diff --git a/add.go b/add.go
index 96f3fcb..b0d196f 100644
--- a/add.go
+++ b/add.go
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@ package virtbuf
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/google/uuid"
+	"go.wit.com/log"
 )
 
 // can the json protobuf output use a string and have a type handler
@@ -129,6 +131,17 @@ func (epb *Events) AppendEvent(e *Event) {
 	epb.Events = append(epb.Events, e)
 }
 
+func (c *Cluster) ClusterStable() (bool, string) {
+	last := time.Since(c.Unstable.AsTime())
+	if last > c.UnstableTimeout.AsDuration() {
+		// the cluster has not been stable for 133 seconds
+		log.Warn("clusterReady() is stable for ", FormatDuration(c.UnstableTimeout.AsDuration()), " secs")
+		return true, fmt.Sprintln("clusterReady() is stable ", FormatDuration(c.UnstableTimeout.AsDuration()), " secs")
+	}
+	log.Warn("clusterReady() is unstable for", FormatDuration(last))
+	return false, "clusterReady() is unstable for " + FormatDuration(last)
+}
+
 // check the cluster and droplet to make sure it's ready to start
 func (c *Cluster) DropletReady(d *Droplet) (bool, string) {
 	if c == nil {
diff --git a/cluster.proto b/cluster.proto
index 0c2616d..8658597 100644
--- a/cluster.proto
+++ b/cluster.proto
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ package virtbuf;
 import "droplet.proto";
 import "hypervisor.proto";
 import "event.proto";
+import "google/protobuf/timestamp.proto"; // Import the well-known type for Timestamp
+import "google/protobuf/duration.proto"; // Import the well-known type for Timestamp
 
 message Cluster {
         int64 id = 1;
@@ -16,4 +18,6 @@ message Cluster {
         Droplets d = 6;
         Hypervisors h = 7;
         Events e = 8;
+        google.protobuf.Timestamp       unstable       = 9;    // the last time we heard anything from this droplet
+        google.protobuf.Duration        unstable_timeout       = 10;    // the last time we heard anything from this droplet
 }
diff --git a/droplet.proto b/droplet.proto
index bed3e48..21333a0 100644
--- a/droplet.proto
+++ b/droplet.proto
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 syntax = "proto3";
 package virtbuf;
 
-import "google/protobuf/any.proto";
+// import "google/protobuf/any.proto";
 import "google/protobuf/timestamp.proto"; // Import the well-known type for Timestamp
 
 message Droplets {
diff --git a/test.proto b/test.proto
deleted file mode 100644
index 8079240..0000000
--- a/test.proto
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-syntax = "proto3";
-package virtbuf;
-
-message Cluster {
-        int64 id = 1;
-        repeated string s = 2;
-	repeated int i = 3;
-}
diff --git a/time.go b/time.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28f4098
--- /dev/null
+++ b/time.go
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+package virtbuf
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func FormatDuration(d time.Duration) string {
+	result := ""
+
+	// check if it's more than a year
+	years := int(d.Hours()) / (24 * 365)
+	if years > 0 {
+		result += fmt.Sprintf("%dy ", years)
+		return result
+	}
+
+	// check if it's more than a day
+	days := int(d.Hours()) / 24
+	if days > 0 {
+		result += fmt.Sprintf("%dd ", days)
+		return result
+	}
+
+	// check if it's more than an hour
+	hours := int(d.Hours()) % 24
+	if hours > 0 {
+		result += fmt.Sprintf("%dh ", hours)
+		return result
+	}
+
+	// check if it's more than a minute
+	minutes := int(d.Minutes()) % 60
+	if minutes > 0 {
+		result += fmt.Sprintf("%dm ", minutes)
+		return result
+	}
+
+	// check if it's more than a second
+	seconds := int(d.Seconds()) % 60
+	if seconds > 0 {
+		result += fmt.Sprintf("%ds", seconds)
+		return result
+	}
+
+	// report in milliseconds
+	ms := int(d.Milliseconds())
+	if ms > 100 {
+		// todo: print .3s, etc ?
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%1.2fs", seconds/1000)
+	}
+	result += fmt.Sprintf("%dms", ms)
+	return result
+}
+
+func GetDurationStamp(t time.Time) string {
+	// Get the current time
+	currentTime := time.Now()
+
+	// Calculate the duration between t current time
+	duration := currentTime.Sub(t)
+
+	return FormatDuration(duration)
+}