Deep.

Photo copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved.

That shot is actually from Thursday. It really shows how blue the water in the pond looks when there's full sunlight, despite the fact that even at its fullest (which it's nowhere near right now), it's still no deeper than a few feet.

Everything else is deep right now, particularly the exhaustion. Every single day of the past week has been spent chasing down this damn dog, scared to death that she will meet with the front end of one of the mammoth SUVs that go tearing around this curve twenty miles an hour over the speed limit, before we can find her. Turns out she has not, these last few days, been on the road; she's been going to the neighbors to woof at their dogs, which is not all that wise, because there are four of them and they are starved all the time. When she started clamoring to go out in the early (EARLY) hours of this morning, Wings took her down and put her on the tie-out. When I got came down this morning, no Chinook. Anywhere. The little monster had managed to yank the stake out of the ground where it was buried eighteen inches down, and run with the whole thing trailing behind her, only to get herself wrapped up around a fencepost. And thus, Wings learned that, assertions to the contrary, River never finished the damn fence on that side. Which will be the first order of business when he gets back tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the work is endless, and I overdid it yesterday. That, combined with spending every morning chasing down this dog, and I have nothing left, but it's got to get done anyway. And in the middle of all these virtually-rainless 90+-degree days, I'm still suffering this invasive, full-body reaction to the steroids. If my doc is back this week, I may need to spring for more scrips to counteract it, never mind how much that will cost. And we still have both the second phase of the plumbing repairs to schedule, plus the repairs to riding mower so that Wings can get some of this acreage mowed; right now, it's a tall, dense breeding ground for mosquitoes.

First payment down two nights ago: $1,600. Still just over $1,100, which I will likely do tomorrow morning. I've got to make some sales to make up for both. We sold two pieces a few days ago, coming to something less than a third of that two-bill total. But I've got to make some sales this weekend to cover the rest of this, so what follows is all the cut-and-paste: sales here; testimonials here; wishlist (such as it is still) here. Thanks to the two folks who sent in testimonials; once again, I'm going to try to get them up tonight, although it all depends on how the rest of the day goes. We need more folks to send them in, too. Wings dropped his new bead pieces (two necklaces; four pairs of earrings) a few days ago; you can find the summary post here. Please share their individual links, and be on the lookout for the other new works, especially the belt, which he hopes will be done finally this week. He also has two new cuffs (which, if all goes well, will drop later today or tonight, so please be on the lookout), two new necklaces, and a pair of earrings in the works. [Edit: Also, his new beads are waiting at the P.O. box here, as noted above, so he will no doubt have more in the new series of necklaces and earrings soon, four of the latter of which will drop later today; these are from a U.K. lapidarist, and they are a phenomenal selection, so you'll want to watch for them, as well.] And while I spend every spare moment chasing those sales, there aren't many spare moments for me these days, especially with my ongoing breathing issues and whatever else is going on that they haven't identified yet. So please, help us get the word out. I've got to bring in more sales somehow.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.