My wife and I travel several times a year and would like to have someone stay at our home and take care our plants and dogs. Our two dogs are Sunny, a mixed poodle and Charlie a golden retriever who get along well. Sunny is about 15 pounds and Charlie is 85 pounds. Both are friendly but one person may have a problem walking them both at once. In the summer, there are flower pots and hanging baskets to water as well as a flower box in front of the house. Most everything is tied to the sprinkler system or drip system. We have some lawn to mow but it takes about 10 minutes to mow with our battery operated mower. We live between two golf courses, the Links and the Woodlands. Jubilee, the community we live in, has miles of paved hiking trails, tennis courts and picnic areas. There is a Lodge but only residents can use it, unless a guest goes with a member. Olympia is nearby, as well as the State Capital grounds. There is a very nice Farmers Market (hours and days open vary depending on the time of year) and a lovely water front park around Capital Lake and Puget Sound. There are many restaurants in the area.
You will need a car to get around as there is no bus service in our area. There are several box stores near I-5 about 4 miles east of our home. There are two grocery stores, Safeway & Grocery Outlet and Winco about a mile south of them. There is a full service Walmart and a Costco within the 4 mile radius as well.
Lacey, Olympia & Tumwater are all connected so it's convenient to be able to travel between the three cities. Each has its own charm and character. Each city is fairly small with Olympia & Lacey being the largest at about 50 thousand each. Tumwater is around 19,000 in population.
The summers are pleasant, sometimes hot but not often. The Olympia area receives about 50 inches of rain per year, mostly in late fall and winter. The average snow fall is twelve inches. The last couple of years has only seen traces of snow in our area, but closer to the higher elevations, there is more.