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| Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. |
Fire on the mountain, and no rain in sight.
Wings's niece saw the plume this morning and called him; he called the War Chief's staffers. Two hours later, they had the helo in the air, circling, trying to gauge it. Wings has done firefighting up in those mountains (years ago, with his brother, when he was much younger), and it requires hard, heavy, back-breaking work, men hiking in up there and digging by hand to create firebreaks and to stop it from tearing through the root system.
Just what we need now, the threat of wildfire. We saw the lighting strike that caused this one, a sharp narrow bolt that hit the ground during the sudden storm late yesterday afternoon. It was a heavy enough to rain to soak the ground, to batter the plants with hail . . . but this is always one of the risks that accompanies the monsoon season. And when we don't have an actual monsoon season, that risk can turn deadly quick. The mountains are a giant long tinderbox now. The Dragon's Tail, indeed.
And it hasn't been a good few days, anyway. We got word Saturday, mid-afternoon, of a death in Wings's extended family. Over the last couple of months, we have had multiple deaths in our broader community, and folks who've needed help because of it (at least five or six that I can think of off the top of my head, including a couple last week). Folks with a house fire. Others with family illnesses (just among people we know, we've lost folks to West Nile, to COVID-19, to diabetes, to accident, to other illnesses). Everyone needing help because of the pandemic; so many out of work, jobs not coming back, no tourism at the Pueblo for those who are artists to make sales there, because it's closed (and rightly so, but that doesn't help the folks who can't pay the rent as a result). We thought we'd be able to help with food from the gardens, but the drought has killed that, too. But when folks need help, and you have it, you give it however you can.
Meanwhile, the drought is still killing us, too. The pandemic is killing us more. Our Web site hits have been cut in half — IN HALF — because of the economic havoc this pandemic, and the government's non-response to it, are wreaking daily. And while the taxes are now finally covered, there are still all the OTHER things to pay for this month. We've jettisoned everything we can: We bumped reseeding to winter, which turns out to have been a good move, because this drought would kill it all. The well? There's no way we can get in August's drilling queue. None. I've given up on that. I don't know whether we'll be able to do it before next year; if we can't, we can't reseed, either, and probably can't plant again in the spring. Plumber's canceled, again, which is a HUGE problem now. Chimney cleaners are canceled. Medical appointments? Oh, that's funny. NOPE. Nothing else gets done until I get this month covered. We're part of the way there, but we've got a lot to go. And I still need to bring in the better part of $1,500 before month's end.
WE. NEED. SALES. BADLY. New piece just the other morning, here. Lots of other new works, too, cuffs and earrings and one new necklace. So please. Share the links; they're here:
[Also, the wishlist is back in force. There are things I absolutely cannot get except through Amazon, and I can't add that stress onto all the others now. It's breaking me.] Please share everything. Thanks.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
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