Security bars ...

Remember the front covered entry way?

We did the same thing on the back - now, all that is necessary to make this area perfect is a nice little table and a couple comfortable chairs so we can sip coffee while listening to the waters of the Tisingal roar down the mountain and the birds sing their praises to the dawn:

Also, we added a 3' x 12' area for birds - what can I say? We don't like the look of traditional security bars they use down here, so we had something built that was as strong or stronger, but had a secondary function.

We continued the philosophy of wanting security, but not liking the traditional look, when we added bars to the office and bedroom windows - instead of putting them on the outside of the house, we put them between the screens and the actual glass windows:

Current project...

The arrival of this hard-working truck meant a long hard day of welding ... Rafa and Billy got right to work, but proved difficult to photograph. Still, I did managed to catch this one of Billy:

& this of Rafa:

This is the beginning of their project:

And Billy welding away at it mid-project:

AND, this is what they were working on:

This is dry season, but we've been getting a ton of rain --- if/when it gets dry, I will paint the metal and then move the plants into the new porch/greenhouse (plants tend to object to paint on their leaves).

closet ...

It took 4 years to decide on what we wanted for a permanent closet, but this is the start of it:

And a few more pieces added:

With Calisto supervising, of course (he's the one in the cap)

& now you see the bits all put together ---- we did not want doors on the closet because mold and mildew are problems in areas where air does not circulate, so until we can figure out a solution to that issue, we prefer to avoid the problem by not having doors:

These final 2 photos are of everything in the unit:

If we ever want, we can take out the shelves below the computer & use this area as a desk:

Makeovers...

Our Szuki Jimny looks about the same from the front, but if you look closely, you'll see that she is sporting a snazzy new luggage rack:

AND from the side, perhaps you'll notice that she's got stylish new rims:

You can really notice the new, stylish rims, when you look at her spare tire:

We had nothing to do with the other makeover - below you'll see that moss is growing on 'seal rock' in a pattern that resembles waves on the 'tummy' and it's even growing an eye! Wish I'd thought of this - I'd have looked for buttermilk to paint on the desired pattern, but I really don't think this natural one can be topped:

New neighbors ....

We discovered that we had new neighbors in a red grapefruit tree:

See how well the Hummingbirds hid it?:

For the birds ...

Just finished a couple birds (taking a break from flowers) - this chatty tucan:

& this thirsty hummer for Gen - it was based on one of her photos & I'm amazed at her luck/skill with a camera - I have been trying to photograph hummingbirds and butterflies in our garden (for years) and most of the time I end up with photos of blurry foliage.

I realize that at first glance this is quite a dull looking patch of flowers BUT they're the Central American version of butterfly weed, and we actually have several patches of them for the butterflies (and humming birds, too) -

If you take a close look, you can see this beauty:

Or this one:

We've seen many other species of butterfly sipping nectar plus 5 species of humming birds, unfortunately, as yet, have not been successful at getting a photo of the humming birds....