Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Category: House Sitting (page 6 of 9)

Six Word Saturday – Scenic Drive to the Grocery Store

During our  recent four and a half month house and pet sitting assignment in Western Massachusetts, we basically lived in the middle of the woods, in one of the hill towns of Pioneer Valley. The town center of Heath does not have a store and the closest settlement of Charlemont has a small and expensive general store, that we rarely visited. The ten minute drive there – or anywhere further on – offered a couple of picturesque photo opportunities.

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Six Word Saturday – Wrapping up with the Heath Fair

Our four and a half month house sit in Heath, MA is coming to an end. From the moment Mark and I arrived here in April, there was a lot of talk about one event we should not miss: the annual Heath Fair in August. So, we marked the dates in our calendar and found out what all the fuss was about, last weekend. To fully experience the atmosphere, we volunteered at the gate for two hours on Friday evening and on Saturday. The Heath Fair turned out to be an extremely popular attraction (much busier than the Reggae Festival in Charlemont) and the weather was gorgeous. We went two of the three days and that was enough for us. On Sunday, we resumed our usual weekend hiking with dog Jenny.

The fairgrounds

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A Day in the Life of a House Sitter – Heath, MA

This is the third blog in my series “A Day in the Life of a House Sitter”. The first one described an average day during our two-week house sit in The Villages, FL last December and the second one reported on our days in Kent, CT for three winter months.

Every house sitting assignment is different and the tasks, requests and expectations depend on the house, the property, the owners and the pets. Some home owners require you to do some yard maintenance, water the house plants or collect the mail; all of them, naturally, expect you to keep the house tidy and “return” it as clean as you found it or better. Usually there is at least one pet to take care of, which means setting food out once or twice a day, making sure the water bowl is always filled with clean water, taking the dog(s) out for daily walks, and sometimes administering medicines or brushing the animal. Although not every pet owner expects it, Mark and I have the tendency to shower dogs with love, attention and company. It goes without saying that a responsible house sitter is prepared to take the pets to the vet or emergency room when necessary and reports general issues back to the owners, while trying to fix or solve problematic situations. And yes, sh*t happens.

Jenny loves the front porch

Jenny loves the front porch

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Six Word Saturday – Reaping the Fruits of our Garden

The fruits of our labor have been very tasty in the form of a  small selection of vegetables we produced in our (current) yard. It was our first ever attempt at gardening

My  Six Word Saturday is full of vegetables. How is yours?

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WW – Morning Scenes

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy them. Also, I can’t do completely “wordless”, but I try my best with “almost wordless”. 🙂

This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “morning”.  Since Mark and I live everywhere and nowhere, our morning looks quite different depending on which place we call home for the time being. Here are some morning photos of the past and the present…

A morning along the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway), heading south to Florida with Irie

A morning along the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway),  taking the dogs ashore

A typical morning from Irie in Huahine, FP - front view

A typical morning from Irie in Huahine, FP – front view

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In the Heat of the Kiln

This past weekend, the weather was miserable and all but summery. It rained, it was cold for the time of the year and the sky was a permanent grey… perfect conditions for the activities we had planned!

Earlier this year, Mark and I did a three month house sit in Kent, CT, where we took care of two great dogs, Henry and Mickey, and two cheeky parrots, Tutu and Kookoo. The owners of the house are both respected and acclaimed artists, who we enjoyed meeting and getting to know. Steve Katz is a founder of the famous band Blood, Sweat and Tears who recently wrote a book and is touring again. His wife Alison Palmer is a very accomplished and talented ceramics artist. When we said our goodbyes the end of March, we promised to pay them a visit over the summer. What better time than the day of an exciting “pottery event”?

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Visit to Northampton, MA

One of the big advantages of a house and pet sitting lifestyle is that you have the chance to live in different places with every assignment. While we primarily prefer longer term sits for our own comfort, sense of settling in and being able to concentrate on work projects without having to move constantly, we also enjoy being immersed in a new area and having plenty of opportunity and time to explore its surroundings during the weekends.

Recently, our temporary dog Jenny needed new food from a pet food store quite a drive from here.  Dave’s Soda and Pet City (interesting name for a pet food store) has a location in the city of Northampton, where other chores could be accomplished, and where neither of us had been before. We decided to combine the necessary with the pleasant and explored the college town around noon on a Saturday.

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A Change of Scenery

It has been nine days already since the Blogging from A to Z Challenge finished and I am finally catching my breath again in regards to blogging and other things in life. The month of April was focused around getting some traction for my Roaming About blog, writing daily and about a certain theme, and incorporating a few other events.

The most important change in Mark and my life, was our move into another house, with a new dog. Continue reading

South Kent, CT: January 3rd – March 30th, 2016

Mark and I can hardly believe it, but our three-month house sit in South Kent has finished. We picked the owners, Steve and Alison, up at the airport of Hartford yesterday and met their newest family member: sweet and precious Paco, a stray puppy from Mexico. It was quite a shock for him to fly on a plane, meet new people, feel the cooler climate, drive an hour and a half in the car, discover his new home, and get acquainted with his new brothers Mickey and Henry and feathery siblings Koo Koo and Tutu. All in a time span of 12 hours. He is adjusting well and will have a fantastic life in Kent, and so will their pet sitters next year! Continue reading

A House Full of Creativity and Art

As I mentioned in my previous blog, one of the most interesting things about house sitting is the people we meet. All of them have impressed us with their hospitality, mindsets and friendliness. What sets our present home owners apart even more are their past and current achievements. Steve Katz, a founding band member of Blood, Sweat, and Tears had his moment of fame in my last blog, so today, I am commemorating his wife Alison Palmer.

From the moment we met, Alison exuded talent. Continue reading

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