Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Tag: schedule

A Day in the Life of a House Sitter – Sebastopol, CA

Mark and I have been living in Sebastopol, California for over two months with precious Lola. As we are packing up and ready to leave the area, I figure it is about time to write a blog about a random day in our lives here as house sitters. I post this feature every time we do a long-term sit, like at the artist-inspired home with parrots and dogs in Kent, CT, the maple farm with Jenny in Heath, MA and our first stay in Northern California, with Herk in the suburbs of Rocklin, CA. And, just for fun, I also wrote about it during our short time in the biggest retirement community of the world, called The Villages, in Florida.

Cozy fire

Our days probably look pretty much the same as other forty-somethings with full-time jobs and no children, except for the fact that we don’t have to commute and we fill gaps, late afternoons, evenings and weekends with doggy love and devotion. 🙂 By now, once we are settled in a new place, our routine is pretty straightforward.

Continue reading

A Day in the Life of a House Sitter – Rocklin, California

Most of the time when Mark and I do a house sit that is longer than one week, I create a post about how an ordinary day in our life as house and pet sitters looks like. Many of the tasks are the same, but there are always some unique aspects that have to do with each home, area or pet. Past “A Day in the Life of…” posts cover our time in The Villages, Florida, which is the biggest retirement community in the world, Kent, Connecticut, where we took care of four pets for a highly creative and accomplished couple and Heath, Massachusetts, where we lived on a maple farm.

As I was thinking about this particular house sit, I couldn’t help but realize that our days are probably pretty similar to most people of our age living an “ordinary” life, with the main differences that we both work from home and don’t have kids.

This is how a normal workday for us looks like in Rocklin during our three month sit: Continue reading

A Day in the Life of a House Sitter – Kent, CT

This is the second 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.

House sitters can mostly stick to their own schedule while taking care of somebody’s home while the owners are on holiday, a sabbatical or a business trip. As long as the owners’ pets have a happy life, while they are away. The pets – two dogs and two parrots here in Kent– are our priority. Of course, we also watch the house, run a few errands and communicate with the owners about anything that comes up or needs attention. Most of the time, we live our own lives in our “borrowed” home and enjoy the company of our “borrowed” pets. In our current situation, we also appreciate the inspiring vibe created by the home owners, who are accomplished and well-known artists. I will get to that in a future blog… Continue reading

A Day in the Life of a House Sitter – The Villages, FL

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 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 out for a daily walk, and sometimes administering medicines or brushing the animal. Although not every dog 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.

Time to chill in the TV room

Time to chill in the TV room

Continue reading

© 2024 Roaming About

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑