About Us
What we did for a living:
Curt is a retired journeyman from both carpentry and machinist trades, as well as a rigging instructor, welding inspector and facility manager for the carpenters training school. He knows a lot about building, fixing, and maintaining things!
Kathleen worked in health care marketing management for over 20 years. Planning, attention to detail, fiscal responsibility, communication, and meeting deadlines were paramount. But the best part was leading a fabulous team and interacting with the community. She retired early to help her brother get his startup company off the ground.
Hobbies, Passions, and Interesting Things to Help You Get to Know Us:
We built our own house! Literally! We were the builders. Even the kids learned to use power tools. We served as our own general contractor, coordinating suppliers and carpenter friends and family in the building process. And we are still married!
Gardening was beyond a passion. Our house was on three acres, and we had a huge vegetable garden that kept us and the neighbors stocked with organic produce each season. We planted over thirty varieties of native trees. The remaining landscaping was in native flowering plants that attracted hummingbirds and butterflies. It was quite a beautiful flurry at times!
I could say we had four kids, but one of them was our dog, Cap, a seriously smart, fun loving boarder collie. He loved us, but he may have loved his frisbee more. What an acrobat! He had an extensive vocabulary, knew each kid by name, loved to play hide and seek with the kids and their friends, go for hikes, and snuggle at the end of the day. He lived with us for fifteen wonderful years and is still missed.
When we got together many years ago, we each came with a cat, so we had an instant blended family. Our cats, Floyd and Yoda became fast friends and provided lots of love and laughs.
Our oldest daughter runs an organic goat farm with about fifty goats, numerous chickens, turkeys, ducks, and assorted cats and dogs. During our visits, we have taken part in bottle feeding baby goats, milking goats, processing and packaging the goat cheese, catching a wounded baby turkey for treatment, gathering eggs, and any number of fun farm activities.
We are also sailors. For most of 2021 we lived on sailboats. We sold our family home and most of our belongings and spent three months as live-aboard crew for a lovely gentleman on a fifty-seven foot yacht, sailing to wonderful places around the Chesapeake Bay. Then lived on a forty-seven foot catamaran sailing the east coast of Florida. We are now back to a land-based existence.
We are avid cyclists and snow skiers, love hiking, taking long walks, relaxing, listening to music or reading a good book.
We are non-smokers and are fully vaccinated against Covid.
Why we want to housesit
We hail from the mid-west – Missouri to be specific (Kathleen grew up in Colorado). Housesitting allows us to explore new places and environments (and possibly get our furry friend fix in the process). Someday we will have grandchildren that will lovingly fill our days. Until then, travel and exploration are where it’s at.
What we bring to the assignment:
In addition to the job skills and life experiences mentioned, we have learned how to work as a team, to anticipate and prepare as best you can for the unknown, remain calm and clear headed during challenging times and focus on solutions. You should know we harbor a deep respect for everyone’s home – it is your sanctuary. We we strive to leave things better than we found them. If you are trusting us with your precious loved ones, please know we will shower them with love and attention. We have many excellent reviews from other house sitting sites, and we would be happy to share those with you.