"Queer Lodgings" Sublets, pet care and other front-country bugaboos

There's been quite a bit of activity since my last post, particularly regarding gear and food preparations. So much activity, in fact, that it has been very tough to find the time to write.
Anyway, what I'd like to address here regards the "front-country" issues; things involving my "real" life (apparently, it will go on without me) that will need to be tended to in my absence. Frankly, I don't think I went at this with enough vigor until recently, and am now finding myself parading a bunch of strangers in and out of my place a week before I leave. Well, I don't remember it being any easier walking through stranger's places, so I do feel for my prospective sub-lessees. And, as part of the arrangement, I'm asking that whoever is here tend the pet rabbits, so...
So there's the issue of pet and apartment care, which I hope to have resolved shortly. A far as bills, I've signed up to do as many as possible electronically, but there are a few that still have to go by snail mail. For that, I'll be enlisting the help of my uncle who lives locally to collect the bills, and of my parents, who'll fill in the amount on my pre-signed checks, and mail them. I'm certainly very fortunate to have such a great support system...
In short, my advice to anyone planning an extended trip would be to get your "while I'm gone" list taken care of as early as possible. I've found that having to spend so much time on craigslist.com, as opposed to trails.com, has really prevented me from getting in a "backcountry" state of mind on this penultimate weekend...
Well, there's the whole drive out for that