Shiny things! & Cat VS Tree

Hi all, welcome & I hope everyone is having a good day! Welcome to new followers, MariKay & Longdog2! Of course, they are new followers to me, but not new to blogger.  They both have fascinating blogs here, I'm glad to be their follower as well. This is so much fun.

Today's posting is about reflectix & dead trees. No, I don't mean about wrapping dead trees in reflectix! Two different subjects...

When I added the portable a/c to the RV, it does the job. Not quite as well as the roof air, which I mentioned earlier in my blog pages why I can't use the roof air while I'm at my current location. Sooo, the other problem to the use of the portable a/c is the overhead cab bed area. It became a huge hot spot! Even with the curtains closed over that area, you could feel the heat drafting around. So I got Reflectix. I've heard about it from several different RV forums. So I went out to find some. Home Depot has it on their website, but none of our local stores carried it on their shelves. I could not waste the time to order & wait for this product. We were in the triple digits & I needed to resolve the issue asap. So I went to different stores & found it at Lowes - thank goodness!! I think I paid around $15 for a good sized roll & btw, it's the smallest roll that they make. Brought it back to the RV, made templates to the 3 windows & cut the reflectix with regular scissors. Works great! And it also blocks out any sunlight or lights at night, so you do get a better sleep if your morning light comes too early for you. I plan on cutting more for my vents to so I can use it for vent covers. I have winter type of vent covers, but want to use something lighter for summer usage.

Inside of the drivers side cab over window. I put this in all 3 windows, the side windows & the front window. It sure has made a difference. PS, I took my curtains down to sew new backs on. They were wearing out due to sun rot.

Exterior view of  cab over window. I was afraid it would look awful, like when people use foil, but it really doesn't look bad.

Exterior view of one of the small side cab over windows.

This stuff is great, you just cut a little bigger than the window opening on the inside of your window frame & pop in. It stays put if you cut it a tad larger. With all the talk of reflectix, yet no photos to go by, I wasn't sure what it really looked like. So I was pleased when I bought it & took it out of the package. It has silver type of stuff on both sides & an interior that resembles bubble wrap. Below are a couple of pics  of samples so you can see what it really looks like.

**Click on the photos for larger images. **

My old vent cover that I bought at an RV place. I have this one & two heavy padded ones. This one installs with velcro strips that you have to use on the cover & around the vent frame. I'm going to cut vent covers with the reflectix that I have, a little larger than the hole & see if it stays in. I'd prefer not to have to put velcro on all my vents.

And now to the next subject. We've been in a record breaking drought in Texas. We've not had any real rain since February. The two rains we've had since then didn't add up to much & didn't last long. The empty lot beside us was lined with pines. So many of them died during this period. My friends lost a gorgeous pine on their property as well. We've been watering the trees here like mad. So far, we've managed to save the magnolias, I sure wish the drought would end though. It's been in the triple digits, which seems to have finally left us, but today, the temp is still high at 98 degrees & the feels like temp is 101 degrees. No one stays outside for long here! I am glad we've been safe from any of the wildfires so far. None have been close enough to be a threat as of yet.

In this photo, 4 trees were removed. They removed two of the stumps & will come back to remove the other two in about 3 weeks. They bulldozed down the trees! They just snapped like toothpicks & these were big trees!

Here is a video clip that I put on youtube of them bulldozing. It's rather long & I thought it best to just share the link rather than put the video up on this page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp25YgfS1A

Then the utility company came through & removed the dead trees away from the power lines. Some of the wildfires here have happened to the dry trees breaking & hitting the power lines. Some of them have happened to the wood poles of the power lines snapping because of the drought & causing sparks.

Landscape across the lot of a before photo.

Same location of the area without the trees.

Here are the tree trucks contracted by the utility company.

I put the camera in auto shoot & got several pics of the tree while it was falling. I only chose 3 to share here though. The utility company of course, has them cut down, not bulldozed. The bulldozed trees were contracted by the owner of the lot to be removed, not by the utility company. The utility company only removed the trees that were a treat to the power lines.

Another shot of the tree while it falls. 

Tree down! Note the rising dust when it hit the ground. That is how dry it is here!

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed today's blog. I hope everyone is having a great day!

And as always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor.