As well as looking after pets, we’ve accumulated a wide range of skills and abilities. Some of these have been gained through owning our own properties, professional careers and house sitting.
We have been homeowners for many years and renovated our last home of 18 years in the Colorado mountains. During this period, we managed our 7-acre (2.8 hectares) forested property for wood and fire mitigation, maintained well and septic systems, and created flower and vegetable gardens.
John is an avid gardener and has extensive experience in this area. During one of our sits we maintained a two-acre (.8 hectares) garden which required frequent mowing, weeding, planting of flower beds, and removal of a large overgrown bramble bush.
Susan managed the upkeep of pools during our sits and at rental properties. She is also quite happy helping with painting or decorating projects if the owner might need an extra set of hands to finish projects.
We also have experience maintaining a small olive grove during a stay which required us to harvest and deliver product to the local producer.
Using our analytical and problem-solving skills along with basic common sense — we can tackle just about anything. Our maturity and experience has never let us down.
We both love animals and are extremely comfortable with, and enjoy being around cats, and all sizes of dog. While our demanding careers and previous lifestyle made pet ownership unwise, we chose to live in places where we would be surrounded by wildlife and could look after pets for friends.
We are comfortable around all animals and locations from the mountains to the sea. You can rest assured we will give your pets all the love and attention they need while you are away. Being active ourselves, they will get their much-needed walks, time to play and pay special attention to dietary requirements.
John lived and worked in France for 11 years and Susan 2 years. While John is fluent in French, Susan has enough to get by on a day to day basis. We have basic Spanish, but this is on our list to improve! We’ve both found that living in a country is the quickest way to rapidly develop language skills, and neither of us would shy away from attempting to use the local language of the country in which we are living or house sitting.
We have been homeowners and managed a major renovation at our last home in the Colorado mountains. We also performed significant fire mitigation on this 7-acre forested property, using the wood for heating. We maintained well and septic systems, and created flower and vegetable gardens. We have completed house sits from a few days to over three months, with and without pets. In 2014, we sold our house in Colorado. Since then we have traveled and house sat while experimenting with travel blogs. We plan to develop a new blog to share our experiences while house sitting. For many years we have jumped at opportunities to house and pet sit for friends and family. Our passions for animals, gardening and outdoor activities perfectly match the requirements requested by homeowners. We love animals and we miss having pets around us, so we particularly enjoy this aspect of house sitting. In 2016, we completed a 3-month house sit in Provence which didn’t involve a pet but required maintenance of a 2-acre garden, pool and house. We are a professional couple and understand the importance of looking after your most prized possessions. We will provide updates and pictures as often as you need. It is upon us to ensure your house, garden and beloved pets are being cared for and loved, while you are away.
Without family to anchor us to any one place we found ourselves wanting to spend more time traveling. We both wanted a change from Colorado but were unsure of where that next location might be. We have been extremely fortunate to have lived in places where we could satisfy our love of nature and wildlife. We are both avid travelers and found that house sitting really gave us the opportunity to explore new places and spend time with pets. We enjoy immersing ourselves in the local community and making new friends. Having a house sit base allows us to explore the nearby countryside and towns.
We enjoy reading, watching movies or spending time updating our blog. Relaxing with your pets is especially rewarding and adds to those quieter moments. We both enjoy gardening and Susan loves to cook. We both lead an active lifestyle which includes hiking, walks, and cycling. We embrace any opportunity to be outdoors whether for pleasure or as part of the house sitting responsibilities. We also want to expand our knowledge of foreign languages.
We have both completed a USA, FBI background checks and Global Entry Passport security pre-checks.
John has a French driver license and we both have clean US driver licenses. We have both obtained an International Drivers Permit which is a valid form of identification in 150 countries worldwide and contains our name, photo and driver information. It translates our identification information into 10 languages — so it speaks the language even if we don't. Most countries highly recommend an International Driving Permit.
After years of having a successful career and business we are finally able to stop and enjoy a full-time life of travel. Fortunately, with careful planning and years of hard work we are self-sufficient financially. We have created a travel blog website which we maintain while traveling.
