Heat On, Sitting Off

It was so chilly this morning, Robinson chose to stay inside for a while, even though I left the back door cracked open.

I saw proof that he comes inside mostly just to say hello, not for the food:
yesterday he was proceeding down the driveway like a mini-panther, very pleased with himself, with a fat rodent dangling from his mouth. No wonder he always looks so sleek and well fed...

Temps are supposed to drop to 35ºF / 2ºC tonight. I like the cooler weather, but that's a bit cold!
I emailed the cat/hoouse owners this morning, asking how to turn on the heat. They wrote right back from their cruise ship in the North Sea.

I am not going to cat sit here again, I've decided. The owners have already asked me to sit during a couple long weekend trips they'll be taking in the coming months.

There're several reasons I don't want to, but the biggest is that I feel like a servant.
Usually the cat/home-owners trust me and leave me alone while they're gone. (I'll send photos of the pets every few days, if they want. Some do, some don't.)
But Mr House keeps emailing me instructions (don't forget to take the garbage cans to the curb tonight)––and even chiding me from abroad (you aren't feeding Little Gray Kitty enough [I am.]).

I am touchy about being told what to do and talked down to. 
Some might say I am overly sensitive.
Maybe so, but that's how I am.
It probably stems from my professor father using information as power against me; and it only got worse living with HouseMate, who was always telling me how to handle tomatoes and so forth... (and half the time she was wrong).
Anyway, I hate it.
These owners pay well and are generous with food and drink, but I don't need the money enough that I'm willing to be ordered around.

A close second reason is that I want to be in my own home, now I have one again. I love my apartment! I've spent the afternoons there on my days off the thrift store, and it's such a relief and a pleasure to be there.

I go home in four days! Yay! The same day as bink's wedding.
That's a little tight, and I am feeling a little crabby.
I'm not super flexible and easy-going about tight turns like that. (Heh, probably not about anything, really.)

Well, this is a complaining sort of post, isn't it?
Really, everything's fine--these are minor annoyances.
House sitting has not been bad: I've enjoyed Robinson a lot; I've earned enough to pay a month of rent; and I don't have to do it again.