Buffalo - in Winter!
Our sit was for a family in the popular neighbourhood Elmwood Village, in a Victorian home on the top two floors, belonging to a 14 year old kitty named Chani. The first evening the pet parents had dinner for us, then walked us through the home, where everything was located and how things worked. They departed the next morning and we were on our own for a week!
It was such a pretty neighbourhood to stay in. Very walkable, except for the part that reminds us that it was January. A little bit Brrrr. It was street after street of unique homes, Victorian to Craftsman. This area had also been well maintained. It was pretty common to have at least 3 different colours of paint on a house, not including the front door! These homes were developed between 1867 and the early 1900’s. There are a lot of different styles of homes, many without driveways. There are lots of quirky spaces for businesses within walking distance. There are trees lining the streets, and it is quiet. Lovely! But driving into the very narrow lane between two houses can be a teeny bit nerve-wracking for most people. (That is why that particular task is assigned to my husband, lol). And we are in Buffalo – in the winter! ITS GONNA SNOW. That means that whole long lane is gonna need to be shovelled, with no where to put the snow between the big stretch with houses on both sides. (please don’t snow, please don’t snow…)
I grew up in a century home, in rural Ontario, Canada, and figured this would be nice and easy to acclimatize to this home for the week we were there. Hmmm. Maybe not quite!
For some reason, the light switches were never where you expected them to be! You know, commonly there are switches by the door or entrance to a room. Nope! The bathroom switches are way over close to the sink.
Just when we think we have it figured out, we go into our pretty room, and there is no wall switch at all! Ha ha ha! The wall sconces have individual pull cords, about 2 inches long, in the middle of each fixture.
Can you see them?
Sometimes the light switches looked like art. 
So we spent a bit of time blundering about in the dark, trying to find the switches. The pet parent had little nightlights plugged in someplace in every room, which was very helpful.
Other things that were trickier than expected – like finding the kitchen utensil you were looking for. Can openers were easy. Even scissors were stored in an intuitive place. But the cheese grater? Nope, that took some searching. And we never did find the pizza cutter. Maybe they didn’t have one. (If I really needed help, I was able to text the pet parent and get a quick response - like when we couldn't find an exacto knife to chop up the cardboard for recycling day.)
We were also invited to eat anything we wanted in the fridge and freezer and pantry. Great! But the family likes to eat vegetarian much of the time, is health conscious, and lived abroad for years. Pretty much the polar opposite from us. So the pantry is filled with things like Turkish seasoning, Salen’s curry, Garam Masala Punjabi Style, Penzey’ Curry, and of course, Curry Seasoning. Fortunately there was also herbes de provence (which I do know how to use!) Hmmm… apparently we need a grocery run.
Cooking was going to be a bit adventurous. Not that I’m afraid of cooking… but our pet parents have a gas stove, which cooks pretty fast, and if something starts to smoke it could trigger the smoke alarms. Two of the smoke detectors are on the same floor as the kitchen with one wired into hydro, one with a battery backup, and two more connected to the alarm system with fancy codes to shut it off at the alarm panel, but more importantly, you have to remember to call the alarm company within 5 minutes to tell them it is a false alarm or there are going to be firemen all over the place!!! No pressure.
When the clock chimes 12, it is 10 o’clock!
I think this is to keep us on our toes. And since every day is Saturday for us, we keep our vitamins in pill containers marked with the day of the week! (it must be the grown up way of having the day of the week printed on our underwear.)
Older homes are famous for uneven heating. There are some cold spots in the house (by the giant windows), and some warm spots (up in the TV loft), except in the mornings, where it is really toasty by the giant windows which catch the sun in the morning, and cooler in the back, so it is very much a case of sweater on, sweater off, sweater on… wait a minute, where is my sweater again?
