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| Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. |
Wild plums. They're tiny; Wings already has them drying. They're both tart and sweet and one of the few gifts of this summer's end.
And it is, apparently, summer's end. There is the prediction of snow on Tuesday. A low that night of 20 degrees; a high on Wednesday of 45. It's been 85 every day lately.
Winter is coming, and yes, that's worrisome, not merely because it's this early, but because it's in a drought year, and a pandemic year, and things are bad.
After a summer of stolen dogs and drought and almost no sales and a tidal wave of illness and death and community need, sales are so few and far between that I don't know how we're going to make it just on that basis alone. And my Patreon is down drastically. For August first, it was down by $100, which is a significant hit, but manageable. This month? Tuesday's payout was down by $360. Three hundred and sixty dollars that I was expecting to be there that isn't. Now, it might just be that people's cards have expired and they haven't bothered to update them. They've changed their interface, so I have no way of knowing who, so PLEASE check to see if it's you. And if that's not it; if you want to unsubscribe? Then please, please, actually unsubscribe, so that I don't get to the end of a month will all indications that we will be $360 further ahead than we are. That was going to bills and car repairs, and now . . . ::shrug:: nope.
I am struggling now. In every conceivable way. Pain levels are out of control, which by definition means too little sleep. I can't get enough hours in the day to do the very minimum of my own work. The stress I'm carrying, on multiple fronts, is staggering now. And I'm about $1,500 now $900, thanks to a sale this morning (and thank you so much, E), down from the last 2-3 weeks' worth of outlays (some of which were not even for us, but helping in our communities). The kennel is covered, thanks to a bunch of y'all; at least when it arrives maybe I can get some work done again. But on top of all of this, I've now had to bump the car repair yet another week (or two, or three, or more), because it will require a tow plus a costly repair, which, combined, is probably going to set me back more than $700. And winter, as the saying goes, is coming.
WE HAVE TO MAKE SALES. I can't do this alone. We need help.
Wings has a bunch of new work out, too. Check out the Bracelets and Rings Galleries on the site; five new entries in the latter, and a couple new cuffs in the former, plus Sunday's spectacular new work, which you can read about here. There is also a lot on the wishlist that is urgent, particularly fly spray, his KT tape, the cleaning supplies to deal with the plumbing fallout, and the air purifiers, because yesterday was the first day I've been able to breathe at all in weeks, thanks to the constant smoke (and the inability to breathe is complicating my health severely in all kinds of ways now).
The links are here:
[Obviously, 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.] Please share everything, because I have got to make regular sales; that part of it is all on me. 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.
Aji, please check your email. Laura M.
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