I don't envy Custom Forest Products.

It's 15 degrees outside. Temperature's not expected to rise above freezing, and three lightly-dressed men are positioned at the site of our newest barn, ready to go with their generators and 2 x 4s and 6 x 6s and a pallet's worth of shingles.

Of the 27 (GOOD LORD!!) buildings we've erected since we moved to Fortune Valley (22 shelters, 2 hay storage buildings, one office, one house, and one "Welcome Hut"), eight of them have been put up by Custom Forest Products. They do sustainable, ecological logging, have their own sawmill, and build a solid building for a fair price--in the dead of winter.

Our newest barn, one of four being built in response to the foreclosure crisis that's forcing people to give up their animals, will be a 1,200 sq. foot pole barn. No stalls...they can be added later if necessary. Instead, lots of open space, front and back doors, 9' head clearance, and 12 windows.

We didn't budget for this crisis--how could one anticipate something like this? It's been the reach of the NBC Nightly News piece that is enabling us to build not three as originally planned, but four new shelters. Donations from $5 to $25,000 have poured in from around the country -- and all of them are needed, as the shelters will total just over $50,000.

Thank you to those of you who've extended yourselves so generously during a time of hardship for so many sad human beings....and a few animals fortunate enough to find love at Catskill Animal Sanctuary.