"Charles Spitzer" wrote in message
news:dbrag1
...............
there are companies that specialize in taking care of closed houses;
watering plants, flushing toilets, running sinks to fill the traps,
checking for plumbing leaks filling your basement, etc.

This is an excellent service, in AZ, but our house plants there are made of
silk. The outdoor plants require no care. We also have good neighbors who
can take care of anything that comes up. We are very fortunate to be shaded
from the afternoon sun, so all we do is seal the drains and leave buckets
and jugs of water all over the place.

The climate in western WA doesn't cry out for such a service... the toilet
water will still be there when we return, and the outside takes care of
itself. We really have leaving for an extended period down to a science,
but the probability of being gone three months +, instead of one or two, is
a death sentence for our plants.

This would be easy, if I were willing to leave the house water on while we
were gone. I've seen what an undetected leak can do - it's not pretty. Our
friends and family are too far away to impose this detail on them, and I'm
not fond of the idea of handing the key to a somewhat remote residence to a
complete stranger.

I'm convinced that the exact product I was hoping for doesn't exist. It's
modification time. The parts and pieces are out there - it's just a matter
of coming up with something that'll work.

Unc