So freaking beat.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Early this morning: a couple of inches' worth of accumulation, all gone by noon. A few random flurries throughout the afternoon, none of which stuck anywhere, at all.

And a day spent on the run from jump, and I am so freaking beat.

Early appointment for Wings with the doc; just a routine follow-up on last week's annual labs, and his results were really, really good. But they're so overloaded with patients now that we had to wait a very long time to get called back, then even longer to see the doc, and by the time we were done, I was so starved I couldn't think straight. It didn't help that this morning was so hectic that I forgot to take my pain meds [or, more accurately, thought I'd taken them when I hadn't], and I've spent much of the day no really functional as a result. Don't take them on time? The effects magnify, and it takes that much longer for them to kick in and do me any good. Of course, the high winds don't help, either.

Everything's terrible. A couple more tragedies locally, and a couple more spectacularly heinous crimes, too. The missing local man is still apparently missing, with no movement by LE and no attention from the local rag.  They breathlessly front-page tourist deaths [and visits] for days, but when local kids are lost to accidents or violence? They can't even be bothered to give it a fucking line. There has been so much that's awful here since the start of the year, and that's not even including all the stuff we're dealing with, just community issues.

But it's been bad for us, too. I'm not even going into any of it; I'm too tired, there's nothing that can be done, and I have so much to do that can't wait for anything else. I have to get our taxes done. I have to be chasing sales. [Cut-and-paste ahead again, because I'm so tired I can't even rephrase.  I've got hours of work ahead again tonight, too.]

Spirit knows we need all the help we can get on that score. Last year was a nightmare, all year long: expenses of the sort you can't plan for that were astronomical, combined with one of our worst sales years ever. The really bad part is that we still haven't recovered from it. Meanwhile, new expenses mount, and we've made a grand total of three sales all year so far.

That won't even begin to cut it.

Wings has been rocking in the studio for weeks. There's a ton of new work, but posted just last week alone are two new pairs of Red Creek jasper earrings [featured today at The NDN Silver Blog], plus four new necklaces [one vintage-style oval and three hearts, the latter all made with some really unique materials]. And, of course, there are all the other new works from the past two months, a couple of bolos, a new buckle, endless cuffs, I don't know how many pairs of earrings. If you're in the market? Now would be a really, really good time to buy. We have to pay taxes soon; we have to replace our well's pressure pump; we have to get a security system installed suddenly; and I still need to replace my laptop, which I have to baby along daily. We're also having to help relatives with some cultural obligations [that's already begun the last couple of weeks, and there's a lot more to go]. And of course, there are all the animals' expenses. Gotta keep the chickie girls happy: Those eggs won't lay themselves. [And yes, they've been known to go on strike when they don't get what they want.]

So I really, really need to sell some of his work, and soon.

Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards, Soapbox soaps, Black KN95 masks are most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year last year, and this one beginning at least as badly, we urgently need to move 2025 onto a better footing before taxes take every last cent, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.