POST # 473
Onboard the Phillip Law
Having completed the sale of my sailboat a couple of days earlier, I met up with the new owners at the gate of the marina, to hand over the keys, and go over any other details that we hadn't covered earlier. In spite of the fact that I only received 20% of what I had purchased the boat for, six years earlier, I was happy that the transaction was now complete. The new owners were a couple of young brothers from Quebec, and they were keen to get onboard their new boat. It was now time for me to leave the marina and the sailboat that had been my home, and be on my way.
Why mention this history now? Well the date that I left the marina was October 1st, 2011. As of six days ago, I have been house/pet sitting full time now for an entire decade. That was the day that I shifted from being a part time sitter to a full time sitter.
I absolutely loved living on my sailboat, however during my final year at the marina, I worked out that I had probably spent only about two months out of the twelve, onboard. The remainder of the year was at a variety of locations around Vancouver doing exactly what I do now, that is, house/pet sitting. I could keep the boat, and continue to pay the monthly moorage fees, but it seemed like a waste of money, as I was hardly ever there. I had no idea at the time what it was going to be like to be intentionally homeless, but there was only one way to find out.
I was headed to Orcas Island in Washington State. This would be the very first house sit acquired through the house sitting service called Housecarers. If memory serves, I believe that it was for three weeks duration, and I had the pleasure of not only being in a wonderful location, but I had the company of Oscar and Felix the cats (you can view them on the right side of the page if you scroll down). It would be the start of a regular sit on Orcas over many subsequent years.
My house sit history goes all the way back to 1986. At the time, I was living in Los Angeles of all places, and working as a handy man at a college that my sister Rosie was attending. The President of the college, lived in a mansion of a house on Arbor street, just off of Orange Grove boulevard in Pasadena, very near the Wrigley mansion. Kathryn owned a Russian wolf hound named Shauna. I house sat for Kathryn on a couple of occasions, the last of which found me chasing Shauna down Orange Grove boulevard heading towards the Pasadena freeway. I spent a very stressed day and night driving around Pasadena, prior to having Shauna return home about 5am then next morning. Who knows what adventures she had been on during her time away, but I was very grateful to have her back home. Kathryn was arriving home later that same day. Perhaps I learned an early lesson in dog sitting all those years ago.
Fast forward to Dawson City in the Yukon. This is where my house/pet sitting really began to take off. As one can imagine, there are plenty of Dawsonites that love to head south during the winter months, and so the opportunities for me were numerous. Prior to moving from Dawson in 2004, I put together a folder of referrals from many of my clients, and this would prove to be a wise decision for my future house sit career.
I moved to Vancouver in late 2004. One day while on lunch break at Granville Island where I worked operating an Aquabus ferry, I came across an ad on the bulletin board, advertising for a cat sitter. Long story short, that became the first of many regular clients that I helped out during my time in Vancouver. At some point I stumbled across Housecarers which matched people like me, with people who were looking for a sitter. I actually disregarded the website at first, and forgot all about it. Somehow, months later, there it was again. I decided to join back in 2011, and I've been a member since that time. Occasionally I make a wise decision, and joining Housecarers certainly fits the bill.
This past year and a half or so, has been slim pickings to say the least, however, slowly but surely the house sit gigs are starting to appear again on the Housecarers website.
I do love this lifestyle, and I really can't imagine doing anything else for the rest of my life. The rewards are too numerous to mention. Not only do I have the opportunity to visit a variety of wonderful locations, but more important than the location, are the wonderful critters, that I have come to know and love along this journey. Plus, there are some very special people (they know who they are) that I have met along this journey.
I'm pretty darn sure that I won't get another decade under my belt, but if that were to happen, then I would be very happy indeed spending it doing just what I have been doing since October 1st, 2011.
grateful for every breath,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
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