Reuniting with vacation friends

We often meet people in our travels, especially on vacation, and exchange the genuine comment that we hope we meet up again sometime. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. That wasn't the case today.

Donna, Wally, and their dog, Buddy

The high cost of electricity for Niagara Falls residents

It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Sorry, none of my photos today, but many more words than usual. You can just skip today if you're the type who prefers photos ... I'll never know!

When we house sit, we try to be respectful of the cost of utilities. We do it at our home, so we feel it's even more important to do it when someone else is paying the bill.

In Niagara Falls, we have a "time of day" system, where there are three price tiers. You can see the details in the image below. Bottom line is the lowest-cost electricity is from 7 pm to 7 am on weekdays and all day on weekends.

When we're at home we routinely do our laundry on the weekends, and run the dishwasher in the evenings. It gives us significant savings.

We hadn't asked the homeowners here in British Columbia about it, so I went online to check. The system in British Columbia has a different price structure, where you pay a lower price up to a certain level of monthly usage, and after that pay a higher cost. A different approach, but still one attempting to give an incentive to those who conserve.

Here's where the story takes a turn: the cost comparison between Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Victoria, BC.

Niagara Falls:

We're not tourists - we live here!

Owning a home in Niagara Falls, we are accustomed to avoiding the popular tourist areas during the summer season. We've quickly learned that discovering Victoria is similar. Our homeowners suggested we wait until September before taking in the sights of Olde Town and the inner harbour of Victoria. It's home to majestic old buildings, whale-watching tours, and apparently great fish and chips. For now, we'll focus on other areas, saving our inner harbour walking tours until the crowds lessen.

The black blob in front of Greg is Fanci :)

Oh dear, deer

A common question from those curious about housesitting is whether we get to know the homeowners. Before we started, I'd made the assumption we'd know very little about each other. I thought we'd be like ships passing in the night, with little more than a handshake, and (hopefully) a lot of relief that our gut instinct - along with emails and video chats perhaps - would not have steered us wrong. I'm pleased to say we usually develop good relationships with the homeowners that continue on past the sit.

Fanci, sitting at the front door after her owners left for the airport

It's true, Victoria BC is beautiful

Our flight from Niagara Falls, Ontario to Victoria, British Columbia was smooth and uneventful. On a short stopover in Calgary, Alberta, we were amused by two merry-go-round type towers, powered by a big key that kids were happy to turn and were totally entertained by it. Greg and I were quite entertained by them too!

You never forget your first ...

The saying connected to the post title is that you supposedly never forget your first love. However, I'm not about to share those details with you - although I do remember - but I will reflect back on our first house sit, and from that, our first love.

An attitude adjustment: from whining to wine-ing

When we returned home earlier this year, after spending most of the winter in Arizona, I must admit I missed Arizona. After a few years now as a snowbird, it was the first time I wasn't really ready to return home. I always say you can look at any place through two different sets of eyes; focussing on the positive, or the negative. When I first returned home, I certainly focussed on the negatives.

Among other things, I miss the sunsets, cacti, and palm trees

How to break up a long journey ... Aloha, Australia!

Most of the photos here are unrelated to the post, and are just from our yard in summertime.

In my previous post, one month ago, I said that "once we leave summer and move into fall" we'd be thinking more about planning for our next season of house sitting. Well, I was off with that timing!

Since booking that first sit for 2017 in Australia, I've been actively monitoring the house-sitting websites for ones to fit either side of our January/February booked one. As well as three sites we currently use, we also joined another house-sitting website, mindahome Australia. It's not the only one dedicated to Australia, but it seems to have the most traffic and its design appealed to me.

Just loved the colour of this sky on a recent evening

A trick question: How many summers in one year?

We are now just a few days into summer where we live in Niagara Falls, Canada. Sometimes spring and summer are quite similar here, and they merge into one long and pleasant warm and sunny season. I'll scatter some photos throughout this post, to share some of the lovely sights of summer at our home.

Our quiet frog

Saying farewell to a prickly centenarian

Why am I starting this post with this photo? Let me at least explain that it was taken at a house sit of ours in Phoenix, Arizona, USA in February of 2015. I'll get back to the reason it's here, later.

Have sheep, but will (not) travel

Regular readers of this post know that our home is in Niagara Falls, Canada. These days I'm reluctant to phrase it as we live here, given we now spend the majority of our time away from this home.

We returned about a month ago, and so are somewhat settled back into our regular lifestyle. In keeping with the theme of what I usually include in our travel posts, I thought I'd do a similar one from our own back yard.

This sunrise greeted me one of the first mornings home. Just beautiful.

For once, no cactus in the skyline!

Vibrant Arizona spring colours

We've been back in our home town of Niagara Falls, Canada for two days now. We did the return journey of 34 driving hours in four days. Although yesterday was sunny and bright, today was not so pleasant. With a high of 12ºC (53ºF), the main topic of conversation I heard at stores was people grumbling about the cold weather. That's not something I had heard for quite some time!

Although I've seen some spring bulbs in Niagara, the trees are either bare of leaves or just in bud. I thought I'd bring you some cheery spring colour from Green Valley, Arizona, while we wait for Niagara to burst into flower.