Friday the thirteenth struck early here.

Photo copyright Aji, 20323; all rights reserved.

Look at that bright blue. Perfectly clear; looks beautiful, doesn't it?

It's a problem.

It's 25 degrees too warm, for one. Oh, I know they say there's snow coming on Sunday, but as always, there's a decent chance of it going around us or spinning out before it gets here, so we'll believe it when we see it. But it means getting everything ready all the same, just in case.

A task made harder today by the complete inability to use my left arm. 

I was filling my water bottle last night just before going to bed. My hands are always a mess, and the bottle slipped, caught the spigot, and dislocated my left thumb. That popped back into place immediately on its own, which was when I realized I had a much bigger problem: my left shoulder dislocated, too. And it did not reset itself. Yes, technically it's only a subluxation, not a full dislocation, but the pain is indescribable, and the inability to use it for anything has set me back yet another day.

Friday the thirteenth struck early here.

All this on top of an ugly week that isn't over yet. There's the mess with the ATV, which is going to set us back . . . no one knows how much. There's the mess with my phone, which I will now be without for at least one more week, more likely two, and possibly three weeks total, because they're having trouble getting them shipped into the country, apparently. So we have no way to reach other if we're not together, and I am not happy about the multiple layers of corporate bullshit that brought us to this pass.

Two days ago, I had to spend time frigging around on the stepladder draining the washer because it wouldn't spin, and thus would not open. Apparently the washer handled the dog blanket just fine, but the drain did not, and and so I'm going to have to spend tomorrow boiling water and vinegar and flushing the drain repeatedly, because evidently Sunny sheds too much for its puny pipe (yes, yes, I shook it out thoroughly, but apparently it still couldn't handle it). Then ytesterday morning I discovered that the bath mat in front of our bathroom sink was soaking wet, and there were little puddles in the cabinet, and I had to get down on my arthritic and cartilage-free knees and 1) haul everything out, 2) clean up the water, and 3) try to figure out where the leak was.

Apparently there is no leak. I ran all the usual tests, and check all the connections and fittings, and there is no water coming out of the pipes or the wall. If I didn't know better, I'd think we had some little invisible trickster sneak in last night and decide to take a leak all over select bottle caps and boxes  just to fuck with me. Today, it's all fine, apparently, so I'm putting down to gremlins, Indigenous subspecies. At any rate, I did not need to be spending all that time on a cold hard floor, given the shape my joints have been in today anyway, and I am now in a very special kind of agony. I also had to get some shipping done yesterday, which is done, but but it all had me working almost 'til midnight last night, at which point the sublux of my shoulder put an end to all of it. Mostl put an end to any possibility of sleep, too.

And that's because the regular seasonal stresses are already ramping up in a big way now; there's all the usual January stuff to worry about. This and June (or July, depending on how the bills fall in a given year) are always our worst two months in terms of expenses, and I don't know how this one's going to shake out yet. There's the ATV repair to cover, and truck insurance tomorrow, and a bunch of things I can't even remember right now because my brain is so fried, but here we are. I've also got so much to do in terms of ordinary day-to-day work, and I just got four new works by Wings posted up on the site, but of course, I need to try to sell it, too. You can see them all here, but click through and look at them from all angles, because they're frankly amazing.

Because we will still (always) need to make sales, and there are plenty of gift-giving events coming up in this new year. But if you're looking for places to donate to folks who need it, watch this space and my other online spaces, because I'll be highlighting them in the weeks to come. Much of the country has just been through a deadly storm, and there's an even more deadly pandemic still raging, utterly unchecked; lots of folks in our various communities are going to need long-term help.

Speaking of sales, I'll have four new works to show you here this evening, I hope. It all depends on whether I can get them up in the relevant gallery, descriptions written and entries complete. They're all fabulous, and they all need homes.

All of our links are here; emphasis on sales and testimonials for now (and subscriptions, if you're looking for that; I'll have more on that to come in the next few weeks, hopefully with some changes):

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, with three new cuffs coming possibly as early as later today, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.