Pi, and Chaps, and Bottomless Pits, and Bills to Be Paid

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

We did nothing to recognize Pi Day yesterday.

It was over our heads.

Okay, that photo is from September a couple of years, ago, IIRC, but still . . . .

No, yesterday was your typically overloaded Saturday. Weekends mean nothing here; one day is just like the next, with too much to do and too little time in which to get it done.

Early evening, this was what we managed to squeeze in:

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

That would be one of the bottomless pits. They all are; the money goes in one end and comes out the other in a form wholly unuseable except as fertilizer. This one is more bottomless than most, though; we're coming up on a year since we nearly lost him to the worst case of sand colic we've ever seen (and the second-worst our horse vet has ever seen; her worst didn't make it). No, he didn't get it on our watch; when he arrived here five months earlier, starving, abused, and abandoned, it had already been forming in his gut for literally years. He's still here, thanks to incredibly hard work in the ten months since, but he's not out of the woods (and may never be, considering the severity of the damage). [If you're one of the rare people who is brand-new to the site, do a tag search for "Ice" to get the whole story.] Now that spring is here early, so is ordinary colic season (we've already pre-empted two early cases with the other horses), and it aggravates his form, as well. So we're on watch.

Meanwhile, Cree still has her own special needs, between the full-blown founder and the Cushing's. I promised you chaps, so here's the eye candy, along with her, below, eyeing the chicken (Dahlia, I think). This was after just having been retrimmed by Wings in one of his newer identities: farrier to our horses. I hold; he trims; we both do pretty much everything else. Oh, and by "hold," I mean both holding the lead and crouching down to hold the leg and hoof when needed. It's no wonder I got no sleep last night, after all that punishment on my joints [no, not joking about that, unfortunately].

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

And we're lucky. An old friend of Wings just got hold of him; he has some hay to give us. We're blessed. But tomorrow will bring the need to buy She-Wolf's prescription dog food, and in a few more days, her test strips (another starving, abused, and abandoned animal, like most of ours, and in her case, she developed diabetes as a result of the damage to her system at such a young age). Expensive stuff. Then there's the cost of electricity and propane, both of which need to be paid soon, and the ever-present problem of this crappy economy, with no winter tourism to speak of all season.

So. Easter's coming; after that, Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduations, weddings. We have a substantial inventory of gifts appropriate for any and all of these. Speaking of Easter, today's featured item at The NDN Silver Blog is perfect: a pair of earrings that look just like miniature robin's eggs. Part of me wants to focus on my writing, and wants to emphasize shares of it, because I so seldom get the chance to produce the sort of work I've been turning out lately. And, of course, if you want to support my ability to continue to do so, if you want to support good writing generally, and good issue- and cause-related writing specifically, you can always drop a few pennies in the PayPal kitty via the button above at right.

But, as always, I have to be practical first. And practicality says that the most important focus for my time right now is, as always, promoting Wings's work, selling his art and that of the other Native artists whose work we carry. [And, of course, a sufficient rate of sales it what frees me up to be able to focus on my writing. Wings wants me to write a book, and I have a dozen or so in my head, but there are never enough hours in the day . . . .] 

So, yes, there's something you can do to help. Share the link to his Web site with your networks, both online and off-. For those of you who are just visiting for the first time or two (yeah, all one of you, if I'm even that lucky), every single day I produce a new blog post at the blog on Wings's site. Most days, it features something from our inventory, and there are several weekly series going on at any one time, but it's also always historical, cultural, and often very timely in terms of issues, too.

Come and visit. Share the links. And if you're in the market for a gift in the weeks to come, for someone else or for yourself, please keep us in mind.

Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.