Look at that picture. It was my pleasure to live with that view for two years and I missed it, so I was thrilled when the new owners asked me to dog-sit for them when they took a necessary trip.
Three dogs: two were a smaller mom-son pair of rescues – Ms. R and Mr. R, the other a tall and dignified older gal – Ms. M. I did a pre-walk to make sure I was good with the three of them and we were set.
I’ll stop here and explain the great set-up: it was a belt bag (they were called fanny packs in my day) with a variety of pockets and several carabiners. Ms. R and Mr. R were attached by carabiners, and I had Ms. M. on a hand-held leash. This gave me maximum leash-sort and control and I usually had one hand free, and a good supply of scoop-the-poop bags.
All that said, Mr. R decided to do a runner on his Mum #2 a few days before their trip. Mum #1, his primary attachment, was concerned what he might pull on a stranger so they were all kenneled at the last minute. This left me alone in one of the favourite places I’ve ever been able to call home.
It was a little strange, I will admit. It had been my home for two years but it wasn’t my home now. But… I had bought several pieces of lovely furniture and a couple of carpets from the estate. On my last pack-up I decided I was accumulating again so asked the new owners if they were interested in things that had been with the original home and family. They immediately said Yes! Add to this the fact that all my stuff was going into storage and I had quite a few houseplants. They had been really happy at that house, and at least one of the women had a green thumb so I asked/pleaded for them to take the plants too (imagine a massive great Xanadu philodendron being toted from sit to sit!) So they did.
So there I was, in their home with all these used-to-be-my things around. It was a little strange but I decided to concentrate on my pleasure in being back in this house, if only for a week.
Short recap here but make sure you take a moment to enjoy the fairly typical sky I enjoyed for two years. And one week.
