Good news/bad news edition. Sales, subscribers, and shares all very much needed now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

I thought I was exhausted yesterday. I had no idea. It's nothing compared to today; I've been out in the heat and the sun and the wind and the blowing dust and horseshit pretty much all day long. I'll get to that in a moment, before I get to the cut-and-paste.

First, as the title says, the bad news: That up there, which is up the side of the mountain on the other side of the highway (toward San Cristobal, but it is NOT the tiny dry-lightning strike they had a few days ago, which has apparently been rained out). This is new, and it about three hours ago.. It's also way too close for comfort. Here's why:

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

That is the view from our deck. Now, you can see just how close that slope is to our land. yes, it's a few miles, but you know what? That's north-northeast — exactly the direction the winds have been coming from all day long today. Which virtually never happens, save in a winter storm. My guess is the location will prove to one mostly inaccessible to vehicular traffic, so pray they get a couple of water drops dead-bang on it before it spreads. No rain today whatsoever, and none likely before the weekend.

The good news: Miskwaki has a companion. She's a pistol, too.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

That's her on the right, giving our sweet boy the fish-eye. 

And this is her when the trailer pulled out:

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

Or, rather, her hoofwork. We had her in the small stall, and she pawed at the bars, then jumped right over and through it. It's back up; Wings and I just got done putting up a ProPanel barrier down the middle of the pen so they can get to know each other without kicking the shit out of each other, as she did to poor Miskwaki after jumping the gate.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

She is very much a rescue. She's been, we think, also alone pretty much all the time. She has had no medical work done ever, and she's somewhere in the vicinity of nine years old (which could mean anything from, say, seven to twelve). She's sound, solid, and strong, although her hooves are a mess (Wings can do that), and she's unbroken and therefore spooky, but she will come to us already.  They already like each other, even if they haven't worked out the grade-school-kick-the-one-you-like routine yet.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

We also think she's pregnant. Her former human insisted she was just fat, but we don't think she's been getting the kind of hay that would produce that kind of a hay belly. We'll see. That was not intended, but she's a good sound horse, beautiful and with a gait a little like Ice's, and Miskwaki's already measurably less depressed, so it's all good. There'll be an initial hit for her vet workup; beyond that, we had all the feed left over from Shade, so they're good on hay and grain. Poor girl has never seen grain, or high-grade hay, or a mineral block, or a soft place to stand, or freaking shade, FFS. So she's enjoying exploring, now that she's no longer afraid that she was being thrown to the wolves. No name yet (she never had one of those, either). Right now, through a circuitous route of ancestral names and languages that would take too much to explain here, I've been calling her Miika (MEEK-ah) for short. We'll see if it, and the longer name, stick. 

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

The other good news is that Joe said he had some bones for us for the dogs (they just butchered a buffalo). We thought he meant, say, a half-dozen in a bag. Oh, no. THIS is what he brought us, and the dogs all think they've gone to heaven. So they've had a very good day, too.

Still. Exhaustion is here, and I need a shower, and I have to make dinner. I'm also just way beyond wiped out; lifting ProPanels with only one good hand and a sore chest is not exactly conducive to feeling great. So here comes the cut-and-paste.
We very much, very badly need sales and new Patreon subscribers, and since this is early July, if you subscribe today, you won't be billed until August 1st. We have got to make some sales, though. Here are the links and a request to share them, because without those sales and subscribers, I honestly don't know how we get through this:

• My new Patreon, The Interstices (Writing Between Worlds);
• Wings's site, for sales, with new items posted;
• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• A way to buy me coffee (which actually goes to all of our medical bills, which continue to mount);
• Amazon wishlist, which mostly consists of animal and household stuff;
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. There are new kitchen-y things on it now, stuff that I didn't realize we'd need to replace (either because the RV ruined it or because we gave it away when we had to downsize).

I had said that I'd really like to raise another $500 in subscriptions before July is out, just to have a little more to throw to the medical wolves that are constantly at my throat. That never ends, either, and the stress is not helping with the cardio stuff. Now, we've got a lot more that needs to be done, too, and I'm damned if I know how. The truck was more than enough to throw a wrench in the works (and that's still unfixed, for the most part, given that just the one part is more than $1,200, so . . . ), but this thing with Shade? Out of left field. And once you're in it, you have to keep going; there's no way out but forward, whatever the result. So please, please share the links. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and kind words and other help for Shade. I know she was better off for it, and I know she appreciated that.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.