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Berkeley “Gourmet Ghetto” | 4 Days

Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of urban areas, but I have a soft spot for Berkeley; an energetic, forward-thinking college town with great food and art to boot. What’s not to love?

I was fortunate enough to be asked to housesit for a lovely couple who live in a one-bedroom apartment in a charming 1940s colonial-style building near Berkeley’s famous Gourmet Ghetto district.

They own a sweet toothless cat who looks like he used to be white but was once held by his four paws and half haphazardly dipped into black paint, missing his belly and some of his face – so cute! He was so adorable I decided to make a watercolor of him as gift to his owners.

Duties:

– Care for 1 cat
– Keep home tidy

Unexpected Benefits and/or Realizations:

– The owners had the coolest litter box! It was a cube with a lid on top that had a large hole for the cat to enter (from the top!) and smaller holes around the larger hole (so litter attached to his feet upon exiting can fall back into the box).
– Having the ability to walk to so many wonderful restaurants and shops was a huge perk!!

Unexpected Events and/or Challenges:

– I tend to forget how difficult parking in the city can be. The owners generously gave me parking passes allowing me to park on the street while I was there, but I wasn’t able to find a spot close to the apartment. This led me to worry a bit about the security of my car and made unloading and loading a bit of a pain. But in the end, all was well!

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Walnut Creek Hilltop | 6 Days

That first morning I sat under a twisted oak and sipped my coffee while gazing at Mount Diablo in the distance. The evening before, when I took the dog for a walk, I watched as the “devil mountain” began to glow orange from the setting sun; quite fitting as Halloween was just a few days prior.

Happily, many front yards were still decorated with jack-o-lanterns and fake cobwebs. Better still, as I walked the dog through the neighborhood each evening, I swore I could smell the familiar Harvest scents of pumpkin spice and vanilla wafting through the air.

It was a quaint typical American neighborhood; the type one would see featured in iconic movies from the 1990s. It’s exactly the type of neighborhood I wished I lived in as a child, especially during Halloween. Living in the sticks,  my mom had to drive my brother and I to a “real” neighborhood so we could Trick-or-Treat.

Needless to say, I considered my time here a real treat (pun intended) and I hope I get to sit here again very soon.

Duties:

– Care for 1 cat
– Care for 1 dog (provide daily walks)
– Gather mail
– Water indoor and outdoor plants (if needed)
– Keep house tidy
– Take out trash

Unexpected Benefits and/or Realizations:

– I loved living in a home on top of a hill because the house is filled with so much warmth and light (great for those dreary winter months)

Unexpected Events and/or Challenges:

– Owners were vacationing somewhere with poor cell reception so initial communications regarding health concerns for one of the animals weren’t going through. Good reminder to obtain email addresses or a backup landline phone number just in case.

   

 

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Sonoma Farm | 3 Weeks

Fall had officially arrived! In the Wine Country, Fall means the harvesting of grapes and the smell of bubbling fermentations wafting through the valley. But as I stood looking out over the fruit and vegetable gardens in the backyard of my new house sitting assignment, my mind was on a different kind of harvest.

Tons of heirloom tomatoes, fruit-laden fig and apple trees, multiple varieties of mint and basil, raspberry bushes, and a fence covered in white concord grapes; this was all at my disposal for the next 3 weeks! Did I mention fresh chicken and duck eggs too? My inner chef was squealing with delight.

During my sit, I made tomato preserves, pasta sauce, raisins, tomato soup, fried green tomatoes, and an apple crumble. The owners jokingly challenged me to make wine from their grapes as well. Of course I took on that challenge but the wine ended up very sour so I dumped it 😉

Sadly, one week into my sit, I was awoken from a deep sleep at 1:30am by the sound of someone shouting from a loud speaker outside. It was a Sonoma County Sheriff alerting the neighborhood that a fire was coming our way and we needed to get out now. Terrified, I threw on whatever clothes I could find and tossed some possessions into my car. I then gently placed the special needs cat into a pillow case (because I could not find a cat carrier). I put him and some of his special food into an open basket and placed him in the car. I then ran to the chicken/duck coop and opened up all the doors so the poultry could escape if needed. 

I evacuated to nearby downtown Napa to stay with friends and thankfully, around 12 hours later, the roads back to Sonoma were reopened and I was able to return to the house. The fire made it within 3/4 mile of the house before it burned out. The property and animals I left behind were all perfectly fine. I was glad I could report this happy ending to the owners who were travelling around Europe. I couldn’t even imagine how worried and helpless they were feeling.

The fires still burned in the area for almost 2 weeks and the air was often filled with smoke, but the threat to the property was over.

Duties:

– Care for 2 cats (one with special feeding needs)
– Care for many chickens & ducks
– Gather eggs, properly label, and store
– Water outdoor plants
– Keep house tidy
– Relay important voicemail messages to owners
– Relay information and deliver needed items to property maintenance man
– Email owners with periodic status updates
– Visit multiple times before the sit to meet owners and walk through duties
– Drive owners to their airport shuttle

Unexpected Benefits and/or Realizations:

– Having fresh eggs every day is amazing!
– Being able to pick fresh tomatoes, figs, apples, herbs, etc is wonderful for my love of cooking and baking (and eating).

Unexpected Events and/or Challenges:

– Nearby fire caused the mandatory evacuation of myself and cat with special needs
– Fire also prompted many calls from concerned friends of owners whom I contacted to ease their worries
– Had to trouble-shoot issues with automated watering system and water additional plants by hand as a back-up plan until owners returned
– The house is on a shared well which went dry and left me without water for half a day

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Respite in Rural Napa | 2 Weeks

In the peak of Summer, when temperatures reached 100-110 degrees, what could have been better than spending two weeks at a quiet, rural, ten-acre property featuring a private creek?? The answer… nothing!!

Every morning I would make myself coffee and sip it while lounging on the deck in the morning sun. The deck overlooks a large field which is home to a bevy of quail and a family of deer. In the evenings I loved watching the animals below as well as the animals above… bats!

From the deck I could also hear the babbling creek. Most days I would make myself lunch and carry it down to the creek and eat it while soaking my feet in the cool water. On those miserably hot days, the creek was heaven.

As luck would have it, the solar eclipse happened while I was there. The wide open field was the perfect spot to take in the view. I didn’t have the proper glasses so I cast shadows from the holes in a colander 😉

The calm, quiet, cool, isolated atmosphere this property provided was the perfect antidote for the hot, noisy, stressful summer I was having. I look forward to sitting here again!

Duties:

– Collect mail
– Water plants
– Keep house tidy

Unexpected Benefits and/or Realizations:

– Having a creek is so fun and, unlike a pool, requires no maintenance!
– Having a quiet place to sleep and work was so beneficial to my happiness and productivity.

Unexpected Events and/or Challenges:

Country-living comes with a few downsides:
– Lots of other bugs/gnats/mosquitos/etc.
– Mice in the house (they were so cute though) & large spiders (not cute!)
– Brief power and cell service interruption