It is officially too cold to sit on the porch in the morning with my Sunday paper. A heavy blanket of frost lies over everything. It is supposed to warm up to 70 today, and I'll open up the windows to the cat facility so the felines can enjoy fresh air for these last warm days of the year. Then it's back to winter, electric heat, and dust. Yick.
But yesterday it was beautiful. I have discovered soybeans in the pod. One of the girls ordered them at an Asian restaurant when we were out. I stopped at a tiny farm stand last weekend and there was a quart of soybeans for two bucks. So I took them home and have enjoyed them all week. Basically you just scrub them with salt, throw them in boiling water for 4 minutes, rinse them quickly with cool water (not long, because they are best warm) and then sprinkle the pods with salt. Sit, open them up, and enjoy the beans inside, and the salt on your fingers. For those on a no-salt diet, go on ahead without the salt. Actually, I was eating them in the car after I bought them, raw. But the pods are a bit hard to open without the quick boil.
The first round of kittens who have not been adopted yet are growing rapidly. I got an inquiry on Allie, and it was hard to get her to sit still for a good shot.
I have finally had to admit that my current income will not support the farm and cats. Gretchen is coming over today to help me rip out the carpet in one of (or maybe both? we'll see how it goes) the small bedrooms in my house. These rooms are never used. Until this spring, I never even used them for cats. I'm going to put down vinyl, finish painting the walls, paper the ceilings, and board pet cats. The rooms are entirely separated from my living space (and my cats) by a hallways, and they are nice sunny rooms. Each is 12x14. I'll need to put up ledges on the windows and make them otherwise cat-friendly. Each cat would get an entire room so she would not need to be cages while boarded.
This also means joining a pet boarding association, getting insurance, etc. etc. etc. The nice thing about pet sitting is that--unlike wildlife control--there are affordable software programs to manage them. As long as you input everything, the bookwork takes care of itself.
Each room also has a closet, so I can keep different kinds of cat litter, towels, etc. all close at hand. Funds raised from the cat boarding would go to the cat rescue.
I hope to get just a few regulars--people like myself who travel. Booking would be somewhat limited by the fact that I won't be able to board cats while I'm traveling myself.
So that is today's plan of action. I did manage to get the lawn mowed yesterday, hopefully for the last time. The frost destroyed all the flowers in the flower pots, so I may as well rip those out and put the pots in the barn. And maybe Gretchen and I can stop by Iron Kettle Farm today and I can pick up corn stalks for my window boxes on the cat facility.
If you are thinking "Maybe you wouldn't be so broke if you didn't buy roses for your porch," we'll, you'd be right. But the roses were on sale in Owego for three bucks and I couldn't resist.
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