We leave on our big trip down to NH, CT, NY, CT, NY, CT, NH (in that order). Returning to home on 1/4.
I will be online alot this trip, last year I played ‘Johnny Appleseed’ of cable modems and installed wireless routers and cable modems at just about every house we visit on our family trips, and for my mothers house in NY I’m bringing our Airport Base Station so I’ll be all set. Hopefully i’ll have some time to write some more stuff in here, now that I’m mirrored on Livejournal and have more people actually reading my ramblings. (or at least now I can imagine this as being more possible)
Since I’m using this journal as a place to store documents, I’m going to include our Housesitting/Dog & Cat feeding instructions I always mail out to the kind folks we sucker into caring for our animals & home when we are out. Real interesting reading, don’t miss it 🙂
In case anyone is curious here is our crew; Seeger, Goblin, Hurricane, Finnegan, and Oberon:
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Instructions on caring for our cats & dogs (12/03)
We’re 85 Guptil Farm Road (formerlyGuptil Farm Way), the 6th house on the right.
We can be reached at the following phone numbers in case there is an emergency:
12/19 – Travelling to Exeter, NH this evening.
12/20 – Driving down to CT. CT at
12/21 – Drving down to NY. Well be there till 12/24
12/24 – Back up to CT. Well be there till 12/26.
12/27 – Back down to NY. Well be there till 12/31
12/31 – Back to CT at .
1/3 – Driving up to NH,
1/4 – Back home, arriving in the evening.
Matt will also be checking e-mail regularly while we’re traveling. We also have our cell phone with us but dont use it much, but it does have voice mail so its worth a try at 207 XXX XXXX.
Please bring the mail and newspapers in and put them on the table in the kitchen or somewhere obvious. Our mailbox is at the end of the road, #85 (with the big BAYA across it)
In case of emergency we take our pets to the Ellsworth Vet Hospital, but if for some reason you cant get in touch with them, any local vet is fine. Their vaccination records are in our kitchen cabinet closest to the back door.
Cats:
We have 3 cats; Finnegan (a gray & black tabby cat), and his brother, Goblin (all black), and Hurricane (smaller, and all gray). They all share the same food dish so you dont need to worry about who you are feeding, we just thought you might like to know who your serving. You will just need to fill up there food dishfrom the container right next to it. Their food dish is at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor. Youll have to hop over the dog gates to get up there. Since your visiting twice a day you can let any cats in our out (the front door, by the stairs to the 2nd floor) whenever you visit. Just stand there and clap a little, perhaps call their names if you feel so moved.Basically, open the door and make it obvious you are there for 30 seconds and if they need to go out or in they should show up quickly.
What to feed them:
Dry Food- We keep dry food in the light blue double bowl. Just refill these when its starts getting low.
Wet Food – Were using the whiskers bags o’ food now. Just put down a whole bag of food each when you visit. If there is leftover from the day before, thats ok, just put the new can on top of it.
Water The water dish shouldnt go empty, but if you find its empty or knocked over just refill it with water from the bathroom faucet. Not a big deal as long as the toilet lid is up anyways 🙂
Hurricane usually doesnt share the food dish with the other two, but thats ok. She gets plenty later on, so dont worry about her.
Dogs:
Basically, they get fed twice a day, once in the morning before 10 and once in the evening before 10. They spend the days outside, rain, snow or shine, in the back yard. Breakfast is served out on the deck (I sound like a cruise ship announcement!) and dinner is inside. If the weather is horrible you can leave them in for the day, but make sure they get to go in the back yard to do their business. A walk on these days, or an additional visit, would be great. We do have a dog door into the back of the garage but only Oberon has figured that out so far. If ever you arrive and they aren’t waiting for you you might want to check there to see if they are sleeping on one of the dog beds there.
Feeding Dogs:
Note Our dogs are weird, they usually dont eat right away. Dont worry about this, in fact, its possible you may show up for the next feeding and they havent eaten. Explain to them that its not going to get any better, move their bowls to the appropriate locations, and leave. Theyll figure it out eventually. Dont fret over it, they wont starve themselves.
Oberon His is the Red Bowl.He gets 3 cups (or since our scoop is a 2 cup scoop then its one and a half scoops). Just fill it with water like a cereal bowl.
Seeger: – Green Bowl. 1 Scoop (or two cups) , same thing with the water.
Walks (optional) Their is just one blue plastic extendable leash (thanks to Oberon running off a losing the other (more expensive) one last week. They are in the bathroom. You can use shorter leashes on them too if you wish, but they are used to the longer ones so you may get tugged. all the leashes are in the bathroom. Walks are optional but they will really appreciate them.
Call / e-mail with questions.
Thanks so much.
-Matt