It only took nineteen years.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

As of this morning, there is new aspen green in the burn scars.

It only took nineteen years.

Of course, there's still much more of the burn scars than there is of the green.

And that's what awaits the other side of that ridgeline now. Except in this case, it's 300,000 acres already and still growing, in a 1,200-year drought with humidity at five percent or less, with pyrocumulus clouds creating their own storms, and with no rain in sight.

It'll take a lot longer than nineteen years there, if things don't change very, very fast on every one of those fronts.

The fire's growing. Most of the coverage, including that at a certain site last night, is absolute nonsense. And we spend every day laboring under the knowledge that one spark will send this place up like a rocket, too.

And still the work has to get done. It's harder than ever; I'm largely housebound now, walking is extremely painful, and we both have to mask just to go outside, even here at home, because of the pall of smoke. But we have to make a supply run before the boosters mid-month that will send my symptoms further into warp drive, so I'm going to have at least one more episode on my feet in the near future, pain notwithstanding (it would have been yesterday, but fire and wind and animals, including the 7 extra horses our b-i-l has put in the adjacent field). If you've never dealt with acute pain that is also chronic, you are blessed beyond measure and you won't understand this. If you have, you will understand when I say that I literally do not have the mental, never mind physical, space for anything more right now. So, to the one think I have to keep doing, because it's what pays the bills and keeps the lights on and keeps the Tax Man off our backs (four figures left on '21, two more 4-figure prepayments for '22, and $4,500 in the offing for my upcoming treatment, assuming that it works). I have to make that first big tax payment very soon (like NOW), which means I need to make two or three grand worth in sales to cover it.

Wings did finish the first collection in the next round of his "Elementals" series, this one the first set for spring, and I did manage to get it posted late Sunday. You can see it here. We will need to make consistent sales all year to cover the medical stuff, (I just got another unexpected bill for another ~$360 I wasn't told about, and I have to call, but I suspect I'll have to pay it) but mostly to cover what the feds are taking. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the other ladder, the Thermacell lanterns [the flies are already out, so the mosquitoes won't be far behind], and the liquid soaps, which prevent our hands from cracking and bleeding given that we're forced to wash them fifty times a day;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

We're still hoping to put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring, too, Nah, we've given up on the well. No one's available to drill before the latter half of summer, and the tax burden means we would never be able to afford it anyway. But it's perhaps even more of a good time to make a purchase, because Uncle Sam is a vindictive colonizer, and my current stress levels about paying it all are off the charts. And there's lots of fabulous 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.