Back on the Sunshine Coast

Well we are back in Powell River and loving the life here. We are housesitting one of our favourite pets, a great honking white cat, a real bruiser. We love this cat a lot because he makes us laugh.

Life is good here. We are back in town, which is important to us as we want to walk everywhere. So now we walk to the town, the stores, the beach, the cafes and everywhere. Through trial and error we have figured out over the last year what we want in a community and I think this is it.

Wine - Vancouver Island Style

We just spent a week on Vancouver Island taking a break from house and petsitting. We stopped off with a good friend in the small town of Duncan, city of totems for a few days and had a great time. Then we went on to a small rustic cabin on high bank in the area called Cherry Point.

The picture above shows one of the vineyards in the area, Cherry Point Wines. Our cabin is virtually on that same shelf overlooking the ocean. Vancouver Island has a good number of wineries now, a cider press and a meadery. It has taken a while for the island to get their wine production up, but now it is there with the best of them.

One wine which is special to the area is the Blackberry Wine, a scrumptious summer berry.

We are back now in Powell River, two ferries above the mainland and will stay here until January 6th. It is beginning to feel a lot like home here. I imagine this is the place we will buy a small house. Still waiting for the prices to adjust to our liking.

Sitting Lady Falls

Just as we are getting ready to leave this housesit on Sunday we discovered a new trail to the Sitting Lady Falls. This view is about a 15 minute walk from the house, not far and very fresh, down lovely trails. I am not sure why they are called Sitting Lady, but I guess there is a reason. The weather is very cold and very crisp. What a lovely place Metchosin is.

We are getting ready to move "up island" to Duncan and then on to Powell River

Happy One Year Anniversary

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Last December we left our condominium in Vancouver, BC and set out to housesit for two months. We were then going to buy a small home in Powell River or somewhere on the Sunshine Coast of BC.

One year later we are still house and petsitting. We have stayed in more than 12 people's homes and have looked after more than 18 different animals in that time.

We have enjoyed the communities of Powell River, Sechelt, Halfmoon Bay, Roberts Creek, Comox, Cowichan Bay, Lake Cowichan, Sooke, Metchosin, Vancouver and still have a few more months booked in Gibsons, Powell River and White Rock.

We are not sure how long we will continue to do this, somewhere along the line we will probably buy a home, but not yet.

So for today, Paul and I are the Accidental HouseSitters, that couple who are gallivanting around the coast, looking after homes and animals for free in exchange for your friendship and hospitality.

Refrigerator Discoveries

One of the most interesting aspects to housesitting is to discover what other people have in their refrigerators. In one of our homes, which had a distinctly European flair to it, I found these tubes. One is anchovy paste, two are tomato paste and the other is chestnut paste (not sure what this is).

To me it makes so much sense to have these foods in paste form. How many tomato cans have I thrown out half empty? I also discovered seven types of mustard in one fridge.

Our gastronomic horizons are constantly widened by the influence of the people we meet.

Garbage Exploration

Well somehow this week we missed putting the garbage out for the pickup. So last night I think a bear got into the garbage can and we woke up to old mouldy food and plastic bags around the yard. So we packed it all up and headed off to find the landfill. Having paid our $3.00 to dump off the bag of garbage we found ourselves right by a beautiful lake.

Our 3 dogs were in the back of the suv so we popped out on a trail and went partly round the lake. What a gorgeous area. Now I grew up on this very big island near Victoria (you know Butchart Gardens), but I had never seen this part of the island.

So because we neglected our garbage duties we ended up on a lovely ramble and an exploration of a wonderful area.

Sea Lions

Took the three dogs walking on the beaches of Metchosin and saw a whole big batch of seals and sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks. Some of them looked to be truly huge and we could hear the barks for miles around.

The beaches here are on the west coast of Vancouver Island, which tends to be wild and wavy.

We went back the next day with binoculars to spot the animals. We couldn't see any until we had looked really closely at the brown log and the black and white speckled rock which turned out to be seals.

Fumble and Recovery

Due to some unforeseen circumstances our next housesit in Roberts Creek had to cancel. Oh oh.
There was nothing they could have done and of course, we go with the flow. So we change plans.
I had been speaking earlier to one of our other housesit friends and she was lamenting the fact that she wasn't finding anyone to petsit for her over Christmas.

So I fired off an email and within one hour booked into a different home for the second half of December into January. So we will be in Powell River instead of Roberts Creek.

Many people ask how we do the scheduling, and this is a good example. Having done this nearly a year we have a big list of people who might need us to come to their homes again. Christmas has to be the easiest time to find a petsit anyhow.

So problem solved.. Here is the best part. I did all this on the hotel computer while working a few days in Fort St. John, in British Columbia's frozen northland.

Wagons Hoh!

Time to leave the Sunshine Coast after nearly a month. We are heading over to Vancouver Island for another house and petsit of over three weeks, but this time it is a convuluted route.
We are taking an afternoon ferry to Vancouver tomorrow evening and camping out one night with friends. Then Paul is driving me to the airport where I get on a plane for the North of BC to do a few days work. Then he gets on another bigger ferry and heads to the island.

Paul will set up at our new place and I will fly back to the island the next day. Sometimes the plans get a bit convuluted, but it all works out in the end.

It always takes us about a day to pack up and put the place right.

When we leave we:

Wash all bedding and towels
Clean the fridge
Take out the garbage and recycling
Leave milk and bread for the owners
Set the pets up with lots of food and water
Pack all our stuff up
Put everything back where it came from
Leave a note telling about the time we were here
Give the plants a last water and mist
Collect the last post
Take all our books and videos back to the library
Stock up fresh firewood for the owners
Sweep off the leaves or clean up snow

We nearly always forget something, but we pick it up later.
So farewell Roberts Creek and hello Metchosin on Vancouver Island.

Pressured By Possesions

343 days of housesitting now

I read recently about a woman who loved staying in other people's homes because she was never pressured by their possesions. I know exactly what that means. When we are surrounded by our own things we see what needs to be cleaned, fixed, tossed, redone, used up, started on or renewed. We can feel the pressure to use the things we have as well as keep them in good condition, not to mention replacing old things, like china, vacuum cleaners etc.

When we live with other people's stuff we don't have any emotional investment in it. We look after what needs to be looked after, clean the dishes, scrub the pots, water the plants etc., but that is about it. We are free from the pressure of possesions; or better yet are not possessed by our possessions.

Haven't You Bought a House Yet??

We sold our Vancouver condo last December and were going to housesit for 2 months and then buy a small house on the coast. Trouble is, we wanted to see all the small towns for ourselves and experience them first hand. This has been an amazing adventure.

We recently saw a few houses we were interested in. But they still cost too much. With the real estate market falling everywhere, including Calgary and Edmonton, we have waited too long not to be around when Vancouver heads down a bit. Now there are all kinds of opinions about if and when it will cycle down, but I guess we are just waiting. We sure don't have a crystal ball, but in the meantime there is a lot of research that we do.

There are several blogs I check every day to watch numbers, trends and sale prices. So when we see the right place at the right time we will act. Until then, tick tock, tick tock.

Vacancy Coming Up

Anyone want to plan a getaway and have us come into their home to look after the pets, the mail, the plants and whatnot.

Paul and I are booked through the spring but we have one opening:

March 20/21 until early April, probably the 3rd or 4th.

If you know anyone who wants this spot let us know.

Of course our service is completely free as we are trading the home for the housesit.

We are happy with dogs, cats, donkeys, ducks, racoons, fish, birds and bunnies so far.

Bake Sale

Today we went to the lovely town of Gibsons to a church fall fair and bake sale. Now you might know Gibsons because that is where Molly's Reach is located, that place featured in the popular television show, The Beachcombers.

Paul put a bid on the silent auction for an electronic device of some kind and I bought an inexpensive pair of earrings.

As the day wore on the organizers decided to sell off the bakery goodies so we bought a small plate of delicious treats for $2. We got a buttertart, a lemon square and some cake and fudge. That with a 75cent cup of coffee made the day. In fact the pastries were so good we had to take a plate to go so that we could have another inexpensive treat at home this weekend.

It's all good and sometimes it doesn't even cost much.

A Week in the Life

Here is what Paul and I will typically do in a week:

Every day feed, water, cuddle the cats and walk the dogs. We welcome the cats on to the bed and spend rather a lot of time playing with the animals. We give them our own nicknames and baby them all a fair bit.

Water the plants as they need it. In the summer this is lots, in the winter just a little bit.

Pick up the mail daily and sort it out.

Email the owners if anything needs to be attended to. Last week I mailed something out to a homeowner because she had forgotten it.

Check all the taps and pipes to make sure nothing has frozen.

Deal with the garbage, compost and recycling as it comes up.

Pick up anything that is delivered. This week we went into town to pickup something that was ordered at the hardware store.

Keep the homefires burning. Run the furnace every day as directed and keep the house from getting too cold.

Other duties as required.

In the summer we do a bit on the lawns and the garden, in winter cut wood and keep the firebox stocked. All in all it is not too hard, more a case of being onhand if something comes up.

Our number 1 priority is usuallly to make sure that the pets are happy and healthy. It is a great life really.

Driving Standard

The homeowners here in Roberts Creek have asked me to drive their car down to Vancouver when I leave so that they can pick it up when they return. This works out really well because I have to go to Vancouver in November to work. Except, that the car is a standard transmission.

Now I had a standard for probably 20 years and certainly knew how to drive it. But the last few years I had switched to an automatic, and all of a sudden, my skills have gone out the window.

So I am taking this little beauty out for a short run to the grocery store to get used to it before I take it to Vancouver with all its traffic and highways and scary drivers.

On the subject of cars. We have been left a few cars to use. Mostly we don't need other people's cars because we have our own, but one very nice lady leaves us her "Dogmobile". This is a van specially set up with padding in the back for her three dogs. They love going for long drives, their heads up against the windows and ears flapping in the breeze. But there is no way we could go anywhere in our car with 3 dogs, so it works out well.

In this whole adventure we have never had a problem with our automobile. Sometimes we hardly drive it. In Powell River we lived in the town centre and walked everywhere. Sometimes we need it on a daily basis. In Sooke we were miles out on an acreage in the country.

So, back to my driving lessons and hoping I don't grind the gears.

Where Haven't We Been?

332 days on the road

In our exploration of small towns where we might settle we were talking about which towns haven't we spent time in. It comes down really to Nanaimo and Victoria.

I am from Victoria and know it fairly well, anyhow we couldn't afford to buy anything there. But Nanaimo I don't know very well. So if we see a gap coming up in the schedule we might put out a call for Nanaimo.

Here is how it usually works:

If there is a hole in the schedule and we need somewhere to stay I often put a call out to all the people we have house and pet sat for in the past. Sometimes one of them will jump at the dates just so they can get away.

But in this case, we might explore Nanaimo, so I would let people know if they have friends near Nanaimo to tell them we are available. Then if no response I would pop something onto craigslist. We have been lucky twice with this method and ended up in really nice homes.

So, you see, the planning is always on the cooker. The only problem we have is that we DO intend to buy, but we don't know when. That is why we are not taking long term housesits (not that we have been offered one). So right now, we live month to month and it is a very good life.

Where Are You?

http://www.britishcolumbia.com/Maps/?id=32

For those of you who don't know the area we are in, have a look. Vancouver, BC is just south of Sechelt and Vancouver Island is a ferry ride away.

Is This Life For You??

A lot of people wonder whether they could do a bit of this touring around nomadic lifestyle, so I made up a list of characteristics that might be you:

Are thinking of downsizing

Want to retire early

Don’t want to pay rent

Like rambling and roaming

Like animals cats, dogs other

Want to explore new communities

Enjoy change

Want a little adventure in your life

Appreciate learning about other people’s lifestyles

Are free to travel

Want to try living in a new community, city town, country.

Looking for a job outside your home town

Need more time for your hobbies write that first novel

Long to sleep in

Enjoy meeting new people

water sports, skiing?

Aren’t tied to your routines

Looking for work in a new town, province

Checking out a new community for possible relocation

These are the reason we came up with.

I’m sure you have many more of your own.

These Boots Are Made For Walking

Nearly every day we get out for a walk. Today it was Davis Bay near Sechelt. The water had that slick sheen as it glistened in the sun. It was a marvellous day for a walk and as we walked along the beach we ran into some people recently moved here. They had just retired to the Sunshine Coast as have so many others. They have a couple of pets, and you never know, down the line, they might need a petsitter.

It is a great trade, our services for your home for a month or so. We have met the nicest people and had the most wonderful pets come into our lives. Days like this make me happy to be alive!

Where We Have Stayed So Far

All of our housesits have been on the Sunshine Coast of BC, just a ferry ride away from Vancouver, or over on Vancouver Island, a longer ferry ride away from Vancouver.

We started in December of 06 and ended this journey on ???????

Sechelt Cottage in the woods 1 dog

Powell River Geodesic dome on 5 acres 2 cats

Sechelt Small family home 1 dog

Vancouver Townhouse 2 cats

Cowichan Bay Cottage in the woods 1 cat

Metchosin Huge country house 3 dogs

Powell River Home with seaview 1 cat

Powell River Other home with seaview 2 cats

Cowichan Bay Cottage in the woods 1 cat

Metchosin Huge country house 3 dogs

Wildwood Acreage 2 cats and 5 ducks

Comox Small home in town 2 cats

Roberts Creek House in the woods 2 cats

We are booked for:

Metchosin Huge country house 3 dogs

Roberts Creek Family Home 2 dogs and 1 cat

Gibsons Family Home 1 dog

White Rock Family Home 2 cats

As you can see we had some people have us back more than once. What a treat to reconnect with our pets and visit with friends.

Mountain Man

One of the best things about this adventure is the time we have to relax and do what we like. For Paul this means playing his banjo where he can.

Most days he spends some time practicing. All summer he stayed out in the beautiful gardens brushing up on his blue-grass.

In the fall and winter he usually drops in to play with a few groups. He found a very good one in Duncan at a community farm, a fabulous one in Powell River, that really encouraged him to get up, sing and play, and a really great one in Sechelt. The one in Sechelt is a mix of accordions, fiddles, autoharps and guitars and mandolins. There are always fun people at these nights and lots of goodies.

It is a great life where you get to spend more time doing what you want and less time doing what you feel you have to.

We Love the Cats

I think we have housesat for over 16 animals this past year. We have a lot of fun with the dogs and they sure get us out walking.

But the cats take the cake for being just plain funny. Billy has done stunts around the house, Molly (seen here) is a real mouser as is Paca.

Cats are so lovely to cuddle and just seem to respond to attention. It is clear who is in charge in a cat household. We end up waiting on them hand and foot; making sure the food is not too cold, letting them in and out and in and out of the house, cleaning up their desposits and generally bowing to their every command.

Good thing they are just so darn cute.

To Market, To Market

One of the best things we have done in the last six months is to buy as much of our produce as possible from farm markets and roadside stands.

This one is just outside the little town of Comox on Vancouver Island. Squash were $1 each, which I thought was unbelievable.

We also buy fresh eggs from farms and even cheeses when we can. It has been a long time since these urban dwellers have bought a dozen safeway eggs and we are loving it.

Every little town has options if you look for them.

Paul has also taken his banjo to the markets and played there. These markets have all kinds of people playing instruments, singing, and generally doing their best to make a good sound. Good people, good fun, good heart.

Core Pleasure

One of the delights of each home is to try out any or all apparatus in the kitchen. I had seen these apple peeling and coring machines before, but had never used one.

What a snap. Peels were flying round the kitchen and I was preparing apples in mere seconds, compared to minutes.

We ate applesauce, apple pie, apple crumble and apple and squash soup. We have been in many homes that have had apple and pear trees and it is a pleasure to pick the windfalls off of the ground before the bugs get into them.

Summer Onions

One of the best parts of housesitting is getting to live with other people's gardens. In the countryside outside Powell River we stayed on an acreage with an enormous garden.

The whole month we ate fresh tomatoes and peppers from the greenhouse and all kinds of fresh summer fare.

When the rain headed into it's second week it seemed time to pull the onions out of the ground before they drowned. I am not sure how many we pulled up but more than 50 at least.

What lovely sweet onions they turned out to be.. I am sure they will last the homeowner the whole winter long.

Burgers Up

http://www.lighthousepub.ca/

In this lovely part of the Sunshine Coast we do have a favourite pub. It has been here for years and, even with all the new development around the area, it remains a great place.

The first picture on the website is the view from the pub. You sit on that deck, or by the fire in the winter, looking out at the pier as the floatplanes land on the bay. This inlet or bay, called Porpoise Bay is really long and it is worth a trip up that way.

The Lighthouse pub is the only place I ever found that serves Lamburgers. We eat very little meat, but sometimes we just go out for a night of carnivourous pleasure, and lamburgers sure do the trick.

The wonderful thing about this peninsula called The Sunshine Coast, is how in the middle of it there is water on both sides. You can hardly get away from the beaches.

http://tinyurl.com/2jc4ev

Too bad, eh?

Settling In to a New Home

Whenever we change houses it takes a little while to settle in. We bring in all the luggage from the car and try to only unpack what we need for that month. Then we have a big cup of coffee and explore all around the new house. Even if it is a home we have already housesat in, we explore all over again.

Today we marvelled at the trees outside the big picture windows as they turned gold and orange. We examined the dying vegetable garden for the last leeks of the season. We nibbled on some fine gruyere cheese kindly left by the homeowners.

I luxuriated in the giant bathtub with a window beside it looking out at the sky.
We stoked the giant furnace and did a huge burn to get the house all toasty and warm.

We always go shopping the first day so we will have something good for dinner. I usually make a lovely vegetable pasta with cottage cheese and fresh parmesan.

Then at night I put some dough to rise for tomorow. We peruse the books and find something good and new to read, then get online to tell our friends where we are for the next month.

Last thing we go for a short walk around the area to take in the autumn smells and sights.
I think we are in our 11th housesit so far this year. Most places we are staying 3 weeks to a month. Each home is lovely and each community is so interesting to explore.

We already know this town quite well, so look forward to seeing old friends again.

Hey it's a tough living, but someone has to do it.

Roberts Creek

http://www.vancouverisland.com/Regions/towns/?townID=13

Have a look at the website to see this place.
We have made a move from Vancouver Island back to the Sushine Coast. That involved taking a ferry from the big island to Vancouver. We stopped there so I could do a few days of workshops and make a bit of money. Then on to another ferry in a different direction and up the Sunshine Coast.

Roberts Creek is about 20 minutes from where the ferry lands. You might remember the town of Gibsons from the tv show the Beachcombers. The whole area is about beaches and trees and is really lovely.

We used to come up here for holidays and it is wonderful to return for a month. Sadly, the prices have doubled in the time we have been visiting. This is partly due to the proximity to Vancouver. All down the highway you see chairs by the side of the road and wonder what they are for. This is where the commuters sit waiting for their rides by bus or car to whip them down to the ferry so that they can go into to Vancouver to work. It is a really long commute, but certainly beautiful.

So here we are in a lovely home in the woods with two very noble Siamese cats.
More later.

Cheese, Glorious Cheese

While I was in Courtenay today I visited a cheese shop and factory.
http://www.naturalpastures.com/

Now I have never heard of natural pastures and don't think I ever tried the cheeses. But today I went in and sampled at least 8 kinds of cheese and was it ever lovely. They have their own special milk, and process and the result is these mouth-watering local cheeses.

I couldn't decide, but I finally went with the one with cumin inside it. I just popped some of it between two tortillas and warmed and toasted it in a cast-iron frying pan, cut it into small wedges and we had the best afternoon snack we have had in some time.

We don't eat a lot of cheese, it is pricey and has too much fat for general everyday consumption, but we sure do enjoy our cheese fiestas when we have them.

River Walk

http://www.city.courtenay.bc.ca/visitors/gallery/courtenay-river-walk.aspx

Took this lovely river walk in the town of Courtenay this morning. I am really enjoying this little town on Vancouver Island. It has a bit of everything, some river, some ocean, some mountains and a whole lot of spirit.

We are narrowing down our search for where we are going to buy a place. I think we are down to Courtenay and Powell River. While Courtenay is on Vancouver Island, Powell River is more isolated two ferries above Vancouver.

They both have what we like; coffee shops, art, music, friendly people, decent prices (in an unreal market) and great scenery.

It seems to me that the real estate might be about to swing down a bit, so we will likely wait this out. I would like to make an offer on a house in the midst of winter, when the sellers are sick of selling and just want to see it gone.

So with another 5 months of housesitting already lined up, we are in a pretty good position for looking around.

Loving every day of this adventure.

Locking Horns

We went on our walk this morning on a windy and blustery day. We ended up at the Filberg Lodge, a wonderful park right on the water in Comox. Deer were scattered all over the lawns since hardly anyone was there.

Does and fawns covered the area, stopping their munching only to gaze up at us as we walked by. They were so used to humans and fairly comfortable, although jumpy if you got too close.

As we were leaving we happened to see something I have never seen before. We just stood there awed as two bucks pushed and shoved each other around with their antlers. This was no fight to the death, just a little show of supremacy.

When we lived in downtown Vancouver the closest we got to deer was when we went camping. Now in so many of these small towns in BC they are everywhere, on the roads, in the fields, all over the golf course and of course in your back garden. Everyone has a fenced vegetable garden.

The wonders of house sitting never end.

Powell River

One of the towns we have spent time in is Powell River
There is so much to like about Powell River. We did four pretty long house sits in the town. The first was last January. We were out on an acreage about 15 minutes from town. Even though it was typical west coast weather we enjoyed the people we met. I went along to some Toastmasters meetings and Paul joined a music group that appreciated his banjo playing.

The second house sit was in June and this was the view from the deck. It was a lovely small home and we would spend nearly every day walking to the beach (just by those trees).

Then in July we got our stuff packed and walked it down the street two doors to the next house sit where we got new pets and more or less the same view. It was a wonderful summer.

Then in August we returned to this town, this time staying north of town about 12 km. There we lingered on a lovely acreage with ducks and a garden that was wonderful. All of August we ate right from the garden and enjoyed huge salads, fresh bluberries and raspberries.

This town ranks #1 so far, the only drawback is that it takes two ferries to reach it from Vancouver. But the people are amazing and the living seems very good there.

Bread Making

Over the 10 months we have been moving around, one constant has been the time we have been able to devote to good cooking. We have both learned how to eat fabulous vegetarian food by living in homes of vegetarians and "honouring the kitchen". We have made jams and jellies that will see us through the winter.

My own particular hobby, though, has become breadmaking. I have come up, finally, with a simple loaf recipe that uses molasses, wheat germ and bran. I find I can make four loaves at once, bake two of them up, and put the other two in the freezer to cook another time. I love being able to control what is in our bread, and the very process is relaxing.

I think it is important to set aside time for simple pursuits, like creating bread.

I always clean the kitchen before I start. Then I lay out the ingredients and the utensils. Now the fact that the bread has to rise three times means I more or less hang around the house doing things all day, with ocassional forays out for walks or shopping. I like this. I like attending to the bread and paying attention. You can bet that by the time I take a slice I really appreciate the trouble it took to make it.

Today I am trying a new recipe that requires no kneading. It is a white bread, like a french loaf I think, and all the work is done by letting the dough rise for 18 hours. Interesting, eh?

So, this afternoon Paul and I will sit here in our lovely temporary cottage looking out at the swaying trees, eating fresh bread in front of the fire. Does it get any better than this?

Second Hand Rose

One thing we have learned is not to carry a lot of clothes around with us from one housesit to the next. We have been doing this since last December and are in our tenth month. That means we have gone through a winter, spring, summer and now fall.

Here is what we do:

1. Keep one good business suit for me for when I have to do workshops.

2. Store some clothes with our good friends in Sechelt and pick them up from time to time.

3. Go the thrift shops every season and give them all our old summer clothes that we are sick of.

4. At the same time we pick up the new things we need.

For example, today, I needed a sweater and some gloves and a winter work blouse. So off we went to St. Vincent De Paul's. Now this is our favourite thrift shop of all of them. I picked up some little wool gloves for fifty cents, a blouse for three dollars and had to have a super lightweight jacket for four bucks. That is all I probably need for the season now and it cost me less than $10. We never buy retail, I mean never.

It helps that, as house and petsitters we are not expected to look polished or anything, but we look neat and clean and who cares if we wear a few outfits over and over. I mean, it is not as if anyone is going to see us day after day.

The only thing I couldn't do without is my sheepskin slippers. Houses are a lot colder in the winter than our condo and I had to pick these up in Sechelt last December. They were pricey, but my Christmas gift. They are made right in Sechelt and they will always repair them for free.

When I think of all the clothes we are storing in those giant bins in Delta it makes me wonder what we needed them for. So think simple, think flexible and tune in for more of the adventures of the Accidental Housesitters.

Autumn Tastes

Fall is such a beautiful time. All the leaves in the Comox Valley are orange and red and seem to glow with an autumn health. The mountains are now snow-capped and shine in the early morning's light.


In the back of the yard is a huge apple tree. Yesterday we hauled in a load of fresh reddish apples and made apple crumble. Paul peeled and sliced and I made the topping of oatmeal, butter, flour, cinammon and sugar. It was a wonderful way to spend an evening, sitting right by the back doors, looking at the garden and eating apple crumble.

At many of the homes we have visited we have enjoyed some of their local produce, raspberries and vegetables in the summer, squash and apples in the fall and fresh flowers on the table all through the summer.

Cumberland Look Around

Today we drove to the little town of Cumberland
near Courtenay on Vancouver Island and had a look around. It is a lovely place with all the heritage homes intact and really a very funky neighbourhood. Cumberland is not on the ocean as are most towns on this big island, but it is just a few minutes away.

We stopped and had a wonderful lunch at Tarbell's Cafe and had a long talk with one of the residents. Seems this town puts on quite a lantern festival in the spring, Asian artistic lanterns.
I think things are about to change for Cumberland, though, because of the proximity of some of the housing developments.

Would we buy there? Maybe. On the positive side it has a great town we could walk to every day and a huge lake nearby. The people seem friendly and houseprices are pretty good. It is closer to the highway and I could get down the island and on my way to Vancouver quickly.

On the negative side you can't see the ocean, and so far, no big grocery store in town. So this town goes into our "maybe" pile for now. So far we have Comox, Courtenay and Powell River in the yes pile and several other towns in the no pile.

Nothing like housesitting to learn about a new area.

An Article I Wrote about Housesitting

The Accidental House-Sitters

Discovering Simple Living

By Deb Calderon
Copyright © 2007

Sometimes a change in life creates a new and wonderful opportunity. At the age of 51, my husband Paul had just had his job outsourced to India and real estate was booming in Vancouver, British Columbia. On a camping trip to a small coastal town, we discussed just leaving the city and seeing where life would take us.

We sold our nice 900 square foot condo in September and moved out in December with no firm plan in mind. We thought we would house-sit in the town where we been camping for two months and then find a small house there to live simply. Ten months later we are still living in other people's homes, caring for other people's pets and calling ourselves "The Accidental House-Sitters."

Tonight we are sitting in the garden after watering the vegetables, looking over the Strait of Georgia and eating fresh blackberries. People ask us all the time how we set up this Accidental House-Sitting, so I thought I would share a little of our experience.

We have lived in nine places so far this year. All of them are wonderful and different, and have given us ideas of what we like and what we don't like for our future. We are finding out what suits us in the simplest, most economical way. So far this year, we have lived in the following places:

• A wonderful little vintage rose-covered cottage on the waterfront,
• An architectural wonder in the woods of Roberts Creek,
• A geodesic dome on five acres,
• And two gorgeous homes with big decks and wonderful sea views.

Right now we are more or less booked until Christmas.

By house- and pet-sitting we create a wonderful exchange: we look after your home and your pets and you give us your home temporarily. We settle into a new environment of usually a month or so and learn about a new community.

We don't ask for any money, but usually our homeowners (many now friends) throw in lots of freebies. We have been given homemade wine, homemade bread, freshly made mint jelly, handmade chocolates, a bag of prawns, and access to refrigerators all over the coast.

Every house we have stayed in has been incredible and special, and we have come to have a first hand look at what life is like in each community with an eye toward living there in the future. We have explored local political issues, traffic patterns, what kinds of clubs you can join, and a lot more. This information is invaluable as we choose where we next want to buy a home.

Our costs are low, very low. We pay no house taxes, no hydro or electricity, no strata fees, no Internet cost and no heat or fuel. We buy really nothing for these homes as they come fully equipped. We are never tempted to buy little household trinkets, as everything we pick up we end up carrying around in the car, and it becomes quite a hassle.

Some of these homes even come with the use of a car, should we need to take the animals out for a drive and walk.

Many people ask us how we get all these opportunities, so here are some thoughts:

• Don't charge. Many pet-sitters do this as a business, but because we see this as a swap and we need your home temporarily we don't need to charge. That means that our schedule is nearly always full. It is a win/win for the homeowner, the pets and for us.

• Tell everyone you meet that this is what you do, and give an email address where people can reach you. Tell people you meet at coffee shops, in the mall, at parties and everywhere. Some of our best house-sits have been arranged months after meeting the homeowners. A chance meeting on a beach might turn into a month in a seafront cottage.

• Gather your list of references as you go. For years we had been house-sitting for a week here, a week there, just to get away from the city. We would look after dogs, cats, donkeys, what have you. We started with a list of four people who could act as past references. Now we have over 12.

• Keep in touch with everyone. Every 6 weeks I send out a general "Where are Paul and Deb NOW!" bulletin on the Internet to friends, family and past homeowners. People we know are beginning to realize that we do this for a service and might mention it to people they know, and so on. Now and then when we might have a gap and don't have a place to stay, we contact all our past homeowners and let them know we are free for particular dates. They may well have friends who need house-sitters. As I write this, we have a three-week gap in the late fall. I am confident that this will be filled long before we get to November.

• Say YES! Take the house-sit for every type of home offered. We have said yes to house-sitting in a mobile home in a park and the possibility of a fifth wheel that will be parked on the beach. Why not try it to see how you like it?

• Do a little extra. My husband mostly wants to play banjo. But from time to time he has been known to mow lawns, paint a little woodwork, chop wood, and even wash people's cars when it is sunny outside. He has an incredible tan this summer from all his time outdoors.

• Soon it will be one complete year that we have been house- and pet-sitting on the coast. What started out as a few months of fun has turned into an incredible opportunity. Many of the homeowners are now our friends, and that is the biggest payoff of all.

But tons of other exciting things came along the way too. In house- and pet-sitting we have:

• Learned to play killer canasta
• Explored all kinds of new kitchen machines
• With permission, read a lot of new books (including cookbooks) in people's homes
• Listened to a lot of new music
• Joined a few musical groups so Paul can play banjo
• Learned to bake bread
• Walked hundreds of miles around the new towns
• Visited farmer's markets we never knew existed

We have also learned that we really don't need all that "stuff" that is indeed "stuffed" into 2 storage lockers in Vancouver. One of the only costs of this lifestyle is the $150 a month we pay to keep all our possessions under lock and key. I know when we open those storage containers half of it will go directly to Freecycle or thrift shops. We have learned to live lightly and have fun doing it.

Life has become a pleasure in so many ways. We take time to do the things that we had been putting off. We certainly don't have the money to retire full-time, but this way we are easing into the next stage of life. The money from the sale of our home makes money while we travel around and, because our costs are low, this year we will come out ahead financially.

We have also fallen in love with so many of the pets we got to look after: Naughty Bird, Chaos, Jo-Jo, Jack, Samson and Delilah, Larry and Linus, Piggelet and many more. For people who were never allowed pets in the condominium, it is like having foster animals all over the coast.

"Don't you miss your own place?" people ask. Well sometimes we do, but not often. When I think of the great people we have met and the fun we have had at the lakes and beaches, not to mention summer festivals, the music we have heard and the joy of discovering a new community, I don't miss it much. Soon we will probably buy another home, but for now, we are free to move around, come and go and pick up and change places. And, when we do own our next home, we will know a whole network of people who might return the favor and house-sit for us.

Could this experience be for you? It could if you have no children to look after and no pets of your own, can get away for a while and are, above all, flexible. My husband Paul has never been known for his flexibility. In the first month he wanted to find a place, buy it, capture it and seal the deal. Now he feels quite differently. He has become more open and is more comfortable meeting new people. He has played for the first time really in public and has jammed with some fine musicians.

If you want to try something like this, put the word out to friends and relatives in your area, or as far as you are willing travel, that you are available for short house- and pet-sitting stints for weekends and vacations. Then, if you discover you like it, take on longer engagements.

I still have to go by ferry every month to work in Vancouver doing workshops for a few days to keep the piggybank from emptying, but apart from that our life is truly wonderful.

We don't need a lot of money to do this. We spend our money on food, ferries and fun. So that's our story, I might call it "Sleeping Around," "The Accidental House-Sitters," or whatever; we're always open to new ideas.

You can reach Deb and Paul at their email address as they have no other fixed address and no real telephone number. They are always happy to chat. deb@wizbangers.ca

About The Author

Deb Calderon, of no fixed address, travels with her husband and banjo player Paul and is the head of Calderon Consulting: www.wizbangers.ca Contact Deb at deb@wizbangers.ca

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Visits from Friends

In all the homes we have stayed in, we have often had friends visit. With permission from the homeowner, sometimes they stay overnight. One thing that is great about giving FREE service is that we have made so many friends along the way from our owners.

When our friend came to Comox yesterday it was fun to take her to a new beach near the house. The wind was whipping the waves into whitecaps and the walk was bracing, but fun. Coming back we walked along the calm side of the spit, looking at the lagoon that surrounds this town.

Later on we rambled on the huge boardwalk that stretches out into the ocean above the marina and ended up having coffee in a snug little coffee bar.

The most fun part of the day, though, was showing her some of the houses that were for sale. I am always in touch with the real estate market, since we want to relocate, so I know where the good houses are. It is fun to share this information.

Just lining up a March housesit in White Rock, the resort town right near Vancouver. The lady sent me a picture of her home and it looks just beautiful. It will be good to reconnect with old friends around Vancouver.

Today I am looking at the clouds drifting past the glaciers and am so thankful that we started this journey.

Library Without Walls

An amazing service that the libraries in British Columbia offer is this Library Without Walls. It allows people to go online and choose an audio book and download it for free to an MP3 or the computer. It sticks around for a while for you to listen to and then magically disappears.

This really beats going down to the library, getting a set of discs and remembering to return them, especially when you move around as much as we do. I have listened to at least 9 books so far, and all have been really good, great quality and well read. What a lifesaver.

http://downloads.bclibrary.ca/8AD1D29B-079E-46A6-A28F-52BEC2ABE568/10/292/en/Default.htm

Comox by the Sea

Right now we are in beautiful Comox on Vancouver Island. We will be in this home for one month.
It is a lovely small house on a small acreage, only a 15 minute walk from town. In the town we see a gorgeous marina on a quiet sea, and down the road we have beaches with pounding surf.

The two cats in this house are adorable. One is a bit of a drooler and fancies herself as a mighty huntress, but they are cuddly and cute too.

As I type this I look out of my window and can see the mountains of Forbidden Plateau in the distance. Housesitting in the summer, with the heat and the garden, the beaches and the swimming is really fun. In the winter it is a bit different. It if more about fires and walks in the rain and coffee shops and libraries.

Either way, every morning we wake up when we want, go to bed when we want, and do what we want in between.

Ah the good life.

The Accidental Housesitters Begins

Well, to tell you the truth, my husband Paul and I have been on this journey for 10 months already; I just never got around to blogging it. So let's begin now.

Who Are You?
Deb and Paul, married couple in British Columbia.

What Is This Adventure?
We are housesitting all over Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, month to month.

Why Are You Doing This?
We started out by selling our condo in Vancouver in December of 06. We thought we would housesit in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast for 2 months and buy a new home, but it has turned inot over 10 months now due to multiple requests.

What's the Deal
Every month we move. We change houses and change communities and explore. We check out each town and think about if we want to live there. It is really a lot of fun.

We have lived in:

Sechelt
Halfmoon Bay
Powell River
Comox
Metchosin
Sooke
Cowichan Bay
and a few more places

How Long Will You Do This?
Until it isn't fun anymore. We are booked until March, but somewhere along the line we want to buy a home. We just keep putting it off because this housesitting is great.

Why Is It Great?
We don't charge for this service, but we get to live in beautiful homes. So far for 10 months we have paid nothing for:

rent
mortgage
electricity
telephone
internet
taxes
maintenance

We also like the pets that are left in our charge.

So, this could be an adventure you too could enjoy. Stay posted for more ideas.