Yup, it's that time of year again.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021; all rights reserved.

That was yesterday afternoon. Yup, it's that time of year again, a bit early this time: The first elk showed up early yesterday morning, just after midnight. Only a few of them, but some returned last night, again, early (this time in terms of time of night), sometime between fall of dark and around 10:30 PM.

Wings got me up yesterday morning to tell me they were there, but I didn't have my camera, so I didn't get any good shots. I heard him say, "They're gonna eat all the hay we just bought; I'm gonna go chase 'em out."  I rolled my eyes and went back to my Kindle, and sure enough, I come out yesterday afternoon and there he is, spreading piles of the old, not-so-good-for-horses hay in piles all over the east field.

Now, of course, it's snowing heavily, and because of the nonsense with our scrips and the pharmacy and colonizers risking everybody's lives in Omicron Season, we didn't get back in time for him to do anything. So I imagine tomorrow we'll wake up to find they've chewed the tarps off the horses' bales again.

But at least they're safe here. [And he's left a message for Johnny inquiring about substandard hay, because this drought has imperiled their food sources badly, and this is their land, after all.]

And tomorrow is the colonial calendar's new year. I'm going to have to make a bunch of changes, because it's become abundantly clear to me that my health can't handle a lot of what i've been doing, and I need time for work that I simply haven't had. I'm going to have to step back from a lot of online stuff starting in January anyway to devote that increasingly limited time to more offline tasks. Because there's always the work, and lots of it. I have to re-organize the site, among other things, and we still have to make sales; January is our most costly month of the year, after all (July is second-worst). As far as sales go, there are belated gifts, there are post-holiday birthday gifts, there will be engagements and weddings and graduations to coincide with the new year, and of course Valentine's Day is not that far off. There are five now four new items up here, and orders will ship this week and next. Other than that, I will likely still be scarce; I'm too far behind courtesy of the punishing pace of this season business-wise and the inevitable autoimmune crash for me that attends it, and I STILL have not had a real night's sleep in weeks. It can't be 2022 yet; I'm still trying to manage the ravages of 2019.

And speaking of responsibilities to the future, our doctor's practice is a certified community health center, and they are currently in the middle of their year-end appeal (and since they are a qualifying non-profit, donations are tax-deductible). They treat a large cross-section of grossly-underserved local populations, and they need help now. Since this is the doctor who saved both our lives, we'll be giving again this year, no matter what. You should, too, and tell 'em we sent you. [And for those worried about it, it's tax-deductible.] You can do that here.

But the work just keeps piling up. So do the expenses. I'm currently waiting for delivery of the other beads and cabs that Wings needs for his next set, and for several other things in the pipeline. There was yesterday's small fortune to the doctor. And all of that means that I need to bring in enough to cover all that outlay, because none of this comes cheap.

Yeah, it always comes back to that: 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. 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);
• 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.