Still officially fall for a month and a half yet, but already we have the return of winter. No snow down here, only sleet and rain, but a decent amount on the peaks, considering. The rain was sufficient to fill the rain barrels, but not so hard that it ran off the surface of the ground; everything soaked in thoroughly, which is what the earth here most needs now.
But while the sun is mostly out now at noon, it's windy and cold. Wings called the guy who sells us our firewood; they've known each other their whole lives. Nobody's got aspen, it seems (which is the cleanest-burning), but he's got a mix of aged, thoroughly dry spruce and fir that he'll bring down to us in about three weeks. I'm just grateful that we're able to do it now. We've got plenty of firewood for the moment, but this will ensure we're stocked for the winter. And winter here winds up being about six months, all told; we burn firewood a good nine months out of the year, because at this elevation, even warm weather is cold.
Speaking of droughts and death grips, 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 week or two, maybe thereafter. But . . . BUT.
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 Thursday; a record official new-case total of nearly 1,300 Friday; a new record locally Saturday (yesterday), on a day this is by definition an undercount, with 21 reported new cases and one new death. 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.
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