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| Photo copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. |
Welp, this day started off badly, and got worse from there. And around here, there's always another wounded creature that needs help.
Today, we have two. One is the crow up there in the photo; I caught that shot a second after the one of Uncle F screeching to midair halt as he was [he thought] coming in for a landing. Or, rather, not so much a landing as a scooping up of said crow for dinner. So Uncle F's not very happy with me right now.
The second is Miika. The vet came out to look at her this morning, because after Wings was finally able to begin trimming her damaged hooves last month, she's been completely tenderfoot, and it seems to be getting worse. [For those who don't know, Miika was a rescue who came to us last year at the age of nine. For the entirety of those nine years, she had almost no human contact, and her hooves had never been trimmed, leaving them to grow out with huge hooking flares that turned her pigeon-toed. It took a year of steady desensitization work for Wings to build up enough trust with her to be able to begin the laborious process of bringing them to a safe length and a healthier line.]
Miika has laminitis.
Now, in all likelihood, it was already there when she came to us. It's just that the overgrowth was the obvious problem (along with her equally obvious weight problem). And it's likely why she was brought to us; something watching out for this sweet girl, knowing that we have entirely too much experience in working with laminitic and foundered horses. Still.
And then, of course, there's me, wounded in body and in brain these days. To top everything else all off, I screwed up badly; something I thought had cleared long ago? Oh, no, it went through this morning, and we're now in the literal red. Fortunately, our horse vet rocks, and she knows we're good for it, so she was willing to evaluate and treat Miika and wait until after November 2nd, when my Patreon will presumably have cleared, to get paid. Speaking of which, I'm still two months into between $400 and $650 shortages. No one has unsubscribed or deleted their pledges, and it seems to be mostly an issue of people's cards expiring and it not being updated. But folks, please, even if you think yours is okay, please check: Losing up to $650 a month is a HUGE hit for us, and even with the ones updated this month, I'm still somewhere near $400 in the hole on it for September.
Also, we have GOT to make some sales. Normally, we're getting holiday commissions by now (normally, Wings has to juggle multiple holiday commissions and the creative process takes time, so everything begins in October in order to ensure delivery by Christmas). This year? Not a one. And sales are down so far that I despair of making up this differential. The first is still nine days away, and now Miika's vet bill and subsequent treatment have to come out of my Patreon, so I can't direct it to other bills and expenses.
Yeah, I'm worried. And way overloaded with tasks before the snow hits later this week.
On top of it all, I still have to try to make at least some sales this week, so the rest is all the cut-and-paste, short version, of the other day.
With regard to the other stuff referenced above: For those wondering about my own health issues, see here; with regard to the work being done, some of the details are here. I need help to get all this done. Folks can help in several ways, and we really need the help now:
Please share everything, because I'm suddenly back behind the eight-ball on a whole additional front, and yeah, I'm scared about covering everything and surviving, too. Thanks.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
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