Going to the dogs. Subscribers, sales, and shares very much needed (needed by the dogs, too).

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

Welp, this week has started off as a royal pain in the ass. An expensive one, too. Everything's going to the dogs, literally.

By 7 AM, my day was already screwed. I'd been up for a while, sitting here drinking my coffee and minding my own business, and I heard canine shrieking and screaming from outside. Overnight, Coyote had gone into an early heat (she's at the extreme young end of the spectrum for it), and, well, Cricket is male, but she's still so tiny that it did some damage. Horrifying sound. She's okay at the moment, but it pointed up the fact that these dogs have to be fixed somehow, and fast.

Wings got hold of a friend with one of the local animal rescue/welfare groups (there are a bunch, but this one's established and the folks are experienced), and since no one knows who, if anyone at all, these dogs theoretically "belong" to, they're taking things in hand. Nothing can happen with Coyote until she's fully out of heat, so she'll be next week at the earliest. But assuming we can wrangle them properly, Blue goes in on Thursday to see Dr. Jeff (She-Wolf's doc), and Crow on Friday (to see She-Wolf's other doc). The following Tuesday, if Coyote's out of heat, she goes into the other local vet office; if not, one of the boys, and the next day, one of the other boys (that would be Cricket and KitFox; we have not seen Red Bear for more than a week, and are at the point of fearing for his well-being, if not his life). We'll need to use a trap to get Cricket, but we'll manage somehow. None of this is free, of course, but getting it done this way reduces the cost to us quite a bit compared to, say, us walking in off the street and saying, "Will you fix this dog?", and besides, it's a hell of a lot less expensive than having unneutered males and repeated litters of puppies hanging around. Because where the hell else are they gonna go, except here, since this seems to be their sole source of food and water and survival?

So that's in the works. The septic fix was supposed to be, too, but the plumber never showed. I hope this isn't going to turn into a problem. Also, the dunning for the bills never ceases, and my cardiorespiratory issues don't need this. So. Sales, and subscribers, and shares. We needs 'em. Speaking of which, with regard to my Patreon page: I've set my initial monthly goal at $1,000, which will let me pay off our medical bills in just three years, imagine that (yeah, that's sarcasm, but I don't have any other options but this one). That's not $1,000 in the payout, incidentally; probably more like $900, so that means getting it up to somewhere over $1,100 to cover the fees even at this level. And speaking of that, the fifth in my current series on my Patreon (this one, for subscribers only), which can be found here. Subscribe at the $25/month level or higher, and you'll be able to read the whole series, plus a whole lot more to come. There are also three posts up in the "memoir" category, which is the most expensive, partly because it is the most costly to me emotionally to write (when I said "close to the bone," I meant it). These are from a previous series, and I don't actually expect that anyone will subscribe to read them, but it gets it out of my system at least temporarily. There will be a lot more in that category in the coming months. 

Thank you, once again, to the folks who have believed in me sufficiently to subscribe already, including my two new subscribers, all of whom collectively have gotten me almost to the 70% mark. I do need to make it the rest of the way, however, so I am asking folks outright, please: Share the link, and subscribe if you can. Pledges made now through May 31st will not bill until June 1st. I have got to get this up there, because I still have ~$30K worth of vultures breathing down my neck, and they're getting nasty about it (and yes, this IS the "discounted rate"), so I really need to be able to meet this goal and pay off as much as possible as fast as possible. So here are all the links, and the rest is cut-and-paste; please share them:

• My new Patreon, The Interstices (Writing Between Worlds);
• Wings's site, for sales;
• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• A way to buy me coffee (which actually goes to all of our medical bills, which continue to mount; another almost $400 for Wings this week);
• Amazon wishlist, which mostly consists of supplies for half-feral puppies;
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. There are new kitchen-y things on it now, stuff that I didn't realize we'd need to replace (either because the RV ruined it or because we gave it away when we had to downsize).

I have more writing, more editing, and more general work to do, as well as labor of a more physical sort, so I need to get to it. Much gratitude to all of you, and please continue to share the links.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.