All the Questions

There are a lot of questions involved when taking on the care of someones house and pets.  The homeowners remember the quirky items.  Don't use a certain plug or the dog likes to climb through the cat flap, but we nearly always have to ask what day the garbage goes out, or how to reset the internet box.  Most questions are asked while the tour of the house is being given.

To Ask:
Garbage
What is recyclable?  It does change from town to town.
Where are the garbage bags?  One place, you could only put garbage in clear bags and garden refuse in black bags.  Recyclables did not go in a bag at all.

Where to put the mail.  If the owners are only gone a week, this is no big deal, but if they are gone six months, the mail literally stacks up.

Animal care.
Some owners have very detailed instructions and time schedules, while others just dump the dry food in the bowl sometime during the day.  We always get information on the veterinarian and the location of the office.

Washer, small and mighty.

Dryer, slow but sure.

Washing machines and how they work. 
Most of the sits we have had in Europe did not involve a dryer, but rather a drying rack or lines.  One was in the adjacent garage with the boiler for the heating unit.  Dried the clothes nicely!

Kitchen appliances, especially the coffee makers.
We've had everything from your basic Mr. Coffee, to elaborate espresso makers.  The coffee maker that was the most unusual involved putting water in the bottom pot, coffee in the top, when it boiled the water to steam it all went into the top where it boiled for 3 minutes then WHOOSH, it all was sucked back into the bottom pot; coffee done!

Columbine

Care of the garden and plants.
Gardens are like animals, some come with intense instructions, others with of just turn on the water if it gets dry.  We are both fairly good gardeners, so no worries, as long as we can figure out how to start the lawn mower; some of those beasts are complicated.

How the internet works, resets and such.  Is the printer wireless, too.

Our room for the next few weeks.  This one came with an empty chest of drawers and a large hanging rack, too.

There will always be things that come up, for which we don't have the official answer, but we are good at figuring things out.  We are also not afraid to look around in the kitchen or pantry to find where things are kept, but snooping is not allowed!  Would you want someone looking through your dresser drawers?  I didn't think so.