel sketch of the master plan.   
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Laguna Atascosa

 National Wildlife Refuge. 97,000 acres along the shore of the Laguna Madre.  Dense thorny brush among wind-blown dunes.  Thorn forest intermingled with freshwater wetlands, coastal prairies, mudflats, and beaches along one side.  The last best U.S. habitat of the endangered Ocelot.  Green Jays, Plain Chachalacas,  and the Texas Tortoise.