Wings's newest.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Wings's newest, completed only this afternoon. I don't even have photos of it yet, never mind time to upload, write a description, etc. That stone POPS. It's an old one; it's been in his collection for decades, and I think it's either old Stone Mountain or Royston, but it could be Manassa. Whatever, the whole thing is phenomenal. [And yes, I know I promised dino bone, but he has a second one in the works, and we both felt that the dino bone cab suited that one better than this one. It's coming shortly.]

And I need to sell them both ASAP, because things are grim.

I don't even know how we make it through this month. I have four figures' worth of expense to cover this week. That will wipe us out completely. If the sales logjam doesn't break soon, I don't know what we do. And none of that four figures includes the two hellishly expensive repairs [well pressure pump and roof] that need to be made sooner rather than later, nor the fact that I still need to replace my laptop, plus all the usual medical, plus the fact that taxes will due before we know it, and last year's sales were so terrible that I couldn't prepay anything. This is all just all the shit that comes due every January, and goes up very single year [truck insurance, various business and Web renewals, other annual and biannual crap that has to get covered].  January, April, and July are hell months. 

We need sales, and we need them now. Or a miracle. Or both.

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but once again there's a new order of priorities, not yet entirely reflected in the list itself. This is from the organizer herself [I've italicized the three that I'm told are the most urgent at this moment]:

• The bulk backpacks - at least six 12 packs
• Pepper spray
• Bulk packs of work socks
• Whistles
• Money/document belts (look like tan fanny packs, worn under the clothing  to hide and keep documents safe and protected.
• Bulk dog leashes
• XXL dog harnesses
• Chapstick
• Packs of wipes

The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. That's why I put some of those essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort; soon, I'll adjust those priorities accordingly, too.  Right now, they really, REALLY need pepper spray for the safety kits, and backpacks. I know a lot of people get weirded out by the idea of pepper spray, but if you're alone on the streets, assault of every type is always a possibility that's with you every single moment, and here, we also have wild animals that venture into town [a mountain lion spent a good share of the summer walking the streets downtown, and those of the nearby residential areas] This is a non-lethal way of stopping an attack in time to get away.

For us? SALES. PLEASE. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. There's also a new bolo and a new pair of earrings coming, maybe tomorrow. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make a ridiculous amount of sales to cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. [Yeah, I know; I don't know why I bother, either. As I said, hope is a stupid, stubborn, fucked-up thing sometimes, even if it's also very thin and half-broken.] Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every 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.                                               

Monday Photo Meditation: Wrapped In Storm and Light

Photo copyright Wings, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a Monday Photo Meditation for a day that has turned surprisingly cold and gray, with the feel of snow upon the wind. It's an image that's pure winter, but also one for hope, for a world wrapped in storm and light, transforming and transformed.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We have enormous repair costs ahead and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing than last year, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.      

I don't have it in me to pretend right now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Look at that nonsense. Bone-dry. Everything should be covered in white right now; instead, it's gray and dying.

Strike that; not simply "dying." It's being killed, systematically exterminated. And there isn't a damn thing we can do about it.

Apparently nothing we can do about the jackasses like the one this morning who had a fire going in the foothills to the south. Gale-force winds yesterday, with the possibility of more today, and some dipshit is lighting fires, and if that's your relative at the Forest Service, it doesn't change the colossal jackassery of it, or them, in the slightest.

I don't even know how we make it through this month. Then again, who knows how much of our world will be around by year's end. It's been a hard weekend, and the week ahead's going to be harder. I don't have it in me to pretend right now.

I have four figures' worth of expense to cover this week. That will wipe us out completely. If the sales logjam doesn't break soon, I don't know what we do. And none of that four figures includes the two hellishly expensive repairs [well pressure pump and roof] that need to be made sooner rather than later, nor the fact that I still need to replace my laptop, plus all the usual medical, plus the fact that taxes will due before we know it, and last year's sales were so terrible that I couldn't prepay anything. This is all just all the shit that comes due every January, and goes up very single year.  January, April, and July are hell months. 

We need sales, and we need them now. Or a miracle. Or both.

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but once again there's a new order of priorities, not yet entirely reflected in the list itself. This is from the organizer herself [I've italicized the three that I'm told are the most urgent at this moment]:

• The bulk backpacks - at least six 12 packs
• Pepper spray
• Bulk packs of work socks
• Whistles
• Money/document belts (look like tan fanny packs, worn under the clothing  to hide and keep documents safe and protected.
• Bulk dog leashes
• XXL dog harnesses
• Chapstick
• Packs of wipes

The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. That's why I put some of those essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort; soon, I'll adjust those priorities accordingly, too.  Right now, they really, REALLY need pepper spray for the safety kits, and backpacks. I know a lot of people get weirded out by the idea of pepper spray, but if you're alone on the streets, assault of every type is always a possibility that's with you every single moment, and here, we also have wild animals that venture into town [a mountain lion spent a good share of the summer walking the streets downtown, and those of the nearby residential areas] This is a non-lethal way of stopping an attack in time to get away.

For us? SALES. PLEASE. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. There's also a new bolo and a new pair of earrings coming, maybe tonight. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make a ridiculous amount of sales to cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. [Yeah, I know; I don't know why I bother, either. As I said, hope is a stupid, stubborn, fucked-up thing sometimes, even if it's also very thin and half-broken.] Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every 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.                                               

By Storm and Shadow Do We Know the Light

Photo copyright Aji, 2025;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for a season of short days and long hours of darkness, for a world weaving the blanket of night. It's a pair of earrings that remind us that everyone has value, and all conditions too, for by storm and shadow do we know the light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We have enormous repair costs ahead and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing than last year, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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.      

An absolute horror show.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

See all that haze?  Not clouds; not snow. That's dirt. The winds today were an absolute horror show, the kind of thing we've gotten, the last ten or fifteen years, daily in April.

It's January fourth, FFS.

And it's full dark now, and they're still blowing.

The cold was brutal, but that was the wind chill. What we should have now are single-digit temps and three feet of snow on the ground, with another storm in the forecast. 

Instead, they've revoked most of what little chance we had in the forecast for early next week.

And yes, everything's late again. Someone needed my help today, so I had blocked off a good chunk of it expressly for that, which is fine. The problem is that in the hours before that, it was one derailment after another, and here we are, me doing all of my daily work well after full dark once more. Those derailments have to stop.

So does the endless expense. We're staring down two hellishly expensive repairs sooner rather than later, plus the fact that I still need to replace my laptop, plus all the usual medical, plus the fact that taxes will due before we know it, and last year's sales were so terrible that I couldn't prepay anything. 

We need sales, and we need them now. Or a miracle. Or both.

It's endless, on every single front, and it all has to be done, and all on top of our own daily work just to make ends meet. Because if we're going to survive [and thereby be able to help anyone else]? That includes constantly chasing sales. We have GOT to get 2025 off onto a better footing than 2024 was, and do it immediately, or we're screwed. I can't go through another year like these last two, but especially 2024, and we already know we have some massive expenses ahead [the well's pressure pump and the roof come immediately to mind].

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but once again there's a new order of priorities, not yet entirely reflected in the list itself. This is from the organizer herself [I've italicized the three that I'm told are the most urgent at this moment]:

• The bulk backpacks - at least six 12 packs
• Pepper spray
• Bulk packs of work socks
• Whistles
• Money/document belts (look like tan fanny packs, worn under the clothing  to hide and keep documents safe and protected.
• Bulk dog leashes
• XXL dog harnesses
• Chapstick
• Packs of wipes

The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. That's why I put some of those essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort; soon, I'll adjust those priorities accordingly, too.  Right now, they really, REALLY need pepper spray for the safety kits, and backpacks. I know a lot of people get weirded out by the idea of pepper spray, but if you're alone on the streets, assault of every type is always a possibility that's with you every single moment, and here, we also have wild animals that venture into town [a mountain lion spent a good share of the summer walking the streets downtown, and those of the nearby residential areas] This is a non-lethal way of stopping an attack in time to get away.

For us? SALES. PLEASE. THERE'S SO MUCH NEW WORK ON THE SITE. There's also a new bolo and a new pair of earrings coming, maybe tonight. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make a ridiculous amount of sales to cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. [Yeah, I know; I don't know why I bother, either. As I said, hope is a stupid, stubborn, fucked-up thing sometimes, even if it's also very thin and half-broken.] Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every 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.                                               

The Life and Breath of Love

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work for the healing power of an atmospheric love, of two distinct hearts coming together in common cause and care. It's a pair of earrings in the brilliant blues of the desert sky, manifest as the life and breath of love that keeps our world alive.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. The last year was frankly terrible, and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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.      

Friday Feature: A Sky Ceremony For the Cold Season

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, with a trio of works created as a series in miniature, bracelet, bolo, and buckle collectively forming the Sky Ceremony Collection. The cuff Wings created earlier; the bolo and buckle are all new, explicitly intended to match, together forming a sky ceremony for the cold season, medicine our small world needs so desperately now.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. The last year was frankly terrible, and we need to get 2025 under way on a much better footing, so shares are very much needed and much appreciated.

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.