Sunday, September 8, 2019

Always another storm.

Photo copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved.

Welp, that's it for the moment. There will be no crew this week. We got hit yesterday with a $1,200 expense that I did not expect and had no way of anticipating, and that effectively wipes out any chance of them doing anything more. We haven't even made enough sales to replace what we used on their first week's labor, much less their second or the supply and materials costs.

It doesn't matter how hard we try to plan, how much I juggle and skimp and scrimp; there's always another storm.

It wouldn't matter, anyway; these unexpected rains have saturated the parts of the wood that we could not get tarped, and so they couldn't stain and seal it tomorrow anyway.  And frankly, we can do that ourselves, as long as I'm masked up for it. The sanding was the part that neither of us could do, and that's finished. We can have the do the other aspects of the weatherizing work down the road . . . if we make enough sales to cover it.

That's a big if right now. I'm canceling all of my September medical appointments but one. It'll be the most expensive one, natch; there are factors that are cause for concern about my kidney function, and so I need to get those labs done at the end of the month, but everything else? Getting canceled. ::Sigh:: there's a way in which I don't even mind all that much, because my pain and fatigue levels are so bad at the moment that I really don't feel like getting poked and prodded repeatedly week after week right now.

For those wondering about either the health issues, see here; with regard to the work being done, some of the details are here. We still have to get the plumber in to finish up, and I regard that as a bigger priority right now in practical terms, so whatever we take in sales-wise will have to go to that. This is all complicated by the fact that, for August, a record number/amount of my Patreon patrons' cards were declined, too, so that income is lower than usual (no, I don't know who and haven't checked; I'm not going to contact anyone who probably is already scrambling to juggle their own stuff, too).

Wings did get his four new necklaces completed Monday — ones that he crafted these to complement four of the stand-alone pairs of earrings in that collection (and I expect that he will likely wind up doing the same with all of those that have not yet sold, but we'll see). I posted them (with their coordinating earrings) here Monday night, so please go to the links and share them all (and buy if you happen to be in the market, of course).

Anyway. Back to the grind; so I need help to get all this done. Folks can help in several ways, and we really need the help now:
On the wishlist, there are two MAJOR priorities right now:  the fly traps and the peppermint oil. The former are needed in quantity because this is horsefly season, and the numbers are overwhelming our efforts; the latter, because it's the safest, most human method of keeping mice out, and with lows now in the 40s, they'll be trying to find a way in every, house, studio, vehicles, barn, chicken coop, you name it. Also, around here? It's deer mice. You know, the ones that carry hantavirus and plague. All the other stuff is helpful, too; the candles are to deal with the residual mildew odor in the utility room .

And as I said, sales are ideal, of course; one or two of Wings's bigger pieces would cover the whole shot for this round of work. Patreon subscriptions are good, too. Either way, it's a trade for value. But I'm already feeling panicked at what we thought would be our schedule being so suddenly and thoroughly upended, and we'll take it however it comes at this point. 

Please share everything, because I'm suddenly back behind the eight-ball on a whole additional front, and yeah, I'm scared about covering everything and surviving, too. Thanks.





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.

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