A grand total of two snowflakes.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

Lots of weather on all sides yesterday, but it all went around us. As nearly as I can tell, we received a grand total of two snowflakes, both of which hit my face as I was putting the chickens in for the evening. Now, it's very, very cold, but also completely clear, and there is not a decent chance of any precipitation of any sort in the forecast through the rest of January.

We are so screwed.

And right now, I can't even really worry about the drought's damage to the land, because I've got many more immediate worries now. Chief among them, of course, is money, and I have GOT to make some sales fast. We're out more than $600 over the last week on the horses, which is not exactly unexpected but we weren't anticipating the hay costs (and as bad as access to decent hay is now [see drought], we couldn't pass it up). [f you want to help keep a couple of formerly badly abused, neglected, and traumatized rescue horses safe and healthy, the PayPal link is here.] On top of that, $500 in insurance due today, plus another $120 in Wings's scrips. We'll be paying 4X as much now for non-IHS scrips, but it's better than catching the plague at a place where workers will be striking soon, if they're not already.

And it's not like this month hasn't already set us back by a lot. The storage place has raised our rates; I still have other one-off bills yet to pay for January. This is our most expensive month of the year anyway (followed very closely by July, and that's not even counting April, which is tax month, in this). So while we had a far better holiday sales season than I could ever have hoped, we still have to keep the cycle going. This is our livelihood, after all, and there's a lot of expense ahead, medical and otherwise (and this has to be the year the drill the well because there's no other option at this point; "first thing," indeed). It's a twelve-hundred-year drought, and it's killing everything.

So, as always, it 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 and the rest of the year. 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 the belt, 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. Which means that I'll be stepping back significantly in terms of my online presence, because there's just too much else to do, and I am no longer well enough to maintain the kind of pace I once did.

So, since we have to continue to make sales, links are here, and there's new work up today, with more to come this week:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the ladders);
• 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 twelve whole months of a new year, plus put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring. And 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, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.