Decisions...descions...sedsinons...

Yea, can't type that one three times!! 8-)

I hope everyone is having a great day!

I'm still in limbo on what to do. I am leaning towards keeping my RV & buying a small closed in cargo trailer to tow behind. Part of my problem is, the RV is not big enough. It's not even big enough to hold a simple vacuum cleaner anywhere, except the bathtub! I have a cargo carrier on the back of the rig, that holds my dogs expens, a grooming crate & 2 plastic bins. One of the bins holds clean dog blankets & at the bottom, holds a bbq grill that is in it's own canvas cover. The other bin is empty. I use it for soiled dog blankets when I travel, if someone soils a blanket or just needs a fresh one. As ya'll know, I never actually planned on living in my rig, but found myself living in it after a hurricane damaged my house too badly for me to live in...that's another story, but the reason I moved into my RV in the year of 2008.


It was fine for awhile, I was AM GRATEFUL to have it, grateful that it's totally paid for, grateful that it gives me a place to lay my head at night. A safe place until the damages occurred to it in Nov 2011. For now, I sleep on the sofa with an airbed on that. Which is fine, but I have to set it up each night & take it down each morning. Anyhow, getting back to my dilemma. Until those damages heaved themselves upon me, I was considering trading or selling my RV in for a bigger one. Now it's probably going to cost a lot to have the overhead cab totally rebuilt. But if I sell it as is, then I will lose too much on any resale value, thus, that will suck into revenue for another RV. I want to own the next one outright as well. I haven't worked since my accident in 2010. I am getting better & have plans for my future once I can get totally back on my feet again. I was caught in a bunch of red tape so-to-speak. The docs didnt' want me working as they said walking or standing too much would not be good for me. Sitting too much also irritates me. But soon, that will all be behind me. I've received some compensation, but when one finds themselves in a medical hurricane, that's not fun either!

Sooo, I think my decision is to get the RV fixed & continue living in it till I can work & save money towards a bigger rig. And just get a cargo carrier that can hold my extra things, like the expens, extra dog supplies, my cleaning supplies, jewelry making supplies, etc.   I've yet to have a chance to take the RV out for more estimates though. Thought I could do that on Friday...nope, rain will be heading our way again on Friday. It rained today, will rain tomorrow & maybe Thursday. Now that I have the funds to get it fixed, it won't quit raining long enough for me to get it fixed! Life is strange huh? From drought to rain, rain, rain. But only rain on the only days I can find to take the motorhome in!

My current set up. I also have a bike carrier that attaches to my ladder in which to carry my bicycle.

A photo of a cargo trailer that I borrowed from the web. This one already sold when I called about it. But time is on my side as far as finding another one. I want to find a used one as opposed to buying a new one at a much higher cost!

I hope to go onto Pa to visit with my family for the summer. I want to leave in April. The doc ordered more therapy for me though, which is fine. I can work on getting stronger & by the time therapy is done, then the months will be better for my leaving weather wise anyhow.

Good news is, I am getting stronger! I hope to see lots of hiking in my future too. Lots of dog walking along the way to Pa. Some exploring along the way there, stopping at state parks for a few nights at a time.

Rain clouds from window view of docs office. The street that you can see that runs along side of the building floods when it rains a lot. Fortunately today was just spurts of rains here & there instead of our usual torrential rains. Samsung cell phone photo.

So what do you do when sitting, waiting, tapping your feet in the docs office while waiting? You take pics of course! Samsung Cell phone pic.

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

If Herman Munster can, then so can I!

Good Morning Everyone! I hope ya'll are living the good life & living great days!

Welcome to caterina serra! I don't seem to see a blog on you, but I'm glad to have you along :-)

Life has been really busy lately, so I've not even had the time to blog.
I've been rather...um...dogged..lately...my friend's husband had surgery, so I've been taking care of all their dogs, the boarding dogs & my own. It's been a lot of work, but it's my part in helping out with things around here. And I took Birdie back out to Lure Coursing this weekend. She wasn't up to her greatest though, then on Sunday, judging from the way she ran, I assessed that she has not fully recovered from her coursing accident from a few weeks back, so she'll be taking a nice long break now. IF you asked her if she was hurting though, she'd lie to you just so she could run more! Salukis love to run! So why the Herman Munster title? Well I had to go get Dog Food yesterday, then go to WalMart to get a few things. They are in one of those strip mall type of parking lots, but a little too far from each other & seperated by a road that cuts through the parking lot, so I had to drive to each place. I'm still in the big boot. And of course, it's on my right foot (I'm getting better though so long as I don't over do it -- as I've unfortunately been forced to do so lately). So in order to drive, I take a shoe along for my right foot (that of course doesn't match the left foot shoe so if I get pulled over, I can look like a total idiot & lose all respect from anybody pulling me over...thus perhaps getting a nice long vacation at the funny farm), -- oops back to driving. So I have to walk to the van with the boot on, get in van, take boot off, put shoe on, drive, get there, take shoe off, put boot on, go in store, shop, come back out & do the same steenkin' process over again. So at PetSmart yesterday, I thought, oh hell, if Herman Munster could drive with those big fat platform shoes, then so can I! And I did! And it worked! But I don't think it would be a good idea if I had to drive in real traffic. I'm only 4 miles from WM, so I was able to drive back to the RV with the boot on because the drive back is back on a quiet parkway & a straight shot, so that wasn't too hard. AND ya'll should be proud of me because I didn't gets cornfused & put the shoe on my foot before I got out of the van! Yay!

Here are a couple of vids that I did of lure coursing. Lure Coursing is a test of a sight hounds ability of hunting without the use of live game. The dogs get scored on their runs towards their LC titles.





And if you don't wish to or can't watch the vids, here are a couple of photos of dogs coursing: Click on photos for larger images.

Releasing Rodesian Ridgebacks.

Ridgebacks running!

Releasing Afghan Hounds.

Afghan Hounds running!

OK, now I have to go groom 2 Afghan hounds for someone. So I hope ya'll have a nice day & thanks for stopping by!

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

Really?

Really? Where has this year gone? It's December 1st already? This year seems to have zipped by & I wasn't even having fun! This year has been consumed with problems with the ankle & dealing with insurance & such. But at least the surgery finally happened & I am now on the road to recovery. Speaking of roads, I went to town today to get a new handicapped placard. Well, I FORGOT to put on my ankle brace! Oh well, I'm already part way there, so I can do this. I get there, give them the paperwork, get the placard & go a different route to get back to the RV. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER! Argh, construction & I knew it, but I did NOT know that they would have the street closed!! Oh fun, fun, fun....and at the lights, 4 way stops in heavy traffic. So my foot screams at me, Enough already! I'm halfway back to the RV, but have to take a detour, so had to go a completely different route to get back. Got back, ran the dogs, put some laundry in the washer & finally came to the RV for a little "me" time. I love "me" time. I can't wait till the day I can drive off & be my own person again. Just me, my dogs & kitties.
I was planning on stopping at a store to look at small C'mas trees, but that didn't happen. So I guess next week, I'll do that. Tomorrow, it's Camping World for Ellie's assesment of her damages. So I'd better get busy & get her road ready. Things have been taken out of place & left out after surgery & I am able to at least spiffy her up a little. Wish I could wash her too, but that's out of the question for now.

I can't say it enough how much I appreciate having this RV!

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Ellie parked at a park while I rest & walk the dogs on the Natchez Trace Pkwy.

What I wish we were doing right now! I love driving. And no, this ain't Texas ;-)

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

Stitches & not the sewing kind

Hi, I hope all is well with everyone today!

Had a doc appointment today - I'm happy to say that the stitches are now gone! Yay! Although it hurt a little. The specialist was getting ready to take them out & I told him that it's a sensitive area with me, so he layed the chair back because he was afraid I'd faint! But as he pulled each one, it felt like I was getting stabbed by pins. Ouch. I'm glad that they are out now though. Still have to remain in the boot for 2 more weeks at least - bummer. But all in all, I can walk in it some. So it's better than hobbling around with the walker a few days after surgery! As soon as it's approved, I'll start therapy, so I'm hoping for a quick recovery! Best of all, I can take a real shower now! I'll probably use the RV shower since it's easier to get in & out of. My friend's shower that I use is in a big garden tub & is hard to get in & out of.

Isn't this paper cute? It's what the podiatrist office uses on their chairs to prop feetseys on top of.

And they casted my feet....no, not for a movie, for orthotics baby!

No one needs to see this enlarged huh?

****OK, at the end of this post, I promise to show ya'll the stitches if you want to see them. But I'll save that for the last thing as some folks may NOT want to see that! I actually don't even want to see that...****

And tomorrow, I'll get my vacuum out & get the RV cleaned up. YES, it really needs vacuumed badly! I have a stick vacuum, but lately, it seems to be less effective & trips breakers, so it's time to get rid of it. So I'll be using my Shark, which I love, but I have to put my hand weights on the rugs or it sucks them up too. ;-)  I will be taking the RV over to Camping World on Friday for an estimate on the overhead damage from a few weeks ago. I'll be a happy camper once that job is done!

And I wanted to share a picture of a wonderful horse. Well actually both horses are cool, but check out how BIG this horse is! He's a Staffordshire horse. They both belong to friends of mine, Stacey & Cheri. Stacey stood under the horse so we could all see how big that boy is. And he's like a big puppy dog. He runs up to you & kind of scares you because he looks like he may not stop!

OK, now for the stitches...scroll down

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Just wanted to be sure that if no one wanted to see it, that there would be enough space for them not to view this. I don't like things like this myself. But it was kind of funny when I asked the doc if I could take a pic before he removed the stitches & the look on his face! He thought it was odd & well, I guess it rather is!

You can click on the photo to enlarge it, but not me! :-p

ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!!

Once again, I'm thankful for having the RV to recover in. Everything is just a couple of steps away & way easier for me!

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

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~

Getting the boot - more recovery in the RV

Welcome to Tanya & Jool! Tanya doesn't appear to have a blog, but if you do, I'd love to read it & share your url. Jool does have a blog - she's a Texas Gal & is checking into getting a Casita. I like those, they are really cute & easy to tow. Here is her url  http://joolsjaunts.com/  Good luck Jool & I like your little Boston Terrier, Gracie. Am looking forward to reading more of your blog in a bit.

So I got the boot today! Really. I did. Yep, really....

What? Not quite what you thought? ;-)  I was finally able to put this thing on & do a little walking today! Yipee! Since last Wednesday, 11-16, I've been using a walker in the RV. That was not working out very well since I don't have a slide, then I used a stool by placing a pillow on it, then placing my right knee on that & shuffling around so I'd not walk on my right foot. First day I tried the boot, it hurt. 2nd day I tried it, I puked. 3rd day I tried it, I could feel a pull on the stitches, so I quit trying. This morning, I finally felt like my old self again! Got up, took a sponge bath, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair (with a different kind of brush in case anyone was wondering), got dressed in real clothes instead of jammies (yay). Got my air mattress off of the jacknife sofa & lifted it to the overhead bed area. Folded the sofa back up & then put the boot on & was scared, but took my first few steps since the surgery! Went outside & walked a little bit too, then took Feather out to potty her. Then walked in the house & visited with my friends dogs & the rest of my dogs :-)  Yay, I can walk again! But must be careful not to over do it or I'll be back in pain again. Foot still swells twice it's size, so I had a friend take me to Walmart to get a real ice pack instead of the temporary hospital one. I got an ice pack bag kind of thing & it works way better. Had some words with a WM employee. He was gathering the shopping carts. I started to move a cart that was full of rugs, was irritated that they blocked off the electric carts as I needed one. His comment was, none of those work. I said, well I need one. I asked him if he could find me one. His comment, no. I said I just had surgery & can't walk, I need one. Again, he denied my request & walked off. So I told him I was reporting him then! And I did! They have people greeters at the door. She went off to get the manager, she was not happy about the cart guy either. The manager located me an electric cart & apologized profusely. I hope the cart boy gets in big trouble for this! I got my meds & other things & left. Thanking the people greeter lady as I left. I'm still grateful for my RV to recover in! It's the best place to be :-)) I can't wait till I recover & get my life back. I don't know what's in the future for me yet. I will have to find a job to save some money with & maybe I'll head to Pa next spring/summer to be with family up there for the warmer months. I may save money towards getting a bigger RV, selling Ellie ( :-{  ) because a bigger one would simplify my life a bit more.
In the meantime, I will be expecting an adjuster to come assess the damages I recently incurred on the exterior part of the over head cab. I sure hope it can be covered & fixed by them. For now, it's pretty protected by the elements, but not driveable. But then, I can't quite drive yet anyhow!

Take care everyone & I hope ya'll are having a great day!

A photo of Feather.

PS, ya'll would have been laughing at me yesterday as I crawled on my hands & knees fixing the darn carpet runners if you could have seen me! Hate those things, but dislike dirty carpets even more.

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

More Post Surgery RV Recovery/RV TV/Cleaning Mini Blinds

So there's not much for me to do right now. Can't walk yet, tried to go out with the walker. Managed to get out the door, take a few steps, realized I wasn't strong enough to go far, so came back in & crawled back into bed. The doc said I could walk a little bit with my boot, gave that a try & puked when I tried to get it on. So I guess I'm not ready for that yet either. Feeling nauseated off & on, that could be the meds though. Plus I get that way when I get hurt anyhow. But again, the RV is a nice place to recover! It dropped into the 40's last night, & I prepared ahead of time by placing my electric heater inbetween my cab seats. So it was easy to reach over & turn it on. The heater keeps the RV in the 60's. So that along with the electric blanket, I was pretty comfortable last night. I miss my babies though....they did some talking this morning & I do know their voices of each one.  No one sounded stressed while they were being tended to by my friends, so that's good. In the meantime, while I'm not drifting off to sleep, I've decided to work on some photos that I have stored in the computer. And I thought I'd share my views with ya'll today too. No mountains or river beds. No beaches, just good old fashioned country land with cross fencing. Too bad the horses aren't over in the field. I do like watching them, they must be in a different pasture.

The view outside of my big picture window. You can see how badly the drought has scortched the land. Not much mowing to be done this summer!

My view of the kitchen from the jacknife sofa. I chose to decorate my kitchen with red items & red peppers. I just love looking at my cute little kitchen! I also like the soft lighting that the lamp gives it in the evenings.

Ice bag on my foot again to keep the swelling down. And a view of too many messy blankets!

My TV set up. I got lucky, found this TV at WalMart about a year ago. Could not resist it. It was on a clearance sale, they had sold all the boxed models, so they sold me the shelf model for $100. Good deal! I think it's a 21", not sure, but I don't think I should get out of bed to measure it ;-)

Has a great picture. Of course, that didn't show up in the photo against the camera's flash. I had to hook a DTV box up to it & have a DVD player under it as well. I am a TV person & generally have it on even when not watching it for the background noise. I bought an extension arm for it & my brother in law installed that for me. That way when I travel, I can simply pull the tv back into the cabinet & close the door.

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OK, so I cleaned my mini blinds the other day & took a picture while cleaning them. I've never found a good way of doing this, then found these wipes & thought I'd give them a try. Good deal! Was way easier than the way I used to clean them. And I've been told that the orange wipes help keep the dust off of them longer. I keep my windows open a lot & there's construction next door, which creates tons of dust.

Look to the side of the blinds by the toaster oven where I cleaned. Big difference! I do recommend these wipes. Sure made this job easier.

OK, now back to some photo editing...this happened the other day. This bird is insane. Plus the owner has to remember to start locking his cage while they have boarders in the house! Sweet Stanley, the Borzoi didn't even care. Nor did the two Afghan Hounds that were sprawled out on the other sofa. Amazing that they left Nikki alone! He's a lucky bird.

His tail feathers were even resting on Stanley's back! Yikes! Glad that the dogs simply ignored him. I think Nikki is grinning too....crazy bird.

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

I wet the bed...adventure in wankle surgery

First of all, welcome to M. Farnsworth! You don't appear to have a blog, if so, please state so & I'll add your url here. Glad to have you along!

An view of some amazing clouds over my RV the other night.

OK, so for the subject line...well, I kinda wet the hospital bed..but not really...but yes. My IV dripped all over it & the bed & I were soaked! I thought it was just getting colder & colder! I have small veins, they can't hook up an IV in the normal place in my arm, so they have to go into my hands. That HURTS! Ouch. The nurse promised it wouldn't, but I knew that would be a lie. I've had it done once before & it hurt then too! My last Wankle surgery, they did ligament repair, but a different podiatrist & a different location. That location, they knocked me out before they took me to the surgery room. I'd prefer it that way in the future! Yesterday, they started me off on an IV drip behind the curtains on a bed, then once the specialist arrived, they added an antibiotic to my drip. Came in, explained things to me, I visited with the doc for a little bit, then off we went into the surgery room. Scary place, very, very bright! Now I know why people see angels, it might be the lights! A big intimidating in there. They rolled me onto the surgery bed & intubated me, then I went bye bye. I remember waking up on a bed back behind the curtains again, a nurse trying to dress me & my friend Judy standing there waiting on me.
They were giving Judy instructions as I could not comprehend a darn thing. On the drive home, I slipped in & out of conciousness. It felt like a roller coaster ride--weeeeeeeeeeee, wait, we're gonna get killed..weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....are we sliding sideways? It sure feels like it..zzzz...weeeeeeeeee. Yea, lots of that going on with my groggy head. Then I got sick, grabbed the pukeo bag, it was clear. OK, that won't do! I'll only get sicker, so I opted not to get sick after all. :-p
Got back, Judy got my walker, I got to the RV door, crawled up the steps while she laughed at me, crawled into bed & zonked out. Was in & out of sleep all night last night & more of that today. This is one heck of a way to get some much needed rest huh? But again, I sure love my RV! What a great place to recoup in! A few hops with the aid of the walker to the bathroom or kitchen, then back to the bed. My RV is a ClassC & I usually sleep in the overhead bed, but for now, the sofa is laid out with an air mattress on it. Comfy...like a cloud...zzzzzzzzzz  Lots of blankies, I can open the big window beside me for fresh air, I bought a recovery snuggie. OK, bought it because it has pics of little puppy dawgs on it. My first snuggie
;-)  Bought recovery jammie bottoms & I must say they are quite comfy!
Doc said I could do a little walking in my boot, but I quickly found that I can't quite do that yet. I bought a walker a few weeks ago in preparation for the surgery as I had a death wish with the crutches last time around. So today is the day after my surgery & in about 4 weeks, the doc said I should be well on my way to my normal life again...whatever that is?

Don't blame me, one of my friends made me do this!!

My puppy snuggie since my real puppy dogs can't be with me right now. I'll probably be using it later this evening. Beautiful day today. 66 degrees inside the RV & temps will drop tonight. I also have an electric blankie that I love this time of year. Perfect weather to be stuck in bed at least!

btw, the check out clerk kept petting my snuggie. I almost told him he could have it if he wanted it & I'd go get another one! hmmmmmm methinks he has a snuggie fetish

My recovery jammie bottoms. I have the other pair on that I bought. So warm & comfy! I think I'll just wear jammies all the time now.

My pillow props. The neck pillow is a memory foam pillow. I've found this pillow invaluable for placing my foot on top of!

Big fat wankle. There's a big incision from my heel to me wankle bone - or so I'm told. I put a big fat sock over my tootsies because they got cold.

My hospital sock on my left (or other right) foot. Funny that they have treads on both sides of the booties. I guess if you walk & your foot flips upside down, you still won't slip! Wonder if that happens a lot?

And lastly, me ice pack.

Nite all, thanks for reading & thanks for your concerns. TexZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzyn

Oh & it just dawned on me that some of ya'll probably don't know what the heck I'm talking about with this surgery stuff. I got Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome from a work related accident in my right ankle. This would be comparable to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in the wrist. So my friend Pam accused me of typing too much with my toes...which would also explain my typing.

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

(I miss being with my babies right now, in a few days, I can walk again & go see them though)

Oh & a couple more cloud photos: