My husband, David, and I are recently retired former attorneys in our fifties. Very fit and active, non-smokers. We're financially secure, stable, no drama, and both like to keep our living space sparkling. We're resourceful problem-solvers and don't get flustered by the unexpected challenges that can arise with houses and pets.
We're both well-traveled, but want to further experience life as non-tourists and pretty much everywhere intrigues us. We were married later in life (Tamara was widowed for years and raising two sons) and look forward to broadening our horizons now that Tamara's younger son is off to college and we move into an early retirement. We've spent the last year since David retired in Paris and Barbados, then started house/pet sitting which we've done for month-long stretches in Oregon, U.S.A. and Antwerp, Belgium. We settle in easily to new locales. We would consider all lengths of assignments. We rearranged our lives post-David's retirement--renting out his house and accepting an offer from Tamara's parents to use their large home as a base--to allow us to pick up and go on short notice. We're looking forward to making the most of our current freedom from our own homeowner responsibilities to help others with theirs while experiencing new locales and lifestyles in the process.
We are both experienced homeowners, familiar with swimming pools, yards, sprinkler systems and basic maintenance. We are gardening enthusiasts. We love dogs and cats and will make sure any pets get lots of affection. David cared for and adopted rescue cats for years and has extensive experience with medical/geriatric needs of cats, including administering shots. Tamara grew up with large and small dogs, cats, rabbits, occasional birds and gerbils, and has some experience with larger animals, including raising calves when younger. Tamara has also owned acreage and used many a riding mower on her property as well as on her parents' property, where both Tamara and David have used traditional tractor-style and zero-turn model mowers. Tamara lived in Paris for a total of five years, over several stays, and is conversant in French and familiar with the vagaries and upkeep of old buildings and dealing with repair and maintenance men in French. She also has a Spanish minor, worked on and off in Mexico years ago, and reads Spanish news online, but is out of practice now with regards to conversation. We have strong character references from David's former law partners and Tamara's board activities with children's charities where regular background checks were required. (Tamara's first reference is from the Executive Director of the Children's Advocacy Center in our county. David's first two are former law partners.) We can provide further contact information for these and other references. Our most recent references are from our two month-long house and cat sits in September of last year and February of this year. We also had background checks for our last French visas.