I hope this means it's about to get a lot warmer.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021; all rights reserved.

I finally got a shot last night. Third day he's been here, this tiny little solitary being. I hope this means it's about to get a lot warmer.

Today's going to be a mess, and tomorrow, too. The vet has been and gone for the horses' annuals, which means shots and de-worming and general check-ups. We got lucky; they weren't yet in need of teeth floating again. That's problematic, because it requires sedation, which is both time-consuming and expensive, so we avoided two hours of standing out in the wind, and our total was less than half what it would otherwise have been. Fortunately, we've got that covered, the truck registration (which we have to do later this week), and I think I'll be able to swing the balance on '20 taxes. Still have to come up with enough to pay first quarter taxes on '21, which will be the nightmare. Also still have to come up with enough to cover the plumbing and other repairs over the next two weeks.

So once again, I'll be offline most of the day, and most of the next two weeks, dealing with several different kinds of work. Which means I've still got to make some sales, and I need help doing it, because my current autoimmune flare is so bad that half the time I can barely walk. And I will have to be out in the wind today because of the horses, because that wind, combined with masks? Makes it almost impossible for Wings to hear.

But there's also a bunch of other stuff for the year to come, including his hearing aids, for obvious reasons. We still have to get hold of Pojoaque Pueblo's bison program to see how much it will cost to buy a share of a buffalo. Early research suggests around ~$2K, so we may need to crowdfund that. The thing about it is that it won't feed only us; it'll get shared with other folks. And then there's the well issue. No word on the grant funding, which I expect will be the case for months yet, and I also fully expect it to be denied, so, that will mean funding it ourselves, too, but it's clearly not optional anymore. I'm going to need to set up PayPal pools to fund all of these things if we can't make a whole bunch of sales now. It's endless, and I am so tired just thinking about it. 

We need sales. Sales, sales, SALES.

SALES. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS RIGHT NOW, AND I CANNOT GET ANY TIME TO MAKE SALES.

The last couple of years have required us to dig deep and ante up to help others at a level we've never done before. This year? The first month and a half of 2021? Had already buried that, and we're a whole lot more "mutual aid" beyond that point now. People are suffering. And I'm going to have to do some fundraising for a couple of other folks on here in the days and weeks to come. I just have to get the taxes off my plate first (and deal with the big checks we'll have to write, for the rest of '20 and 1st quarter of '21). If we had money, we'd just give it to these folks outright, but the kind they need is way beyond anything we'll ever be able to do, hence the need to help with fundraising.

But as I said about that being why we do what we do, especially now in these days of pandemic, it's become abundantly clear that too often, there IS NO tomorrow, and the only chance you might have to help someone stay alive is TODAY. Things are bad locally; no economy, nothing. We have lost SO much to 2020 (and already in 2021 including a distant relative-by-marriage we learned of just the other day, a brilliant Native artist whose death has hit Wings hard), 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. People continue to need help, and we give it, but we're up well over $2 grand in just one week in February, and a whole lot more both before and since. 

I've got to find it again somewhere. Part of my work 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. This is why I've had to stop doing some things; there are just not enough hours in the day anymore, and I've got to make it all of this up somewhere. So:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are LaminaSaver for Miika & metal/glass/dishwasher cleaners);
• 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 up this staggering outlay somehow. There's even new work, a fabulous piece here, plus here and here and now here, among other new pieces from a few weeks ago, 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.