Happy, non-smoking, very experienced house-sitting Zen couple

About this sitter

We are a couple of writers, professional massage therapists, artists and teachers in our early 60's.

We are resourceful, reliable, ethical and trustworthy non-smoking animal lovers who have run our own business since 1991. Monique is originally from England and Blane grew up in the U.S., in rural Vermont with a number of large dogs and other pets. He grew up surrounded by wildlife chopping wood. We both love reading, writing, creating art, traveling, meditation, new environments, new people and communing with nature and animals of all kinds.

After a 6-month house-sit in a retreat center in the U.S. we closed our business and traveled the world pet and housesitting. This included New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand and Europe. We’re returning to Portuga, looking for a long-term situation.

Why they want to house sit

House sitting provides a home environment, giving us a local experience rather than the usual purely tourist one, giving us the opportunity to experience the world with new eyes. The world is full of adventure, new places, people, lifestyles and cultures - we’ve travelled to Europe, China, Mongolia, Europe and Central America. S.E. Asia...

Their experience

A 6-month house-sit in the U.S. in a meditative retreat center where we took care of airbnb bookings and guests, a 5 months of house/pet sits in New Zealand, 5 months in Indonesia and a total of 5 house sits in 4 months in Thailand before moving on to Europe. Blane grew up chopping wood and raising large breed dogs in Vermont, taking care of 300 year old properties, with all of the challenges that such places invariably have and Monique grew up in England. Her mother was French so although rusty she has some language skills. Together they have some small farm animal care experience. We have owned dogs, fish, reptiles and cats as pets, including Jilly, our diabetic cat who needed 2 shots of insulin a day. Our lovely and beloved cat died at age 19.

What can they bring to the assignment

House and pet sitting is what we do. We love it and take pride in doing it well. We've left both our business and our cat (since passed) in other peoples hands and know how important this seemingly simple thing is - and we know what it's like to be terribly disappointed. We wouldn't want anyone else to have those experiences and are dedicated to giving you peace of mind while you leave what's important to you in our hands.

We're caring, competent, responsible and overall good, nice people.

We are happy to stay in touch with homeowners and equally happy if you just want to forget about everything and just relax and know that your home and or pets are in good hands.