Our first adventure in housesitting and petsitting landed us on the Big Island, in a beautiful ocean front home just outside of Hilo. It was such a rewarding and amazing experience…of course Hawaii is stupendous, but not without its challenges!
Having a large acreage ocean front property in a tropical climate meant a very different regimen for upkeep, and a heightened degree of home security precautions and property monitoring. The homeowners permitted public access to the beach across their property, during specified hours, and in their absence, we made sure, to the best of our abilities, the times and other rules were adhered to.
It was certainly an experience being immersed in the environment — history, cultural differences, local politics, made for a most memorable housesit and petsit. The Chinese have a saying, “May you live in interesting times,’ and they were certainly interesting times for us!
We were fortunate to have two stalwart “friends” firmly in our corner — Lilo, the aging pit bull with a crippled leg who still loved chasing bumpers on our property walks, and Koko, the lightning-fast mixed shepherd with super-sonic ears to alert us.
