It could just as easily be snow now.

Wings put the sprinkler under the larger fire maple yesterday, hoping to keep it well until the leaves drop. It's a little something of home, although there the water on the leaves is likely to be rain. In theory, we'll get rain tomorrow, but if we get anything at all, it could just as easily be snow now.

Yeah, by some folks' standards, winter's here: lows down in the 20s already. Low clouds today, blustery winds, a sharper chill. And if we do get precipitation, there won't be much foliage left by Monday, probably. We're going to need get more firewood soon, and get the rest of the annual weatherizing done fast.

Meanwhile, the expenses mount. I paid quarterly taxes Wednesday night, and I have most of our regular monthly bills yet to pay, plus vet fees for the pups' shots at the end of the month. Wings had his audiology follow-up today, and apparently the cost was in fact covered despite what they said earlier . . . BUT they don't work the way we had hoped, which explains why the ones we wanted for him cost 3 times the price of these; he's going to have a long period of adjustment, and frankly, 'm not sure they're ever going to be right, based on what I've seen so far. I still cannot afford to schedule my eye appointment, which I need to make sure the lupus meds aren't damaging my vision (and to reorder lenses I'm a year overdue in ordering), because the whole thing is likely to set us back at least another grand, probably more (actually, it's definitely more: I pulled out my old receipts from the last time around, and they were more than that; this will be worse).  I also had another episode in the early hours of this morning, one in which I stopped breathing (entirely) in my sleep. It's the first in a while, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying or problematic.

But the worst is the constant fight to keep the land alive, and the animals, and ourselves. We need that well, and we can't even get on the drill list. Yet another tree is dying. Oh, and now? Saturday I had to order a new burner for the propane tank that heats Wings's studio, another $100 our the door, because the one we bought last year is deader than a doornail, and in this season, there will be no silverwork without heat. The kicker? They sent the wrong one. He went and filled up the propane tanks yesterday (another big bill), but we don't even know if this one's going to work. We're sending it back and they're shipping what is allegedly the correct one, but for now, he'll be without heat in the studio for that much longer.

I've got to bring in more income, and without sales, there's no way to do that. We're also dealing with the same supply-chain issues as everyone else, and at some point soon, Wings is going to have to get silver and stones to produce holiday inventory, and I'm hearing that the price is already spiking on the metals. I've posted a ton of new work by Wings: another new pair of silverwork earrings Sunday night, here, and three all new pieces here two nights ago, in addition to other recent ones here and here (one of those is now sold) and here, and here. If I could sell one of the big works, like one of the belts, maybe I could get us on the drill list. But I've got way too much to do and too few hours and other resources to do it. 

Anyway, lupus pain is spiking badly and I've got a ton of physical stuff yet to do, including errands, so links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the ladders, because see above, and coffee coffee coffee, which we're finding it harder and harder to get locally);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And if you've been contemplating a purchase? This would be a very, very good time to do it; I've got to cover all this staggering outlay somehow and get us through what's left of the year. And right now? I have no way to do it.  But there's lots of fabulous new work, so please share all of the links. 

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