Dawn & Harold

My husband Harold and I (Dawn) are an active, retired couple who want to experience new areas beyond what traditional travel allows, to stay in a place for awhile and really experience the place fully in a way that living there, even for a short time, allows. We both just love animals and are happy to give owners the comfort of knowing that their dear animals, as well as their house and property, are well cared for in their absence.

We enjoy experiencing new places, small towns and big cities alike, and we are happy to take care of people's homes and animals to enable such experiences. We also find satisfaction in facilitating other people's travel by giving them the security of knowing that their homes and animals are well taken care of while they enjoy their own traveling.

We have completed several housesits through personal connections and through MindMyHouse.com. On two occasions for about two months each, I housesat a small horse ranch in Washington state, caring for the house as well as three horses, two dogs, and a barn cat, while the owner was living oversees. A reference letter can be provided. We have also house and pet sat on several assignments on the MindMyHouse website; references from these housesits can be provided.

Please note that the animals in the photos attached to our profile are either animals we have taken care of through housesit assignments or foster animals we have cared for in our home.

As homeowners ourselves, we are experienced in house, lawn, and garden care and maintenance. We also have many decades of experience caring for our own cats, dogs, and horses, and we have been fostering kittens (and occasionally a dog) for our local animal shelter almost continuously for the past 2-1/2 years.

We have traveled extensively during our lives, including throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Chile, Peru, Guatemala, New Zealand, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. Between the two of us, we have lived in Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Wyoming.

We are reliable, conscientious, tidy, and industrious, and we will take care of people's homes, properties, and animals as if they were our own. We love the company of animals and the warm and exuberant energy they add to daily life. We have had cats for most of our lives (and dogs and horses at times as well). We fully appreciate how important animals are to their people, and we will care for all animals with love, attention, and patience. We have had ill and aging cats of our own, and we have tended about 125 foster kittens and a dog with various medical needs over the past 2-1/2 years. In addition, we enjoy gardening and can keep a lawn and plants healthy and thriving in the homeowner's absence.

We are active and fit and enjoy exploring new places, walking, hiking, biking, surfing, and gardening, as well as reading, writing, playing the piano, and watercolor painting. We have stellar driving records, we are non-smokers, and we are fully Covid vaccinated and boosted.