Austin Housesit #1 (12/2/2022)

We have arrived in Austin and have nearly completed our first full day of our first of three house sits in Austin, Texas that will take us into the new year. These will be a bit unusual in that we will be doing some catching up with friends while also doing some maintenance work on the car and ourselves.

We have already had a road car inspection that happily found no issues to address. I have had a cap put on a tooth that I have been having issues on and off with since mid-October, and Bob has had three doctor’s appointments already to prep for his hip replacement surgery next Wednesday (arrival time of 4:45 am!). Our current health insurance ends at the end of this month, so it feels like a mad dash to fit things in while we try to pick a health plan for next year. While we realize universal health coverage has its own issues, it looks pretty good to us right now.

Enough about that unhappy US topic. We had a great catch up with our friends that we are currently housesitting for before their departure yesterday for Helsinki, Hamburg, Berlin, and Stockholm. We look forward to hearing about their trip when they return.

We are currently caring for their two cats — Pancho and Lefty. They are indoor/outdoor cats with a lovely yard to roam around in, although they seem to be mostly indoors now. We also were treated to see an owl in their owl box on our first night here.

Tonight we are having dinner with a gentleman that we use to live with (in the same condo building). He’s brillant and from the great state of Wisconsin, but that’s being a bit repetitive. Can’t wait to catch up and will be meeting up with more friends tomorrow.