Huzzah! I survived my 13 day house-and-dog-sitting excursion to Denver! 😎
While I'd originally planned to wait till the fall to give Trusted Housesitters a try, things fell together in July for me to make my debut. The last few months have been tough and I really felt the need to get out of Lincoln for an extended period of time to clear my head and change up my routine. Staying for free at people's homes while watching their dogs seemed like a reasonable way to accomplish that goal.
To explain - Trusted Housesitters is a service that connects home/pet owners and sitters. For a fee, they provide a platform that background checks sitters and posts reviews & references for both the owners/pets and sitters. Once a connection is made, the rest is free - the homeowner allows the sitter to stay at their house for free, in exchange for the sitter caring for their pets.
In order to be gone for almost two weeks, I arranged to two separate sits - Grizzy the mastiff mix for 5 nights and labradoodles Atticus, Zeebo and Cal (the hedgehog) for 6 nights. I tacked on two nights at a hotel on the end of the trip, which worked out really well. It gave me two days to sleep in and totally crash before heading home.
Sit #1 - Edgewater: Grizzy
I flew to Denver the night before Michael and Kelly left on their trip to Napa, where they were running a (half?) marathon and drinking wine. They were very welcoming when I arrived to watch Grizzy, taking me out to dinner that night and providing a welcome basket with several goodies (including a bottle of wine!). Their house was very lovely and full of character...I believe they said it was built in 1910? I was a big fan of the chandelier in the entryway, a souvenir from their honeymoon in Mexico...I should have taken a picture! They also had a nice enclosed backyard with a garden and cheery sunflowers. I may have stolen some basil for an Instagram recipe I decided to try. 😁
Grizzy was a sweet, cuddly bear of a dog. He was super friendly, cheerfully attacking me as I walked in the door. He loved to engage with his toys and enjoyed all the pets he could get. He minded very well, though a little begrudgingly when I wouldn't let him sleep in bed with me. Every night he would place his head on the edge of my bed, wagging his tale in hopes of finally convincing me to let him up. His pleading eyes were hard to say no to! 😄 The routine repeated in the morning when he wanted me to get up, usually starting at 6:30am, which I found less amusing. I got him to wait till between 7am-7:30am before he got a little desperate. At that point I fed him, went through my morning routine, and then headed out the door for our first march...I mean walk...of the day.
Speaking of walks, this is where his bear-ness was a bit of a detriment. Grizzy was on a mission as soon as we headed out the door. I'm not a small or weak person, but I literally had to lean back to not be pulled headlong after him. No shade on his owners, but he really would have benefitted for better training as a puppy. On the plus side, his deceptively ferocious appearance made me comfortable staying in the house and walking in the park, which had some genuinely amazing play equipment and was frequented by lots of parents and small children, as well as several homeless people who slept there. There was only one time when I was genuinely uncomfortable, and I'm sure Grizzy acted as a deterrent to anything bad happening.
His quest completed (we took two walks a day, except one afternoon when it was 101°), Grizzy would nap near me, keeping me company while I drank coffee, worked remotely or read at the dining room table. I think I made it through two and half books while I was staying there! 📚
The biggest con at this house, other than being in not the best neighborhood, was it didn't have AC. My fault for not asking. 😐 They did have a window swamp cooler, but it was really loud and made the house humid. I ended up finding a balance between having the swamp cooler on for a while to bring the temp down and then using a large fan to circulate the air, swapping between them to keep the place cool. It didn't help the temps were in the high 90s and low 100s while I was there. If I ever sit for them again, it certainly wouldn't be in the summer.
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| Grizz hanging out while I made coffee. |
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| Walking in the park |
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| Pouting and people watching |
Sit #2 - Centennial: Atticus, Zeebo and Cal
Moving on to the next house, I went from watching a bear to two giant throw pillows! 😆 Atticus and Zeebo were two large, fluffy labradoodles who couldn't be more cuddly if they tried. I got to meet them a couple days before the sit actually started (after which I grabbed lunch at The Original Pancake House - Cherry Hills that was 5 minutes away!), as well as Cal the hedgehog. I was pretty excited to hang out with a hedgehog and will admit she was a little disappointing. Cal was super easy to take care of, but not big into interacting. I basically just got grumpy hellos every time I fed and checked on her.
The neighborhood was lovely to walk through, though after the second day Zeebo was super not interested in going for walks, literally dragging his feet. I checked the ground temp, but it was barely warm since we went out pretty early in the morning (between 8am-9am), so I'm not sure what was up.
Atticus and Zeebo were both very sweet, well behaved and easy to take care of. After breakfast and a walk we'd hang out inside, basically doing the same things as in the last house (working remotely, reading, etc). They liked to be near people (me) or each other. The boys hung out in the backyard a bit too, which had a nice deck and was fully fenced.
It took me a couple days to feel comfortable in the house, oddly longer than in the first house. It's always weird being in someone else's space, so that was part of it, but some other things only exacerbated my feeling unsettled. First off - there were so many windows that didn't have coverings! I hate feeling like I'm in a fishbowl where anyone can see me, and the kitchen and dining room in particular were on full display after dark. Two solicitors stopped by the house the first day too, which made me uncomfortable. And lastly, a family friend who lives in Denver had an armed robber and subsequently a SWAT Team go through their backyard, which happened the morning of my first day in the new house, and I'll admit it seriously creeped me out.
The only real naughtiness that happened at this sit was thanks to Zeebo, the younger of the two doggos. Caroline, his owner, warned me he has angsty separation anxiety that tends to manifest in selective destruction. She said they always close the bedroom doors when they leave the house, since several blankets/comforters have been damaged in their absence. I did a really good job remembering to close the doors before I left...until the last evening. I got back from seeing a movie and walked into my room and noticed some cloth on the floor...and when I climbed into bed, I noticed the fitted sheet had been badly ripped, absolutely beyond repair. I let Caroline know and apologized profusely. Thankfully she was really nice about it and declined my offer to replace them. 😬
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| Basking in the sun before it got super hot. |
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| LOVE the fireplace! |
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| The one good pic I got of Cal! 🦔 |
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| Hanging out while I made coffee. |
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| Piles of floof. |
I fit in a couple fun excursions while in Colorado as well. On my first Saturday in town I went with a friend to the Water Lantern Festival in Thornton. Each person received a lantern kit, marker and little LED candle. I decided to decorate each side of my lantern for one of the four members of my immediate family. Some sides turned out better than others, so I only included two of them below. 😊 Once it started to get dark, people started placing them in the lake, creating quite a lovely scene.
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| Mom's side - a hydrangea and a (poorly drawn) symbol of Justice. I did my side first, so my stars bled through a little. 😐 |
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| My side - Libra constellation (I like stars!) and Cosmos, the flower of October. It was either that or Marigolds, and those would have looked even worse! 😆 |
I also made it up to Boulder with the same friend, where we checked out a comic book shop, a used bookstore (yes, I bought 4 new books) and Avery Brewing. I was hoping to finally do the Coors Tour in Golden as an adult, but all the time slots booked up so fast! Who knew people liked beer? 😆🍺
No trip to Denver is complete until I've visited the Botanical Garden! Gotta make that membership pay for itself! 😊 I kept an eye on the temps and stopped by on one of the cooler days, spending about three hours walking around, taking photos and then finding a couple shady spots to read and eat lunch.
Last, but most certainly not least, Josh Groban!! 🔥 I knew he was performing at Red Rocks while I was in town, but it was sold out and all the resale tickets were really expensive. I decided to keep an eye on the temps and ticket prices, in case it became cool and cheap enough to attend. Sunday morning, the day of the show, someone posted a single seat that was reasonably affordable, so I snapped it up!
Attending ended up being a bit of an adventure unto itself! The doors opened at 6pm (show @ 7pm) and I got there around 5:40pm so I wouldn't be standing in line forever. Even then it took an hour to get in! The line moved at a snail's pace until finally picking up the last 10-15 minutes. The whole time we were in line it was drizzling...and it continued on and off for the next two hours. Due to this, Josh's opening act - Eleri Ward - didn't come out till about 8pm and Josh didn't start until about 9pm.
Josh was a delight, as always. He continues to become a better entertainer (on top of being an amazing singer). He shared thoughts, jokes and antidotes before 80% of his songs, engaged well with the crowd and enjoyed the space and his fellow musicians on stage. If you've never seen him perform live, I would 1000% recommend it!
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| Standing in line, in heels, on a steep incline, in the rain. |
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| Shot from the top of the Amphitheater! |
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| Pic from my seat before the show started...ie, while it was still raining. |
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| Joshy! |
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| Love the light on the crowd in this one! |
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| You can see the clouds rolling down the mountain! |
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| The amphitheater kept getting foggy as the clouds rolled through! |
Two weeks is a long time to be away from home and on Day One I was legit concerned I'd bitten off more than I could chew. If I use Trusted Housesitters again (which I expect I will), I think I'll do just one longer sit and then book more days at a hotel at the end. House sitting saves a lot on housing, so doing a combo definitely makes it much more affordable to travel for an extended period of time.
On the off chance you'd like the give Trusted Housesitters a try, here's my personalized link. It gets you 25% off and an extra 2 months subscription for me!
Not to brag, but I got two 5 Star reviews for my stays. Apparently I'm fantastic. 😆😁
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Edgewater Sit - Grizzy |
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Centennial Sit - Atticus, Zeebo and Cal (the hedgehog) |
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