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| Photo copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. |
Yup, that's exactly what it looks like. And they're still alive; if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you'll see one in the upper left-hand corner.
Fitting. This whole week has been like being shoved head-first into a hornet's nest. Now, amoonsag typically don't bother me; they may buzz around my hair or land on my hand or shoulder, but we mostly understand each other. I talk to them, and they respond, but they never sting me.
Everyone/everything else? Notsomuch.
It has been a freaking week, and it's only Wednesday. Aside from the bills and the massive materials payouts, aside from the shit job that we've been having to fix ourselves for two week, aside from the indescribable amount of physical pain and fatigue that goes with it? Welp, two nights ago, Wings went to get a storage dish out of a kitchen cabinet, and the whole shelf's worth of ceramic bowls and glass storage containers came down on him. We're incredibly lucky that he wasn't hurt. But why? Because apparently one of the holes for the L-brackets was sized wrong, and unbeknownst to us, the whole bracket had fallen out. No one bothered to warn us that it wasn't right, so I'm more than a little unhappy. $16 later, and I've ordered what I hope will be the right size to replace all of them. In the meantime, it knicked up some things, and smashed all of our lovely ceramic bowls to smithereens, one of which was very old and the other three of which were gifts from a dear friend.
Then this morning, the dogs got my ass up at 3 AM to let them out, which I did; they got me back up again at 6, to the sound of dogs fighting outside and one shrieking in pain. Or so I thought. I opened the upstairs and, in full alpha voice, ordered them to knock it off and shut the fuck up, threw on my sweats, noticed the smell of dog piss in my office AGAIN and cursed them all, and ran outside. No sign of other dogs, no sign of injuries, but three dogs who positively REEK of skunk. I have not been able to find any sign of Kit having marked turf in my office now, so I think what I was actually smelling was intensely-concentrated skunk spray.
Which means they all sleep outside tonight, and it's going to be snowing. [No, they all have insulated dog houses with heated frisbees, and they'll be perfectly warm and safe, but Kit and especially Chinook will be VERY unhappy.] It's too cold to try deskunking them, and good lord, do they stink. I cannot seem to get Chinook to understand, or at least to heed, the first rule of shit, which is "Don't start none; won't be none," and so we had an undoubtedly terrified poor skunk out there and here we are.
And, cold with snow on the way, we obviously cannot do any more on the wood trim or deck. Supposedly it's going to hit the fifties again over the weekend, which will allow us to do some more for as long as it lasts, but goddammit, I have to get other work done, and Wings has to get some studio time, because it's already November. Also, we need a scaffold, badly, to get the upstairs on the north side, because the ground beneath is steeply angled and dangerous. Not that we could afford to rent one even if anyone local did rent them out, and no one does. I'm at my wits' end.
And most of October's Patreon payment has already gone on bills (including the storage we're still paying for River and his mom even though he's not working here anymore), and there are plenty more to come this month (and more medical stuff for me in early December), and, yes, I'm scared.
We have got to make sales. Normally, Wings would already be in the middle of multiple commissions in the works by now, but nothing's normal anymore. I don't know what to do at this point; I can't conjure money from thin cold air. I posted two new pieces a few nights ago (links here) and another the night after that (links here). The new bracelet in the works is turning out not to be a bracelet at all; I'll explain when it drops, which might be this weekend. He has a number of other things in process, too; I'll post them as he completes them.
At any rate, my stress levels are off the charts along with my pain levels now. For those wondering about my own health issues, see here, although now there's a new wrinkle I'm not even going to bother to try to explain (suffice to say there's no affording treatment); with regard to the work being done, some of the details are here. Thanks to my Patreon subscribers (not sure who?) who updated their cards; I'm now down only between $25 and $50 for October. Still, I'm going to need help to get all this, the plumbing and everything else, done and handled, and I can't do it alone. Folks can help in several ways, and we really need it 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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