Wow! I can’t believe it’s been 7 months since I last posted to our Blog. Shameful!

A lot has happened since I last posted in October! 

Our Pet/housesitting tour had us travelling to London, England in October to start our winter sits. The flight from Calgary to London was uneventful and had us arriving in London mid-day. 

We headed to Redhill right away as that was where our pet/house sitting tour was starting.  For those that don’t know, and appreciate a little geography. Redhill is a small town established in the 1840’s. It is located due south of Croydon in Greater London and is part of the London commuter belt.

After a couple of days at a local establishment (Premier Inn) we moved into our first English home in Redhill.  Our hosts Rachel and Graham have a lovely home in a quiet neighborhood with lots of areas to walk/hike.  Our charges during this sit included a wonderful cockapoo named Rusty. Rusty is an enthusiastic, energetic little dog with a thing about shoes and remotes.  Put them away or the become Rusty chew toys. Rusty loves his multiple daily walks and cuddles in the evening.  Coco, Rusty’s sister cat provided us with affection and amusement, and finally the elusive Smudgie, cat sister # 2 who we only clapped eyes on once during our entire 9 day stay and didn’t get a photo of.

Moving on, November 7^th we were on our way to Oxford, England. 

Couldn’t let the rail strikes thwart us! We just hopped on a motor coach and arrived in Oxford a little later than the train would have.  We allowed ourselves a few days in Oxford to tour the city, its 38 colleges and the prestigious Oxford University before starting our next sit.  We had a wonderful 3 days here.

Onward to our next sit. Hooray! The train strikes didn’t affect this leg of our tour, that was to Banbury. Banbury is a historic market town in Oxfordshire where our next schedule pet/housesit was.  Well actually, it was in a small village just 2 miles south of Banbury called Bodicote.  Lots of history here, dating back to the 13^th century.  There is a windmill that stood next to a grove of trees at the top of the village that is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.  Who knew you were going to get a history lesson in this blog. 

Caroline & Mike, our gracious hosts had invited us to arrive a few days before their departure, enabling us to get to know one another and their pets.  Of course, we accepted their kind invitation! They picked us up at the train station with our heavy bags and brought us to their lovely home where we enjoyed wonderful conversation and home cooked meals by Caroline.

The night before their departure Caroline & Mike invited their friends Roz & John over to introduce us. 

Our pets for this sit were two wonderful black Labradors, Molly, and Bramble. Molly & Bramble were always excited to take me out on their walks.  I had some beautiful country walks with them.  These two girls were so chill. They loved to lounge on the sofa with James who wasn’t feeling his best.

James’ time here was less than he had hoped for and more than we had bargained for, a few hospital visits before heading to our next pet/housesit.

Next on our tour, (after another train or two, and maybe a missed connection) we arrived at another market town called, Sleaford.

Sleaford is in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England.  The first settlement here was formed in the Iron Age, it was mainly an agricultural town until the 20^th century.  This pet/housesit was actually in a little hamlet 3 miles outside of Sleaford, called Evedon. 

Our hosts in Evedon were Tony & Carole.  Tony welcomed us at the train station, and shared information about their rescue dog, Bella.  Bella is a sweet dog, that had a bad start in life. This was evident in her fear of strangers, loud noises and her own shadow. It took some time to gain her trust, but she came around into the 2nd week of our sit. Tony & Carole have a lovely countryside home with lots of glass to let in the sun and view of the countryside.  Our stay here was challenged by ill health for James, but not before he got to feed the neighbours horses some carrots, lol.

As it turned out, James had developed a DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) likely on our flight from Canada which developed into multiple pulmonary embolisms.  After a week in the Cardiac Care Unit in the Boston, UK hospital we decided it best to end our tour of England and return to Canada.  It wasn’t as simple as getting on a plane the day James was released from hospital. We had to wait for our insurance carrier to decide it was safe.  So, we had 11 days in a hotel in the bustling town of Staines-Upon-Thames, close to Heathrow Airport.  We got in a few very slow walks and saw a few of the touristy things while awaiting medical clearance to fly.

While this wasn’t how we had planned our trip, we were happy arrive home safe and in time for Christmas with my brother Rick. We are thankful for the wonderful care James received from the overworked health care service in the UK.

James has recovered well and we’re now back to pet/housesitting full time.  We focused our applications for sits in Alberta & British Columbia until the end of the year.  We wanted to be sure that James could see his doctors.  Our current pet/house sitting tour started on March 24^th with a local sit in south-west Calgary. 

We’re happy to report that we received great news from James’ doctor mid-April. Everything looks good, James is good to go and have fun!

We’re on our 6^th sit since March and have 8 more booked until the end of the year and a couple already booked in 2024!

Interested in having us pet sit in your home while you’re away are on vacation? check us out at: www.trustedhousesitters.com/house-and-pet-sitters/canada/alberta/highriver/l/1311629 or www.happycrittershappyhomes.com