At least *somebody* doesn't mind the cold.

At least somebody doesn't mind the cold.

The dogs are having a blast in it. The wild birds, too. Humans, notsomuch. ell after sunrise the mercury had managed to struggle all the way up to two degrees below zero (probably -10 to -12 overnight) actual temperature, with a wind chill of 11 below. I think it's a balmy sixteen degrees now, a little before 1 PM.

Of course, this is more usual weather for winter here, but colonialism-driven climate change and drought have given us temperature spikes and deadly droughts for several years now. So it's welcome, but we forget the wear and tear it inflicts on our bodies.

We were able to solve yesterday's problem, courtesy of a kind and generous young man who has a 4X4 with snow tires and a plow on the front, and who trusted us to be good with our word. He loaded up the wood he had on hand, close to a cord, went and picked up a supply of kerosene and a container for transport, and also picked up gallons of water, then met us in the parking lot down the highway so we could pay him, and in the middle of the storm he delivered it to the folks out in the rural northwest side of the county who needed it. Talk about restoring your faith in humanity.

Now I have to buckle down this week and get some work done. We need to bring in some sales (one $65 sale in six weeks is not going to cut it), and part of that involves me reorganizing the Web site and then promoting the hell out of everything again. That's on top of all the other work I need to do around here, and I have been mostly useless. largely due to the recent flurry of episodes with my health. For every episode, it takes me multiple days to recover, all while hoping that another one doesn't set me back even further. That's not good. Too many people need help, and the government remains determined to see us die. There's work to do.

Because things are bad locally. There is still no economy now. There's nothing. No vaccines for most of us, either. And yet the governor has just canceled tourist quarantine (not that she ever enforced it in the first place) and reopened most of the state to limited-capacity indoor, sit-down, maskless dining for Valentine's Day, because she's completely in thrall to the restaurant lobby and is willing to let them kill us as a result. People are literally dying all around us from the government's failures, and I don't know how we keep them, or us, alive unless I can cover the bills. We have lost SO much to 2020, so very, very many people, and the gifts and the talents and the knowledge and the wisdom they carried too often lost with them. People have needed so much more help than we could give them, but we did as much as we could, even when it put us in a bind, and we will need to do much more of that this year. We have shelled out close to 2 grand over the last 2 weeks of January, including $600 two weeks ago to fill the propane tank, which I was not expecting; close to a grand last weekend for the firewod; and my Patreon remains $300 short again for the second month running. I've got to make it up somewhere. So:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (copper/metal/glass cleaners on it are needed most);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And if you've been contemplating a purchase? This would be a very, very good time to do it; I've got to make it this staggering outlay somehow. There's even new work, here and here and now here, among other new pieces from last week, too, so please watch for them and share the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.