The ground's as dry as old bones.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

When you suddenly notice the rest of the herd has already gone to feed.

All seven of them are starting to become accustomed to us, even though they're still a bit skittish. We ordered dewormer for them (surprised we could get it, after the Trumpkins stealing all of it and disabling themselves for life in the process), but Wings has told them they'll have to do the administering of it, because we can't be chasing down seven horses that don't want to be caught. All are thriving now, though, putting on weight, getting sleeker, and, of course, not dehydrated with constant ready access to clean water.

The ground's as dry as old bones, as you can see from the dust around the horse's hooves.

Lots of heavy clouds last night and today, lots of early stormy weather, but not a drop of rain here, at least. Fire's still raging; we just can't see the smoke plume much through all the haze today. And it's COLD; in the forties still until just a while ago. We won't even make 60 today. Meanwhile, closures and evacs south of here continue apace, and our biggest fear right now is Picuris Pueblo, which is getting exactly ZERO mention in all the alerts and announcements and media coverage.

And the fire weather affects us, even if we've been lucky enough [so far] to avoid conflagration here. Wings is way behind on silverwork because of the winds and the drought and the wildfire risk. The grinding and buffing have to be done out of doors, and these winds make it impossible, not least because you cannot do anything that sparks in this kind of drought, and the grinding wheel will do that. It's why he's behind on a couple of commissions, too; the bigger items, especially require use of the wheel, and that's out of the question until the weather breaks. I did, however, get one pair of silverwork earrings posted yesterday, and I'll have another later today; possibly a third tomorrow, although I think those might not be ready yet (larger cabs, and he's doing different bezel-work on them) but presumably the next in the Elementals series will be done tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the IRS doesn't care about drought or wildfire or anything else, nor do any of the other billing agents, so I still have to make some sales.  We'll need to make consistent sales all year to cover the medical stuff, some of which is coming up on the first, (I just got another unexpected bill for another ~$360 I wasn't told about, and now, I haven't had the endless amounts of time it takes to track down this nonsense, but I suspect I'll have to pay it) but mostly to cover all the four-figure payments the feds are taking, one of which I'll have to take care of this week. A couple of sales would be really useful right now. 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.