When we tell people that we are house sitters, the usual comment is, “oh that sounds like a nice idea for a holiday”. I smile politely and chuckle to myself. We see this as a lifestyle, we offer a service of caring for properties and animals so that the owners can go away, often overseas, and know that everything is being looked after. (www.kiwihousesitters.co.nz/house-sitter-profile/227787/monica-and-john-page)
Each housesit has a challenge that teaches us new ways of doing things, a chance to use some of our skills, and keeps us busy. Two weeks into this current Sit and we were woken by one of the dogs at 2am. Being a dark night outside we were unable to see what he was barking at, but could hear a dog barking in the distance. We got up at 5.30 am to take the dogs out to toilet and discovered a cow pat in the middle of the large lawn area and hoof prints, lots of them! John discovered the 8 Angus steers in the lower paddock and we were able to contain them easily and contact the farm manager. But the aftermath was like a wild bucks night in the beautiful gardens. These are not your average gardens, they once were show gardens, now privately owned. The steers had had a smorgasbord! And so much poo!! Just a week until a booked garden party!
Less than a week later and two days before the party, we had a storm, wild winds and heavy rain. Nothing particularly unusual for the area, but I heard an odd noise the other dog woke me at 5.30am wanting to go outside. We discovered a very large oak tree had fallen and blocked the driveway to the carpark for guests! It took us the day to clear just the top of the crown of the tree enough to clear the driveway.
We could not access the area with the quad bike and had to move it all by hand. We always learn new ways to be resourceful and love the challenge.
These two dogs have become very dear friends and I look forward to the remainder of this sit with them, another three weeks.
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