Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. |
Yesterday's work. That top has to be finished out before we can get homeowner's insurance, hence the urgency.
I can't do this today. I just watched the dogs all come barreling across in a big rolling ball in front of the window, with something clamped in their mouths. It took me about one second to get out the door, but it was too late. There's a new big dog in the area, starved, of course, and he apparently showed up here looking for food, went after one of the chickens, and the other dogs all packed up with him. They grabbed little Bent-Beak, and I had to see them ripping at her body as I chased them off. The two are in the crate, where they will stay for a good long while. The intruder split, tail between his bony legs. The others know I'm not in the mood. And while I was running myself into an asthmatic episode trying to round up the remaining chickens, Bent-Beak comes weaving toward me like a drunken ghost.
She's alive. For now. I don't know what internal damage might have been done that I can't see. Her beautiful tail, the most iconic of the bunch, is completely gone. So are a lot of her other feathers. She's resting, and I hope she makes it, and I'm sitting her bawling because she's completely traumatized and so am I. On top of that, Wings came home with the truck dying, and I don't even know whether we can finish off the stairs next week, much less fix the truck. Replacing it's out of the question. I can't get the medical care I need, I don't know whether I'm going to live or die from one day to the next, and I am being hounded constantly by bill collectors and I just can't anymore.
The rest is cut-and-paste.
There are a lot of ways to help out. First, obviously, is sales; purchases of Wings's work (and/or work by the other artists whose art we carry) is always the first option, and it was the baseline for the construction in the first place. [And next week will be their last, most likely, because he don't have the cash to pay them beyond that for the labor — and right now, it's virtually all labor.] Second is subscribing to my Patreon page, which gets updated regularly with really cool imagery and a good amount of really good writing; if you now for September, you won't be billed until October 1st. Below there's also a link for "coffee," which allows folks to make small donations, and a couple of wishlists for keeping the animals in kibble and filling out needs around the house. In the middle is the link to Wings's PayPal account, and no, I won't turn away any donations, because we have to get this done and I have to have some peace of mind over it because I have none over my own survival these days). The only fundraising we'll be doing is right here; nowhere else. So here are all the links; please share them around, and if you are able to purchase, subscribe, donate, whatever, we'd be profoundly grateful:
- 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).
That all I've got. I'm going to be back under the gun for the next several weeks. Thanks to everyone in advance.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment