Friday, January 30, 2015

Chapter 3 - Beauty and the Beasts

I don't think there is a single definition of "house sitting" that describes all engagements, but based on what we've seen in the ads, 90% of them involve animals in one form or another... either pets, chickens, horses and yes, even ostriches.

In the house we're at here in Connecticut, we have the pleasure of taking care of Mickey and Henry... two of the sweetest dogs we've ever met who LOVE to go for rides in the car and walks in the woods.


AND, as if THEY aren't fun enough, we also have the pleasure of watching two adorable and VERY entertaining African grey parrots. Meet Tu-Tu and Koo-Koo


These birds have an amazing ability to mimic any sound or phrase, which is an endless source of amusement for us every day.  For example if I ask Charli a question, before I can even get it out of my mouth one of them will say "what?" so realistically human that I actually repeat the question.  I fall for it almost every time.  Well I used to.  I'm no bird brain after all.

Or when Koo-Koo decides he wants attention, he will let out a huge fart sound (usually timed when one of us bends over) and then laugh exactly the way Charil does... which of course only makes us laugh, which only delights Koo-Koo even more, and the routine goes on and on and on.   I'm quite certain we're going to have to apologize to the owners when they return, who will be forever left with Charli's high pitched laugh for years to come.

So these are the "beasts" per the title of the post. As far as the "beauty" part goes well let me just say that this part of Connecticut is stunning.  Every day Charli and I head out to one of the hundreds of trails that surround this area and every day we are in awe.  There are endless places to hike along the Appalachian Trail or Housatonic River.  Here's a picture I took just this morning in Macedonia Brook State Park, just 10 minutes from our house.


In addition to rivers, there are covered bridges


waterfalls

mountain lakes


and canopied trails

And then there is Kent itself, where we live, which is one of the most charming little New England towns we've ever seen.  Every business is a converted colonial style house and no "commercial chain" types of businesses are allowed.  So basically it's like walking around in a model diorama.


So yeah, this whole house sitting thing is working out pretty slick so far.  We love the pets, we love the area and we love the idea of seeing the country in intimate detail by getting to know the towns we live in. It's really quite spectacular.

And speaking of seeing things... make sure to tune in for the next installment: Chapter 4 - Day Trippin!

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