Not gentle at all.

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Found yesterday: the first egg of the year, three months too soon. It was actually laid a few days ago, I think; I noticed some of the chickens flying down from the top corner of the bales in the hay barn, and last year, they'd made a nest up there. Sure enough . . . . Good timing for us, though, since we're down to our last two cartons of eggs from 2019.

If only everything that shows up out of season or time could be such a gentle gift.

That's not the way it works, though, as my joints remind me every day. We've gone from 61 on Monday to 5 below zero on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to near 50 again yesterday. Fluctuations like these? I wouldn't exactly call them a gift, even trying to put the best possible spin on it, and whatever else it is, it's not gentle at all.

I hope I'll have that new piece to post in a little while. Someone else will have to focus first, though. In the meantime, the usual chaos reigns. The migraine has backed off somewhat, but the sinuses are still rioting. All you have to do is look out the window to know why: catkins already opened and fuzzy, tree pollen and grass pollen everywhere, in all defiance of the -5 lows at night. My laptop continues to die apace; the keyboard is causing me three times as much work, at least. And now, my e-mail seems to be completely hosed, too, so if you don't get a response, it's because my incoming as well as my outgoing is now smoked. The Pueblo has been closed for a week and will remain so for two full months, which puts tourism income in the negatives. And January was, quite frankly, a hell month. In the meantime, I have to navigate the weather and pain and expense and find a way to bring in income.

Also unfortunately, I'm still reduced to trying to get work done with a torn ankle and subluxed forearm, hips, and knees, and now two barely functional hands, and a laptop that continues to deteriorate by the day (a camera, too, and both are essential for our work — not just mine, but his). The pain is . . . very bad these days. It's not a function of weather or cold, mostly, but of deterioration. In desperation, I've added one last supplement, a costly one, in hopes of getting it to ease off even a little; I won't know if it's going to work for at least a month yet. I'm also trying to plan for all the expenses of winter to come. The Pueblo closure started Saturday, and as I said above, is slated to last two full months this time, so it will be worse than usual. In that period of time, there will be taxes to pay, his scrip to keep refilling, his dental work to try somehow to get done, and forget about my own follow-up tests, to say nothing of plumbing/wall repairs or all the work still unfinished on the house; I'm scrapping everything, because we can't afford it. Yes, I'm due for follow-up scans and biopsies already, and they're not going to happen, because we don't have five figures' worth of scratch to waste on it. I've still got to make sales, try to drum up new Patreon subscribers, do whatever I can to bring in more money, all on top of everything else. Folks can help in several ways (sales are always preferred, but the wishlist helps, too right now, what we can use most are coffee, cleaning agents, and Amazon cards for the things I'm not going to put on a public list, like supplements and glucose tabs and underwear). Oh, and I posted four new works a few days ago, here and here, and I have something new, seasonal, and absolutely fabulous coming either later today or tomorrow, so please share the links (also, BUY! they're all perfect for Valentine's Day):

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.