Housesitting
There are certain things I could not have predicted, being a house sitter is one of them. After years on end of van living it has become increasingly hard to predict what might happen next. Every day something unexpected seems to happen. After long periods of living in a van as a couple, the desire to live in a home comes on strong. For reasons like lack of space, lack of a shower, lack of toilet privacy, lack of laundry, lack of endless running water, the list goes on. This problem is demanding of resourcefulness. How can we scratch this itch of a desire or a need to live in a home. Sometimes the desire comes at a cost.
Through a website called TrustedHousesitters.com, you can sign up and apply to take care of other peoples homes and animals. In exchange for pet care, you receive accommodation. The sign up involves a background check, references, and annual fee. There is no money exchanged aside from the annual fee. We watch the property and animals in exchange for a place to live and enjoy the comforts of home (laundry, space, shower, oven, bed, couch, etc…). Using this service to connect us with these opportunities has played a major role in maintaining sanity on the road.
While traveling in this way, we get to slow down and immerse ourselves in a place. Living in these until recently unknown neighborhoods shines a light on the unique nature of all of these different locations. During past stays we went to local markets, explored towns and enjoyed the nature of these places more in depth than if had not been house sitting. Without these opportunities, we would have just been passing through. Up until recently, we have had nothing but good experiences caring for people’s homes.
Our house sitting journey started in San Diego, California. Where we were approved to house sit for an older couple who love to travel. They have a golden retriever named Michael that needed to be watched while they were gone. The man of the house we would be watching is a landscape architect. The backyard was an oasis, filled with exotic varieties of palm hanging over a bright blue pool. The house was well kept and comfortable. The laundry was operational. Everything was good. We were encouraged by the experience.
Some time later, we were hit with a flurry of house sits. We were becoming house sitters. We sat for a single woman in Powell River, British Columbia, who was going on a trip and needed care for her brown standard poodle named Chocolate. The house sat looking out at the Strait of Georgia, the body of water in between Vancouver Island and mainland Canada (pictured below). Before leaving she warned us that we might see a bear in the front yard. During the sit we did see bear droppings in the drive way. She also had a little garden. There was a local market which we went to during the weekend where Jess bought lavender syrup for coffee and anything else you can put lavender syrup in. I picked up a pint of the “Oh-Cone-ada!” flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. There was a comfortable couch with a TV and glass windows which granted full views of the body of water outside. It was a relaxed way of life and a pleasant experience.
View from the backyard of a sit in Powell River, British Columbia
The next sit that we would take was in Puyallup, Washington, a suburb outside of Seattle with neighborhood dog walking views of Mt. Rainier. We were sitting for a middle aged couple and their two dogs Falcon and Wilson. It was a quiet neighborhood in a suburb we would have never spent any amount of time in otherwise. Falcon required to be blown by a blow dryer upstairs to dry her off after every walk. Wilson was a grumpy old man. It becomes easy to feel part of a community when walking dogs in the neighborhood on a daily basis. It was a big two story house with a big backyard, laundry and a working oven. One of our favorites parts of living in a home is having an oven.
A view of Mt. Rainier from a neighborhood dog walk
The third and final sit of this trip was in a red cabin with a green roof in a dirt road neighborhood of Redstone, Colorado. This sit was for a young couple and their big wolf like dog named Blue. It was a surreal feeling to be tucked away in a cabin in a remote valley of Colorado. The nearest grocery store was 16 miles north in Carbondale. The town itself is tiny but has a rich history. We spent time walking in and out of the artisanal businesses that line the downstrip of Redstone. We used a gift card the hosts left for us for the restaurant at the local inn. On an afternoon dog walk through the dirt road neighborhood we came across a small black bear. One of the highlights of the sit though, was being able to watch the World Series from the comfort of a couch.
During our sit in Redstone, we considered what would be our next house sit. We FaceTimed with the owner of a sheep ranch in Alpine, California. She was going to Italy and needed sitters to watch her thirteen sheep, four dogs, and three cats. We heartily agreed to take on the sheep.
Fast forward six months and we were winding through the foot hills of San Diego towards the ranch. We pulled off back roads onto a dirt road marked as private and winded our way to the end of the road where we found a gate at the start of her property. We arrived at night and in time for a dinner cooked by the host. Her tenant Jim joined us for the meal. The next morning, our host took us on a golf cart ride around the ten-acre property. She showed us how to feed the sheep, dogs and cats. Eighteen pounds of alfalfa, a bucket of grain and compost. She left soon after to Italy with her sister. And just like that we were alone on a sprawling piece of land living in a rustic stone ranch house, responsible for a flock of sheep, four herding dogs, two kittens and one barn cat. We kept the fire place stocked with logs to keep us warm for the first week while it was unseasonably cold. The house didn’t warm up much but the view was worth it.
We can only hope for positive experiences. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that this is not always the case. After leaving the ranch we accepted a house sit in Claremont. A suburb of San Diego. We went to the house first to meet the owner and the dog. We went on multiple walks with the owner and her dog. Somehow we failed to be aware enough to avoid what would be a nightmare of a housesit.
We arrived and quickly realized the house was a mess. We were told to stay in the owners teenage daughter’s room. The bed was not made and we were unsure if the bedding was clean. We quickly decided that we would not be sleeping in the house. Things only got worse; there were flies circling in the kitchen. The fridge had a rank odor which was unbearable to breathe. There were dirty dishes stacked in the sink. There were rat traps with peanut butter smeared on them. A hazard to the dogs in the house who might be tempted by the peanut butter. But the worst of it was the urine odor in the kitchen that permeated under my skin. I lasted only a couple of days before calling it quits after dry heaving due to the smell.
The point here is that house sitting has been a great overall experience for us but it’s important as always to do a bit of a background check on the homeowners who are seeking sitters. If we had been a little more vigilant, we could have avoided being in an unfavorable situation. We have had more positive experiences than negative and we will likely continue house sitting in the future.
