Monday, April 19, 2010

Their Fairy Petmother

Whoa, just when I start to get on a roll artistically speaking, my second job picks up. Yes, I am a fairy petmother to many cats and dogs, bunnies, guinea pigs, chickens, fish, and even an aquatic frog in my local area. It's something I happened into just as I lost my full-time status at the small non-profit where I work. I love my 4-day a week schedule, but it doesn't pay the bills. I was glad to pick up an overnight stay here and there. It got bigger and bigger. People with swimming pools & hot tubs--lovely old and new homes. Some of them became like health spas to me! Normally considered a "cat person," I met many sweet dogs and found that I "have a way with them." I never advertised and I don't have set prices.


Right now I'm on the last few days of a 3-week session in a nearby town with two dogs.  While there, I also picked up two catsits in the same area, so now my mornings and evenings I make the rounds to feed the cats, then settle in with the dogs for the evening and overnight.


As you can imagine, half of what I need at any given time is at an alternate house. When I'm home, I don't have this and that, then I get "there" and have forgotten a critical item at home. Luckily home is near the office, so I stop there morning and evening too. The first week at this place left me baffled. I drink decaf coffee in the morning with soy creamer. So I packed up the commuter cup, the creamer and coffee and moved in. The first morning I looked and looked-no coffee filters. I thought I had packed them. This is a tea drinker's home, no coffee filters! So I folded up a paper towel to fit in the cone. No cone! I tried holding the paper towel and passing the water thru, it broke and flooded the sink with grounds. I tried a paper towel in a colander. Well-try getting that into a cup. I should have used a big bowl. (Not to mention all the volatile chemicals in the paper towels!)


So I packed up my creamer and went to work. Drank regular coffee there. The next day, you can be sure I had my filters, but I still forgot the cone. I used a funnel with passable results. You just have to keep lifting it and checking it. It's really slow. If you are not careful the bottom of the filter splits open. Finally, after two tries, a cup full & NO CREAMER!! About the 4th day I managed to actually have the real thing. On the fifth day I brought my small coffee can back home to refill and forgot it. I had hot water, filter, cone, creamer and no coffee.  This is how it is to live as a fairy petmother on the edge of daft...


I'm seriously looking forward to next week in my own home. I am reading Somerset mags like crazy to keep my artistic brain working. I want to create! I don't dare start bringing all my art things to these places, I can't imagine how many days one piece would take when the scissors are here and the glue is there, the clippings here and the pictures there, etc. (Not to mention how long it takes to move out!)


I'm trying to come up with an idea to keep the coffee hot longer. The cup is insulated stainless steel, but the top is just a plastic lid with a hole. I cut a nice circle from a soup box-one of those tetra boxes- and it fit right in and kept the coffee hot. But I couldn't get it out. I had to stop the car and pry it out with a key. Now I've stuck a piece of tape on it for a handle, but this is really a temporary fix. I'll keep working on it. Now I see a project with recycled tetra packs, buttons, stitching--maybe a cozy made from an old sock? HMMM. (Did I mention daft?)


OH NO, not Brutus! (more pics of Brutus on the Dream Vacation 2 slideshow) Though someone did ask me to come and milk his goats. I was appalled--He said it was fun! Well, maybe for a goat farmer, but not something I can imagine myself doing before going off to the office-I'm not even a morning person!

Hopefully I'll have my sanity back next week! Y'all have a lovely one and "Ramble on..."

Sherry


9 comments:

  1. Sherry, you sure lead an interesting and adventurous life! I hope you finally got your coffee figured out! This might be silly, but I always fill my travel mug with really hot water and let it sit a few minutes before I pour in my coffee. It warms up the mug and I swear the coffee stays warmer longer!
    Alissa

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  2. I do what Alissa above does...although it's usually to keep my little guys lunch warm in his lunch sack...bet ya can't wait to get home and get all artsy.

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  3. Oh, what a fund read. How much trouble to get a decent cup of coffee.;) Although I can so relate, a day without that steamy drink is a bad day.;)
    What an exciting job anyway, to be pet sitting. Even though I understand you miss your home.;) Sweet and cute animals in all your pictures;) Even the bear.;)
    xo

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  4. When we were younger and took the kids camping, I had a flip-list on notecards and checked everything off while packing. Worked great - didn't have to think (just the first time when I wrote the list) and everything got packed in a jiffy.
    If you're like me, you gotta have the coffee. Maybe a packing for pet sitting flip-list would help?
    Love you posts and visits, Sherry!!!
    Hugs,
    Zuzu

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  5. I'll pet sit Brutus! those hilltown cats and dogs are blessed to have you! If you had accepted the goat sit, you'd have had the cream! I like...on the edge of daft, wonder what daft really is like. Suppose if one were really daft, one wouldn't notice it?

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  6. Love this post! I wish you were closeby (or do you travel) to take care of our Argos. We take him to the vet but I know he'd love to be at home in his own (well, our) bed. Let me know what you work out for the coffee because I like mine to stay so hot it "perks" on the way down!!

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  7. Hmm, I just became one of your "followers" but I can't figure out why my follower "photo" is of a tea cup and not my orchid logo. Just one of those life-in-cyberspace mysteries I suppose.

    B
    B

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  8. Sweet Sherry..Loved this post! Again, your writing and great photography bring us right into your world. It's always such a delight!

    Here's hoping you and the ones you love, have a great weekend!

    Blessings, Love & Thursday Sunshine, Terri
    http://www.dimplesdragonflies.com

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  9. Sherry,
    Oh you make me laugh, I would have HAD to go home & get the coffee supplies. I have to have my good coffee every morning or I'm useless. What a great 2nd job you have, wish you lived here so I could call on you when we leave town. I always take my dog with us, because I can't bear the thought of her locked in a kennel all weekend. Would love to find a pet sitter. Lisa

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