Saturday, November 10, 2007

House Sitting

Over the last 8 years I have had lots of house sitting jobs. Some that were great and others that I couldn't wait until they were over. House sitting can be a funny thing. Living in someone else's house for an extended amount of time. Neighbors give you funny looks. You are never quite sure if you should eat the food in the house or not. What if it is their favorite and they are looking forward to it when they get home? Figuring out all the different washers and dryers. Hoping no plant or animals die on your watch.

I have stayed in houses that required me to stuff pills down the throat of a cat. But first I had to catch the cat that didn't like people. I wouldn't like people either if they grabbed me once a day and stuck something that tasted bad down my throat. That house also had a 'friendly' rottweiler dog. It never threatened me, but its size was sure intimidating.

I stayed in a house that that two dogs (one female that was in heat, one blind that followed all the walls around in the house) two rabbits, and fish. This house was at the top of a hill and in December my car didn't always want to get to the top of that hill. So I had to park at the bottom of the hill most days (for 2 weeks) and climb up to the house.

I stayed at a house with a hot tub for two weeks. The second day I was there I went out to check the tub and the temperature was way too low (also in the Alaskan wintertime). I ended up figuring out that a breaker had flipped. Whew! That would have been a mess if it had frozen.

I have stayed in some nice houses that didn't have crazy animals, too. But those stories aren't as much fun.

Since coming to Idaho I had a 6 month house sitting job with two house plants. That was a great job. And I am currently in a nice house with one outside dog and 30ish house plants. This job is about over, but has been on the good side. Between jobs I live in the camper in my sister's back yard. A nice place for my gypsy self until the next move.

1 comment:

Kim said...

Hi Carrie! I have to add a house sitting story. These folks went to France, I believe. They had a huge garden. All fenced off. Just water it, they said. One day I looked more closely through the fence. Those leaves on the tomatoes looke a lot like pot to me! YIKES!

Kim