Mommy Mirror & Recovery

Hi, hope all is well with everyone here. I've not posted in a few days, honestly, nothing much is going on. Just still recovering. Still doing minimal walking in an orthopedic boot. And a tallish tennis shoe on the left foot to help balance myself out, but at least I can do some walking! Foot swells if I do too much or if it's not elevated for very long. Biggest problem has been nausea! I do not do pills well, even with the help of taking prevacid, I still get nauseated. But maybe this is a good weight loss plan? I can eat ice cream with no ill side effects though, but I'm out of that now.

Feather has decided to test my foot today, Mommy, I want to go outside! OK, get up, put boot on, put shoe on, take her out. Oh I can't potty out here, it's too cold! Well you have to! Oh, ok, let me find the right spot....here?...no...here?...no...here?..Hey Feather, it's cold out here! Hurry up! Oh ok...here?...no...here?...no...uh oh, I'd better go, Mommy has that look in her eyes. OK, here's a spot, OK, I'm done, lets go in!! You have to do #2! OK, let me sniff...sniff...sniff....no, it aint' gonna happen right now. We're going back in! Half hour later, Mommy, I have to go potty. Ok, here we go again!! Same scenario, finally, poo,,er sorry, #2. 
This afternoon: Mommy!! OK, you are going out to the dog run this time! Several screams later, she's back in the RV, all snuggled into her mat.

Last night, we had a gorgeous sunset! Of course, who was I walking when I noticed it? Feather of course! So I hurry her up so I can hobble as quickly as I can to grab camera & make it to the pasture. Made it back there, most of the sun was already gone! Sunsets happen really fast here, don't blink! So I got what I could of it, but it was glorious a few mins before I got these shots. Click on the photos for bigger images.

So a few weeks ago, I picked up this cool gizmo. I have a gadget addiction, I love gadgets!

I have a smaller mirror that is attached to my rear view mirror, but unless one uses a magnifying glass, it's pretty worthless. This mirror mounts onto your window, much like a gps mount does. The mirror itself is 4"long by 2.5 " tall. Glass image that is. Cool deal. I like being able to get a quick view of what's going on in the interior of the RV while we're moving down the road, so this will help. Sometimes things fall & it would be nice to see if it's something that I need to pull over for or not. Click on images for a larger image.

While I'm at it, I might as well share my recovery area too.

This is my living area, with the jacknife sofa folded up. Note that I have a canvas organizer on the wall. That's been discussed in an earlier post, but it's really handy! Between my seats is a two step stool. The top step used to have my portable a/c on it, but that's packed away now. So I have a lamp on it, I love the soft lighting of lamps vs the bright 12volt lights of the RV in the evenings when watching tv. On the bottom step is an electric heater/fan. I really like this heater & found this is the most efficient space to place it. Last several years, I've used it in the kitchen area, but have found that the cab area really stays cold. Now that's helping to battle that problem area. Last year, I closed off the cab area - big mistake. That only aided in producing condensation in that space, so I won't be making that mistake again. It took several shampoos to get rid of mildew!

My space isn't very girly. I'm going to have to eventually get a better cover for the sofa. I don't like the sofa pattern, so I keep it covered. Plus when the dogs are hanging out on it, then it's an easy cover to wash. Oh & if you look real hard, you can see where my passenger seat turns around for extra seating in the RV. I really like that. The drivers seat turns too, but then, you are turning it into the sofa, so doesn't make much sense. Right now, it's piled with blankets & pillows until I can make it back up to my overhead bed to sleep in again. I do miss sleeping up there. I prefer sleeping up there on my memory foam mattress, but the air mattress on the sofa isn't too bad either. Kind of feels like those old water beds though. Remember those? I never had one, but slept on a few as a guest on other people's homes.

Sofa folded down with air mattress on top of it. The white thing in the corner is an air filter, the other thing my walker, which can now be removed from the RV :-)

And one more thing, I thought I'd share my fold up table that I got at WalMart last year. It really works well for my computer as I still like using a mouse & there's efficient space for a mouse pad, a drink, the remote control & a cell phone. So when it's in use, I just keep it beside the sofa.

I just placed it in front of my door so I could take a photo of it. I also love that round top stool that folds up too! It comes in handy for things as well & stores really well.

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Computer cleaning & animal rescue

Good Morning Everyone

Morning sun coming in through the mini blinds - gotta love it!

The african violets don't complain about that morning sun..

Welcome to my new blogger friends - Bhounds www.bhounds.blogspot.com  He has currently started a new blog (not new to blogs though) in his search for the RV that is right for him & his one bloodhound & 2 basset hounds. Any advice you have, toss him a bone! He's interested in a ClassC & traveling with his 3 companions.
Welcome to Rick & Paulette  rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.com   From what I hear, Rick is quite the guru for blogger problems & is willing to share any of his experiences. Paulette seems to be quite the cook - ohhhh, the photos of that lasagna the other day - yummy! They also have two little furrmeisters of the barking variety, Rylie & Molly. They travel in a lovely 5ver.
Welcome to Sara  www.rvingsolo.blogspot.com  Sara is currently in the process of trying to sell her home & is interested in purchasing a ClassC Lazy Daze motorhome. Those rigs are really nice, I like the ones with the rear living area & the panaromic views. Good luck with your search Sara!
Welcome to Donna K  www.therapytravels.blogspot.com
They also have a Lazy Daze & I'm looking forward to taking the time to read through their blog when I get some time to do so.

****ON a side note, I still can't place comments on some bloggers pages :-(((  So if you don't use the pop up kind of comment or if you don't have your embedded comment page set for name/url & anonymous, then I can't leave comments. For some reason, google & blogger don't recognize my account...I hate that, but don't know how to resolve the issue.

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This morning, I decided to clean my laptop computer. The fan is making a lot of noise in it. So I got my small shop vac out of the back of my van, got the micro mini cleaning tools I picked up a few weeks ago that are for the small shop vac. Took the laptop outside & went to work cleaning it. First I blew out the fan vent with the shop vac (I'm too cheap to buy canned air). Then I used the sucking side of the shop vac & attached the necessary tools to the hose to do some vacuuming of the keyboard & vent areas. I also have kitties & their hair unfortunately finds it's way into the computer. Downside is, my fan is still making more noise than I'd like to hear. Guess I'll be taking it to my friends that work on my computers & have them take the laptop apart to see if there's hair or something wrapped on the fan blades. Or maybe the fan itself needs replaced?

There are 6 tools in the kit. 2 of them aren't shown in this picture, but you can see them in the photo below. The adaptor that fits over the hose & an angled brush.

I love my little shop vac! I wish I had room in the RV to store it, but I don't, so I keep it in my van. I use it a lot in the RV though, for one, I use it to blow out the a/c a few times a year. I take off the inside cover & blow out the a/c from the inside as it accumulates a lot of dust. Makes the RV messy though, so do this before cleaning!

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And now how I spent my day yesterday. As I've mentioned before, I have a little foster dog, a Chiweenie (Chihuahua X Doxie mix). He's part of a rescue group BCB Animal Rescue. I named him Carlos & saved him off the streets. Found his home, but they refused him so I took him in & put him through the program.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/BCB-Animal-Rescue-Inc/109091552518293

I'm also one of the moderators for the BCB rescue page for facebook, so I have lots of photos to edit from yesterday to put into an album on the site.

Here are a couple of the photos from yesterday:

This is Blue, enjoying some attention. Blue is a siberian husky mix. He has pretty blue eyes & is marked nicely as well.

This is Anna, one of the rescuers giving one of the kittens a kiss & a hug.

Some of the visitors that come in either come to adopt or just to come say hi to the rescues.

Either way, we appreciate them all. Visitors help with socialization & all these animals don't go off to a shelter, rather they go back to our homes as our fosters till they get adopted. PetSmart is kind enough to allow us to meet there on a weekly basis. They also allow us to place some of the kitties into their adoption area for weekly viewing. We do not do same day rescue as applications need to be filled out & resources need to be checked before any adoptions can be cleared. Placing these souls to go into permanent safe homes is our goal. I actually foster Carlos in my RV, so it can be done if anyone is interested in fostering pets for your local rescue group. However, sometimes, you will have to foster for long periods of time, so be prepared for that as well if this is in your interest to do so.

This is Carlos on one of my trips that we took down to the bay. He loves to travel & loves people & kids. He likes other dogs too, but gets a little rough when he plays with them.

This is Copper, one of my rescue kitties. Copper went into a great home! They adore him & carry a cell phone full of photos of him ;-)

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



RV cutting board/stove topper, flat cable & helping a dog in need

Hi all, I hope everyone is having a good day. I've had a low key type of day, which sometimes we all need. A friend came over early this morning to get some items. I'm dog sitting this weekend & then got a call to help someone with a Rhodesian Ridgeback that gained an eye infection while in boarding. She was not able to adminsiter his eye ointment, so I drove over there to help her. His eye looks bad, she will be taking him to an eye specialist tomorrow. I hope his eye will be treatable & ok. Needless to say, she's very upset over her baby! Too bad while in boarding, the necessary attention was not given there & then.
I also got pics of the little hummingbird sitting on a tree branch! Will have to edit that later & get pics up if they turned out. He was so tiny & it was hard to find in the viewfinder of my camera as he was the same size & color of the tree leaves.

I also wanted to share my RV cutting board that I got for my stove top a few years back. When I went to an RV place to get one, I was astonished how expensive they are & the ones I saw had the rubber back matting glued down to them. So I went to WalMart & bought a nice sized cutting board & bought the non slip matting & I just put that under the board, then I place the board on the stove top. It has never shifted off during my travels! I really do not use it for a cutting board though as I want it to always look nice. I could use it if I baked to roll cookie dough or something like that though...that's an "if" mind you ;-)

My RV does not have a stove top cover, so most folks that don't have one of those use the cutting boards for extra counter space. My lamp & items look nice sitting on it.

Another thing that some may not know about is a flat cable that you can use in a window if you use satellite. When DirectTV installed my satellite a few years back (I no longer have cable, but still kept the cables & flat cable), I was concerned about them cutting a hole in the RV to add a cable connection as mine does not have one! I was really worried about that! So I googled & learned about flat cables that could be ran through windows. I was set out to buy one, but the cable folks showed up early. Fortunately, they already knew how to work with RV's & they had flat cables! BUT they were going to cut a small hole in my screen to run it through! I stopped them & told them my screens move like my sliding windows do, so they did not have to do any cutting - whew! Where I am parked now, satellite can't reach me due to too many trees. But that's really ok because I don't need that much tv anyhow right now. Lifes been too busy for that.

Oh & I watched a movie this after noon. The Green Mile with Tom Hanks. Wow, what a movie & what a tear jerker it was. Good movie, but a little tough to get through...

Have a good evening everyone & as always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor.  Toodles!