Nice while it lasted.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021; all rights reserved.

Yesterday dawned beautifully, in a stunning mix of clouds and sun, seemingly perfect for a day that was such a heavy marker for me. No snow out of it save on the peaks, but it was still nice while it lasted, and it was a productive day, with rain of other sorts.

Today, it's clear and impossibly dry, with no end in sight, and we're back to worrying about the drought all over again.

Meanwhile, everything is its usual end-of-year seasonal chaos. This is our busiest time of year, but that's the nature of what we do; from October 1st through year's end, it's 16-hour+ days, seven days a week. No breaks. And because of the shipping mess, we're in crunch time already. We made a couple of unexpected sales yesterday, but for those folks having us fold items, we need to get this wrapped up now because of said shipping mess. Also, there new work here, eight pieces in total, including one big item that needs to find its home.

And I still need to continue to make consistent sales to get us through the winter. The guy with the hay had sold it to someone else by the time our funds cleared, but he had more of it over the weekend, and we got the two bales delivered Monday. Wings has ordered two more for delivery next Monday, because it's the absolute last of what he's got and he won't have any more for a while, and four of these might be enough to get the horses through the winter. Of course, that's ~$400 yesterday and another ~$400 that will need to be paid Monday, plus ~$200 going out the door tomorrow on firewood (can't order any more of that yet, because we don't have the funds for it). So if I could sell some of these new pieces that are going up today, that would do wonders to keep everything going.

Yes, it always comes back to needing to make more sales. A lot more, because we have two years' worth of a shattered pandemic economy to make up for, by which I mean we need to gain more ground ourselves financially to be able to be sure of making it through the winter. And again, if you're planning on commissioning gifts for the holidays, DO IT NOW. [And that includes just ordinary orders for the holidays, too.] Yes, I mean NOW. We're 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. More to the point of what customers care about, we also can't guarantee shipping times this year, because see above. But I've posted a ton of Wings's new work lately, and there will be more in the days and weeks to come. If I could sell one of the big works, like one of the belts, maybe I could get us on the drill list for the well that is the only thing that's going to keep this land alive. But I've got way too much to do and too few hours and other resources to do it. 

Anyway, I have GOT to continue to make sales, 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. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.