Spa day (no, not for me; only the animals get such bennies). Sales, Patreon subscribers, and shares always very much needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

Spa day for Miskwaki; he was badly in need of a pedicure. Okay, a trim. Plus some anti-thrush treatment. He has an unusually deep sulcus, which means that he gets thrushy immediately every spring (and in warm winters), and it's a constant battle to keep it at bay. Fortunately, Wings can do all of it himself. [And it's another context in which his old bow guards come in handy; one slip with a hoof knife, and you can do yourself real damage.] Miskwa started getting snotty about it on the rear, because he got himself a wire cut wandering where he wasn't supposed to be a few days ago, and while it's healed, I'm sure it still hurts when the pastern has to be bent backward like that. Anyway, he's done; Wings's is planning on doing Shade tomorrow. [Yeah, we do most of our own stuff when it comes to this sort of thing. Vastly less expensive to learn how than to hire it done, and Wings has been trimming horses for a long time now. Shade (like Cree, when she was alive), needs highly specialized trims because of her laminitis, and he's learned to do it better than the local farriers, so . . . ::shrug:: one more task for him. My job is just to hold the horses and/or to help gauge the work to be done.]

I'm hoping that tomorrow I can do nothing but work. That hasn't been the case all week long; there's always someone needing something, and something derailing me from what it is I need to be doing. I'm profoundly irritated today because I feel guilty for having said no to someone else (not to Wings, obvs, but a third party) about something that we simply can't afford to do; to be clear, it's the feeling guilty part that has me annoyed. I shouldn't — there's just no way on something like this — and yet here we are. And it's not just that; it's also time, which I have too little of as it is. Friday the Trickster Twins have to go get their sutures out, and on the weekend, River will be here to work, so that leaves me exactly one day this week with no appointments and (I hope) no one coming over wanting anything.

No rain yet today, and probably none tonight, either, but we at least got some late yesterday again, so the land is a little happier than it was. And speaking of making it rain, my first monthly goal for my Patreon is fully funded on a NET basis! (And thank you, thank you, to the person who made it possible.) That's about a tenth of one hospital bill (not said hospital's doctor's bills, just the overnight stay and so forth) that I can pay out on June 5th or so. Still, it's sales and Patreon subscribers that keep us going (and keep me paying down this massive medical debt load). I've put a hold on any more testing (no matter how much I need it, and I do, desperately, but it's expensive) until I get some of this paid off, because the stress of that hanging over my head is killing me as surely as anything else. So please continue to share the links:

• My new Patreon, The Interstices (Writing Between Worlds);
• Wings's site, for sales, with new items posted;
• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• A way to buy me coffee (which actually goes to all of our medical bills, which continue to mount; something over $300 for Wings last week, to say nothing of all my own);
• 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).

As always, I have more writing, more editing, and more general work to do, and I have to get back on it (and yes, at the moment, again, that which falls into the "general work" category has to come first). Thank you to everyone. I know I owe replies to a bunch of you, and other stuff, too. I'm going to be late with everything, because just breathing is taking up so much time and effort these days that it puts me even more behind than I already am.

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.