Blog du Wren

Adventures in Housesitting

As most of you know, I'm an occasional housesitter. For round about 3 months spread throughout the year, I watch people's house, pets, plants, mail, etc. When I describe the job to others, I make it sound like the best thing in the world, and usually it is. There are those times, however, when things go awry and you realize why it is called a job and not a hobby. Yesterday was one of those times.

First off, I recognize that in the grand scheme of things, this would barely be considered a blip on the grand bad-days-at-work scale. There was only a short time when it felt like disaster and now all is back to normal. But when things usually go so smoothly, a minor detour from that can feel like a lot - a minor detour, like say, losing the dog.

Technically, the dog lost me. She was outside playing, like is her wont, and all of the sudden, she was no longer outside playing. (I blame the bad influence of the husky she was playing with.) What followed was a frantic two hours of running through the woods on her favorite trails, calling the owner of the husky to see if he had seen them, and shouting the dog's name until I grew hoarse*. Then a neighbor called to say that she was hanging out in his front yard. I went over to pick her up and that was that.

As if that wasn't enough, on my way to turn off the lights to get ready for my much needed night's sleep*, I see a little bird perched on the ceiling fan. So that's what has been driving the cat bonkers. I briefly contemplate how to capture the bird to get it out of the house, but since nothing occurs to me, I just sleep with the door closed. I figure he will either go out the way he came in or present me with an opportunity to release him.

Yep, so that was yesterday's adventure in housesitting. At least there were no flat tires, carjackings, or crazy truck drivers. But who knows what today will hold.

Tuesday February 3 2009

File under: work

Toggle Comments (2)

comment?

on Tue 03rd Feb, 2009 04:39 pm PST Alisa said:
Bird... again...what's with you and birds?
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on Tue 03rd Feb, 2009 11:48 pm PST Horge said:
You've gotta watch for huskies. They've got beautiful eyes, but still they're kinda creepy eyes. Otherwise for house-sitting tips (though I've never done it) just don't answer strange phone calls from any hockey-/CaptainKirk-masked strangers. That stuff always eneds up bad unless you're Jamie Lee Curtis, which from what I remember, you aren't. :)
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