Dangerously cold.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022;
all rights reserved.

Haven't uploaded any of today's photos yet; this was early yesterday. And despite the weather, lots of tiny birds around: juncos and chickadees and red finches, of course, but also the goldfinches, who are here long out of season and way off their migratory path now. They're children of May, and pretty much only May (sometimes into early June), but climate change has made their usual patterns so problematic that this particular clan has chosen to ride out the deep freeze with us.

The elk were here overnight, too, and this time, some of the giant adult males accompanied them. They didn't do any damage, just ate what was accessible and vanished as quietly as they came, but they did seem to be communicating with the horses through the ProPanel fence. This is the time of year when they typically come, when it gets dangerously cold, and last night was no exception: It got down around ten below in the early morning hours; no idea what the final number was. By 7 AM, it was up to -4, actual temperature, with a wind chill of -18. We've finally passed the +20-degree mark, and Wings is outside plowing the areas he didn't have time to get yesterday.

And I'm indoors stoking the fires and trying to get caught up on things that I had to let slide with the pressures of the holidays. New calendar year, but no signs that the country is going to do a single thing to get us out from under the death sentence it so gleefully seems determined to enforce. Meanwhile, this is our most expensive month of the year (followed very closely by July; I'm not even including April, which is tax month, in all of 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).

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 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. 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, so links are here:

• 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.