River Pines Info
Dog & House Sitter
Dog & House Sitter
She generally needs to go out three times a day. In the morning she can usually hold on until you are up and ready, but I always have her out by 9:00. The afternoon can be as early as 1:00 or as late as 6:00 without a problem. If she went out very early in the morning, don’t push the afternoon too late. In the evening, anytime after 8:00 works, but later makes the following morning less pressing.
Her food and main water is in the master bathroom (so I don’t forget to feed her). Just fill the bowl and she will eat when she wants. Sometimes she may go an entire day without eating, don’t worry about it.
There are greenie treats in a container on the third shelf to the left of the fridge. You can use these to reward anything or nothing. No more than 3 per day.
Her toy box is in the eating nook off the kitchen. If she wants to play, she’ll pull a toy out of the box and bring it to you. But if you want to play, feel free to toss anything in the box. She will generally bring it right back to you. She might not give it to you, but will usually respond to a command “drop” followed by “leave it”.
She is trained to “sit” and “down” or “lie down”. A visual sit command is to hold you hand out palm up, and then raise it. The visual down command is to hold you hand level, palm down. I can also get her to stay, once she is sitting by saying “stay” and showing a palm in her face with fingers spread. I’m not at all sure how well she will respond to any of these commands from people other than me.
The vibration collar is on the counter. You press the button on the collar to turn it on (you hear one beep) and off (you hear two beeps). The vibration button looks lie squiggles, it needs to be pressed and then pressed again to get it to work. She is very responsive to the vibration. If she sees a squirrel or deer, she will chase it. But it is her practice to return within a minute or two. She doesn’t chase things to the end of the earth.
If you want a little more fun, there is a “chuck-it” in the top of the closet in the living room. She will chase the ball and return it. Five or ten minutes of chasing will wear her out. I often do this in the late afternoon. She will pretty much always pee and poop if she needs to. If another dog should show up while you’re playing (not common at that hour), tell her to sit and stay. She is pretty good at not running at other dogs.
Poop in the yard does not need to be cleaned up, but if you walk her up the road take a bag. There are some old newspaper bags hanging in the laundry room.
When I’m there by myself, I let her sleep on the bed with me. She’ll pick her spot on the bed or on her bed. When Sara is with me, we usually keep her off the bed. If you tell her to get down (and maybe give her a little nudge), she’ll get down and stay down.
If she nuzzles your hand in the morning, that is not necessarily a request to go out. She is, as you probably already know, very pushy at wanting affection. So she’s usually just looking to be petted.
If this is a medical emergency (for one of you) or the house is on fire, hand up and dial 911.
For most emergencies, your first step should be to call me on my cell phone 734-395-3380. If I'm not answering you can try my Sara Fitzgerald (my girl friend) at 703-428-0218. Odds are I'm with her. If not she knows where I am. You can also check my itinerary. I should have emailed you a link, but all of my itineraries are on the itinerary master list.
If you cannot reach me, the next thing to do is contact Evelyn and Alicia, see the next section.
My daughter, Evelyn Hollenshead, and daughter-in-law, Alicia George live 5 minutes away at 1035 Duncan St. in Ann Arbor.
Evelyn is ehollenshead@gmail.com 734-417-3574. Alicia is aliciageorge@gmail.com 734-255-7779.
If you need to offload Carina, she is going to go to their house. You should text to let them know and make sure one of them acknowledges (they might also be traveling, although that is unlikely). If they are not home and you need to drop Carina, you can put her in their back yard, which is fenced.
The Wifi Network is named Wilson, the password is Hollenshead.
The Television and Alexa are both completely dependent on Wifi. If the Wifi goes out, neither of them will do anything. The Wifi might fail for two different reasons. (1) There might be an Xfinity failure. In this case you can just wait and they will usually get it back on line. If you text me, I can remotely find out if there is a external problem. (2) In the event of a power glitch, the router and or modem might fail. All of the equipment is in the closet in the basement bedroom. There is a power strip for everything, try turning that off, waiting 30 seconds and turning it back on.
I have cut the cord, there is no cable or satellite TV. I always have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Max. And I will frequently have Paramount and Peacock, perhaps with ads. I also add the Big Ten Network from time to time, but don't leave it turned on permanently.
The TV is in a cabinet in the living room. The proper place for the two remotes are tucked right in front of the TV. The larger remote is for the TV itself. Use that remote to turn the TV on and adjust the volume. When the TV first turns on, you will see some service alternatives along the bottom of the screen - IGNORE THEM. After 30 to 45 seconds, the Amazon Fire TV will engage, replacing the screen with one that shows a set of services in the middle of the screen. Now you are ready to use the smaller remote to pick which service you want and navigate among the options.
Music - The SONOS is not working at this point. You can play a lot of music on any of the Alexa devices by saying "Alexa play..." She may tell you a particular song or album is only available through Amazon Music and offer you a free trial. Please respond "no" to that request. The best of the Echo speakers is in the kitchen, but all of them can play music.
Occasionally, you might ask Alexa to play something, and she will interpret it to be a TV show and turn on the TV. Don't panic, there is no intruder. Just use the remote to turn the TV off.
The circuit breaker box is in the closet in the downstairs bedroom. There is a secondary circuit breaker box in the closet in the downstairs bathroom.
If the power goes out for any extended period of time, just take Carina to Evelyn and go home. There is a generator, but it's not worth the effort, it only runs the household essentials. A power failure will stop the pump for the well, so you will run out of water. There will be a certain amount of water pressure in the tank, but just use it for essentials.
There are three flashlights over the coffee maker.
If you hear a beeping like a smoke detector, it is probably actually the alarm system. Unfortunately I do not understand the alarm system. But if you hear beeping there are two alarm panels, one, in the entryway from the garage and the other by the master bedroom door. Open these panels and press the check mark button three times. That should put an end to the beeping for reasons that I do not understand.
The garage doors will not work without power. There is a rope hanging from the opener that will disengage it so you can open it by hand.
The smart lock on the back door is battery operated and self contained. So it will continue to work even in a power failure. If you ever are unable to get this lock to work, there is an emergency key for the front door. It is hidden in the covered electrical outlet on the front porch. Open the outlet and the lock should fall out.
Cooking - turns on bright lights in the Kitchen
For the living room
Drinking - sets lounging lights
Reading - turns lights bright; she can sometimes get confused and start reading a book.
Zoom - sets lights for Zoom or FaceTime from my chair
Watching - turns on very low lighting to watching the TV
Dining - turns on the dining room lights
You can also turn lights off and on by name, for example "Table on" turns on the nook lights, "Table off" turns them off.
Lights in the toy room and middle room upstairs come on and off with motion sensors. Lights in the basement turn on and off with motion sensors.
Living room lights will eventually turn off if no motion is detected.
The switch just inside of the door to the garage turns on the outside lights (except the porch light).
Pots and pans are under to cooktop.
When the burners haven’t been used for a while, it can take a bit before they light. Be patient. But there is a lighter in the drawer under the mixer that can be used when all else fails.
In the drawers to the right of the cooktop are (1) spatulas, (2) wooden spoons, (4) ladles.
In the drawers to the left of the cooktop are (1) weird spices (2) plastic wrap, aluminum foil, parchment paper (3) measuring spoons and cups (4) oven mitts and hot pads
Plates are above the toaster.
The box to the left of the toaster has bread.
The air fryer next to the mixer also serves as a toaster. It pivots down when you want to use it. When you're done it will say HOT, which means don't tilt it up. After it says FLIP (or eventually blank) you can tilt it back up out of the say.
To vacuum seal a bag (which are in the drawer under the sealer) position the top at the space about 1 inch in, close the latch and press the vacuum button. When it’s done the pump will turn off.
There are plastic bags in the bottom drawer under the Kuerig coffee maker. Also additional vacuum seal bags. You will find sandwich, quarter zip locks and gallon zip locks.
To run the dishwasher, add detergent (under the sink), close the detergent door, close the dishwasher. Press the power button once to turn it off and then again to turn it on. You will hear it start to run. If you open it to add something and close it again it will restart automatically.
To use the oven choose one of the bake buttons (or broil if you want), enter the temperature, then press the corresponding start button. If there are baking stones and/or a cast iron pan in the oven, you can take them out, or leave them there. They are there for when I do baking. They won’t harm any cooking, but they can make the preheating take longer. Do not pull the baking stones after the oven has come to heat, it’s better to just leave them be.
The microwave is pretty self-explanatory. Pressing a numbered button straight up will give you that many minutes. The start button will add 30 seconds.
The Kuerig coffee maker turns on with a switch on the back at the bottom of the right side. This is a rocker switch, press it to turn it on, press again to turn it off. You must make sure the switch rocks back to the starting position. If it is stuck in the “pressed” position, the Kuerig will turn off when you press the brew button. The Kuerig turns itself off after an hour, so you don’t need to be too concerned about turning it off.
Feel free to take anything you find.
If there are leftovers in the fridge PLEASE EAT THEM. They are unlikely to last until I get home. While I will try to throw out things beyond their dates, take a sniff first to make sure it’s good, particularly any salads. If something seems gross, feel free to throw it out. No need to leave it for me.
The wine in the fridge and above the toaster is all there for your use. There may also be boxed wines on the counter (sometimes a white in the fridge), which are economical and ecological and actually pretty darn good. When one of these seems to have run dry, I pull the inner lining out and squeeze the remaining glass out. Don’t worry about doing that, but don’t throw it out.
There may be some nuts along the wall in the laundry room, feel free
Most of the cheese is vacuum sealed, but there for your enjoyment. Slice the top off, take what you want, then (before you go to bed) reseal the remainder.
I often have the thermostat turned off when I’m home. I will try to remember to set it to automatic before I go. When on auto, it will either turn on the air conditioner or the heat, in order to hit the target range. The target ranges change during the day and at night. If It seems cold and you want heat, check the thermostat. The control display turns on as you approach it. Click on the word off and you can change it to auto. You can also
The shower in the Master Bathroom needs about 3 minutes to warm up. The temperature is controlled by the inner knob on the water control. The main knob controls pressure (I think, I just turn it all the way on)
All of the toilets, except the half bath off the kitchen, are equipped with bidets. Not to be too gross about it; the bidet is a help to clean up before wiping. You just lift on the lever and your bottom will be squirted. DO NOT try this unless you are sitting on the toilet, ready for water. If you experiment without being on the toilet, water is going across the room.
There should be more toilet paper in the linen closet across from the master bath toilet. Under the sink in the guest bathrooms.
The bathroom in the master has jacuzzi jets, which actually work quite well. Not exactly a hot tub but... To turn them on, the switch above row of light switches must be turned on (I usually leave it that way). Then make sure the tub is filled so that the jet nozzles are under water (or it's going to squirt, not as bad as the bidet, but bad enough). Then in the set of controls along the side of the tub, there is a push button on the control closest to the shower. Press that to toggle to jets off and on. There are control knobs that adjust how active the jets are. Play with them to figure out which ones control which jets.