Anniversary flowers, two bunches of them, all autumn colors fitting for today. I got him a cool travel mug for his coffee; it's chargeable, with a heat/cool adjustment so you can set your own temperature. Considering how much time he spends working out of doors even in winter (or even in the studio), I figure it'll get lots of use, and it's better than drinking cold coffee when the mercury's in single digits.
Normally we'd splurge on going out to dinner, as in a nighttime sit down in a real restaurant kind of meal, twice a year, my birthday and our anniversary, but that's out for obvious reasons. Still, we got our good wishes from outside today: Late this morning, our three red-tailed hawks came to visit, circling overhead and skreeing joyously as soon as we came into view. [It's a mated pair and apparently a sibling of one of them; the third spends most of its time elsewhere, but comes back to visit and play periodically. They've all been here with us for years now.]
And isolation is good these days. The Pueblo, as of Monday night, is locked down much more thoroughly and effectively than the state. With the state, the silver lining is that, for the moment, the ban on public gatherings is keeping the ski resorts from opening up their petri dishes to infect us all the more. The governor, solidly in the grip of fear of various lobbies and Republicans generally, has scheduled it for only two weeks (that's only 11.5 more days), which is absurd, because that won't even put a dent in it, but it at least prevents Thanksgiving Day openings (or Sipapu, FFS, which planned to open this Friday). The REAL kicker? Here, the Ski Valley were apparently going to go ahead an open anyway, despite knowing full well that they have 3 positives there, presumably among staff. And while the governor also has, remarkably, NOT renewed the full mandatory minimum 14-day quarantine for everyone coming into the state from outside, the gathering ban effectively makes their reopening impossible until the lockdown is lifted. To that end, I hope it lasts all winter. Oh, and there is now no local bus service for those without transport, because two drivers have tested positive, forcing a shutdown, no doubt because of passengers who refuse to behave with any decency at all.
Still, until actual enforced quarantine happens, this spike will not be arrested. I warned of this in May and June and was told to shut up, to stop being negative. It gives me no pleasure, but a great deal of rage, not only to have been proven right on all counts but to find out now that not only are there 32 positives at the Living Center thus far in November alone (the low-income long-term care facility, small and crowded, where Wings has an elder relative); there have five new deaths in the last 4 days, and a grant total of 49 residents and 37 staff positive for the virus. Also known to be positive are 13 tribal members, with another 35 fully quarantined because of contact. And I hold her, as well as the idiots who would rather see us dead than do one right thing, responsible. Meanwhile, we spent the weekend, and far too much money, stocking up again for the long haul on supplies, including supplies for Wings's work, which was a huge hit. And we maintain the isolation we have practiced for, as of today, 245 days straight already.
And we have to put them out. So, yes, I'm going to keep flogging this post, which I put up here night before last. This is our doctor's practice; they got certified as a nonprofit community health center a good while back, and they treat a large percentage of marginalized and underserved patients, especially those economically marginalized. Wednesday night, I got an e-mail announcing that some generous and anonymous soul had stepped forward to offer $25,000 in matching funds . . . IF they could raise $25,000 in cash donations by December 1st. In fewer than twenty days . Despite all the free-floating colonizer money around here, it's a lot harder than it should be to raise that kind of scratch here. And so the moment I got the message, we gave $100 (which we were able to do thanks to my Ko-fi account, linked below, and that fact that folks had contributed just over $100 the night before, apparently to keep my work running state-wide pandemic numbers going nightly). If you can match it, or any part of it, please do: If they raise the $25K in time, they will have $50,000 that they have committed to putting DIRECTLY to essential primary care for their most underserved patients. [To be clear: This doesn't benefit us, except indirectly insofar as it keeps our doctor's office open and staffed; we pay cash on the barrelhead for our care. But it will save other lives, and in a place and time where very few care, this matters.]
Our doctor saved both our lives. Their staff are exceptional. They are putting their own lives at risk daily, on the front lines of a pandemic in a place where the "leadership" refuses to lead and refuses to take the necessary steps to arrest the deadly spike we're currently experiencing. They are keeping people alive now. They deserve everyone's support. Go here.
And you know why this matters so much more now? Because two days ago, at the start of a lockdown when no one is supposed to be going anywhere, we learned that the feds have shut down all emergency and in-patient hospital services at Acoma Pueblo. This is punitive, it is vindictive, it is done purely out of spite, it is done for the purpose of killing Indigenous people. Yes, they say it's monetary, but at the end of the year? Where TF are our "leaders" whose job it is to prevent and to fix this? The Nazi will burn it all down on his way out the door, and he is beginning with us. An elder has chest pain? A child breaks a bone? They now have to drive to Albuquerque, where there are no beds and no space. Call your members of Congress and get this reversed.
For us, as I said earlier, we received some very good news last Wednesday, so I'm no longer worrying about covering the regular November expenses. It's what allowed us to arrange for the firewood. We'll be able to cover the hay for the horses, and possibly get the plumbing handled in the next few week or thereafter. But . . . BUT. I still have to make regular sales. It's a must.
As grateful as we are for our current blessings, we also know that real winter hasn't even arrived yet, and it will be a long one. Cases continue to spike state-wide and locally both, with a record 23 deaths across the state last Thursday; a record official new-case total of 1,418 on Monday; a new record locally a few days ago, with 27 reported new cases. Among the new cases locally are one or more at IHS, and apparently the clinic is NOT closed even though staffers are supposedly quarantined, and how does that work, exactly? There has been zero movement on the steps that MUST be taken to arrest this, and ski season opens in less than three weeks. If they allow tourists in, unquarantined, our local numbers are going to be deadly indeed. Meanwhile, the economy is wrecked already, and the number of people who need help climbs by the day.
This is all by way of saying that, blessings or no, I have still got to make consistent sales somehow, through the end of the year and beyond. In more ordinary years (long since gone now), our holiday sales alone carried us through the winter, the late winter/spring closure, and on toward summer. Those days are gone, and the closure is already here (and if not permanent, it's the next thing to it). We will still need to sell Wings's work regularly to make it. So please share the links, and if/when you're in the market for gorgeous, authentic, Spirit-infused Indigenous wearable art, Wings will have something perfect for you. The links are here:
Thanks.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
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