...and we said YES

So we thought it would be a grand idea to add House/Pet sitting to our list of accomplishments in our lives. The past 2 weeks we've stayed at a home in Ajijic to watch 2 rescue dogs, 1 elderly cat, and a fish pond full of Koi and our own little Ollie. Along with that we are watering their park and the myriads of house plants.

Joel gets up in the mornings and makes sure all the dishes are full of water and food. Makes the coffee for the two of us and checks his emails. He finally let's all the dogs out to do their morning business. Somewhere earlier in the morning Janice waters the front, side and back yards. Joel goes out to the Koi pond and cleans out the filter and feeds the fish. Then Joel cleans out the cat litter box and all the dog droppings in the yard. Janice goes upstairs to the full terrace and waters all the plants up there and sweeps up the leaves and twigs. One of us then feeds the cat and makes sure there is water in all 4 water dishes through out the house. The 2 dogs names are Livie and Sophie and are medium sized dogs. Buddy is the cat.  Livie is a shedder and both dogs stink. Joel went out after the first day and bought us a can of Fabreeze. This has helped some and I think we are also getting used to the stink of dogs. I try to keep the screens closed, but doors and windows open all day long to air out the house. Because of the shedding, there is hair around the house, on the carpets and you have to be careful what you sit on. We will be washing all of our clothes when we get home to Mazatlan. When Janice was younger she had some problems with allergies to cats but since we've not had cats for over the last 30 years she forgot about it, until....sneezing, runny eyes, 2 boxes of tissues later.  Yes, we will be going back to Mazatlan on Wednesday. Oh happy days.  Back to caring for the animals, once we've done all that, we feed the cat again. He seems to need feeding about 4 or 5 times a day. In between our normal chores Joel also goes back out to clean the Koi pond filter again. This happens about 3 times a day. And at night the fish are fed again. The dogs water and food dishes are filled again. This is our first time of doing this type of job and most likely it will be our last. We like animals, we like helping people out, but we aren't cut out for this type of job and usually the owners don't really realize what they are asking of people as they are use to it, and yes their animals are unique and special.  It's not like we were needing a place to stay so that they were doing us any favors, we were perfectly content where we were. But, this was our idea to try out.  So, to stay in their home and keep it safe, and do all the other chores day in and day out, we did this all for about $12 a day for the 2 1/2 weeks. I am glad there are people out there that enjoy doing this as it is really needed here in Mexico as people go regularly on trips back and forth to the states and other places with great regularity.
So, another day in Paradise chalking up a new experience to our list. And no, we have to say no if you need a House/Pet sitter. We've been there, done that and not planning on doing it again.  We are sure you will find just the right person to take care of your wonderful pets.