More smoke; more fires. Shade's outcome still uncertain. Sales, subscribers, and shares all very badly needed now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

That's from last night; click on the photo to enlarge it, and you'll see the various smoke plumes drifting around the horizon to the west. there are a lot more of those on all sides now. Today, it's smoke and haze everywhere, with a new plume rising fast to the east-northeast straight out the window as I write this, and a plane has been going back and forth since yesterday. No word on the Sardinas Canyon Fire spread yet; it was supposedly a little under 2,000 acres at dawn yesterday, but still zero containment.

It's Wings's birthday here today, and it's just one more day of all-out, hell-for-leather work. Shade is back down again, but she spent a half-hour+ on her feet, eating slowly out of the trough, and she drank quite a bit of water afterward, which is good. We can't walk her today; her heart rate and respiration are already too high as her body fights the colic, and with the heat and the smoke and haze in the air, it would only worsen both. She's been Banamined and SMZ'd, along with traditional medicine, and it was after that last that she was inclined to get on her feet and begin moving and eating and drinking. 

All this gives us reason to hope, but nothing more than that. to say that she's not out of the woods yet misses the point; she's still stuck in the deepest, darkest part of them, with miles to go before any of us sleeps. If the displacement does not resolve itself in a matter of days, then the hard decisions have to be made. This is Cree's daughter, and Wings is strong, but I know how much it will hurt him if we have to do this thing (and me as well, but it's him I'm worried about much more than myself, obviously).

On top of all that, of course, are the vet bills. This is going to be hugely expensive, and while our vet is both a friend and willing to work with us, she has to get paid, too. I have no idea where this will leave us when it's all done, whatever the outcome, but I do know that it will not be good. We need sales badly. I need Patreon subscribers badly, and since this is July 1st, if you subscribe today, you won't be billed until August 1st. Here are the links and a request to share them, because without those sales and subscribers, I honestly don't know how we get through this:

• 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);
• Amazon wishlist, which mostly consists of animal and household stuff;
• 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 had said that I'd really like to raise another $500 in subscriptions before July is out, just to have a little more to throw to the medical wolves that are constantly at my throat. Now, we've got a lot more that needs to be done, too, and I'm damned if I know how. The truck was more than enough to throw a wrench in the works, but this thing with Shade? And once you're in it, you have to keep going; there's no way out but forward, whatever the result. So please, please share the links. If I can do nothing else for Wings's birthday, I'd like to be able to take a little of the new financial stress off him.

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.