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House sitting

Tue, 27 Mar 2018 11:07:29 -0400

One of the ways we found to extend our travel dollars, meet new people, see new places and get in our animal fix is to house sit. If you don’t know anything about house sitting, google it. The opportunities out there will surprise you and blow your mind.

We currently belong to two different websites mindmyhouse.com and housecarers.com. Here’s a link to our current profile on one of the sites.

Our very first job for someone other than family or friends was in Costa Rica in 2009. It worked out so well we went back in 2010 and 2011. We’re very grateful the homeowners took a chance on us and we on them. It was a great experience for all of us.

Costa Rica house sits info and pics

Most of our other assignments have been in Canada. They are documented in our travel blogs but I’ve attempted to summarize them on their own page for easier reference. We took a break from house sitting in 2013 - 2017 but we’re now actively looking for house sitting jobs back in Canada for the rest of 2018.

Canadian house sitting summary

Past Travels

Tue, 27 Mar 2018 09:39:39 -0400

If you click on the trip link you’ll get a more detailed summary of when we travelled and what we did during that trip. At the end of the summary there’s a link to that trip’s blog and albums.

Trip #7 - Feb 2019 to July 2019

Highlights - New Toyhauler / Fishing in Port O’Connor, Texas / Lots of hiking in South East Colorado

Trip #6 - Sept 2017 to March 2018

Highlights - Montreal and Quebec city / Maine - Stephen King’s house & lobster / winter in South Carolina at Huntington Beach State park and Hunting Island State park

Trip #5 - Feb 2013 to July 2013

Highlights - Fishing in Port O’Connor,Texas / Truck problems - new engine required / Biloxi Mississippi / Trailer breakdown

Trip #4 - Feb 2012 to Sept 2012

Highlights - Matagorda Bay, Texas / Port O’Connor, Texas / Grand Canyon Hike / Eastern Utah / Yellowstone NP / Idaho / Canadian Rockies / Sleeping Giant Prov. Park, ON / Truck breakdown in Northern ON

Trip #3 - Oct 2010 to Dec 2011

Highlights - Smokie Mountains, Tennessee / Huntington Beach SP, SC / Cape Canaveral & Sebastien Inlet, Florida / New Orleans / Mississippi flooding / Costa Rica House sit / Ontario House sits

Current Travels

Mon, 04 Jan 2016 16:52:59 -0500

Hey it’s 2020 and the year of the RAT!

I hope everyone had great holidays with family and friends, hard to believe it’s 2020!

So yes, I suck at doing websites, no excuse.

What …

Continue reading Hey it’s 2020 and the year of the RAT!

Jan 25, 2020

House "Flip"

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 13:17:32 -0400

After travelling for 5 years we decided we needed a “project”. So, in October 2013 we bought a fixer upper in Kitchener, ON. Despite being a bank repo and needing A LOT of work, we still figured we could transform the 1000 sq. ft bungalow on a 40’ x 150’ lot in 6 months. Boy did we under estimate how long it would take to do everything.

- First of all, we’re not 20 anymore. 50 year old bodies just move slower.

- We can’t work 24/7 and we get sick. One of us even broke both her wrists so she couldn’t do ANYTHING for 6 weeks, that sucked for both of us because we were almost done the house when that happened this past summer. Check out my sad pics below.

- Decisions, decisions, decisions….some take forever to make.

- Simple jobs are never simple and are way more time consuming than you think!

- We took time to visit and reconnect with family and friends in the area but that was a VERY good thing.

In the end it took us almost 2 years to get the property into sellable shape. We’re now trying to sell it privately, it’s been on the market since the beginning of October 2015 so fingers crossed it sells soon!

How we got started

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 20:36:44 -0500

For many years, we talked about traveling full time. We made a number of decisions and changes to facilitate that dream, the biggest one being selling our 49 acre hobby farm in Southern Ontario in 2008

We sold it privately and although it took 2 years to sell, we wouldn’t have done it any other way. A nice couple bought the farm and they kept our 3 horses and 5 cats which was perfect.

Shortly after we sold, we fulfilled another dream and quit our office jobs after 20 plus years of service. It was hard to leave the people but not the work.....we LOVE being “retired”.

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The trailer you see in this picture was our first new home! We bought it on ebay from someone in States (brave I know!) but we got an excellent deal and Dave had no problems picking it up. It was in great shape, and we only had to make a few changes to make it comfortable for us.

We learned a lot from our 1st 6 months on the road. So, based on our experience with the little trailer (only 18’) we decided to upgrade to something a bit more comfy! Two main requirements, a bigger fridge and a queen size bed we didn’t have to set up and take down every day.