Maybe just a different kind of work.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021; all rights reserved.

A little time off from the usual work, or maybe just a different kind of work.

That's the chokecherry bird (known to me as okanise, or to colonial folks as a male evening grosbeak) we found beneath the window yesterday morning, stunned after apparently having hit the window some good while before we got up and outside. He was very cold and very fragile and very scared, and Stormy has a prey drive to rival Coyote's. She had already locked eyes onto it, which is roughly the same as a fighter jet getting a target on radar lock, so I scooped little man up and took him in with me. He settled down immediately, snuggling into my palm and going to sleep or a good while. It took four (or five? can't remember now) tries to get him to leave my hand eventually. This was after the third (or fourth?), when we put him instead in that white planter, which is filled with birdseed. He dove back up toward my hand, but Wings was holding the planter still, and it was his finger the little dude actually hooked his talons around this time, so I ran to get my camera. Eventually he got passed back to me at the big feeder, and I left him there when he was ready. About five minutes later, his clan began join him by ones and twos, and next thing I knew, they were all doing their usual zooms between the feeders and the aspens.

That was the high point of the day. Yesterday was rough.

And now, I have to come up with sales to cover one more thing, which will be about $500, maybe $550 once shipping is said and done. Wings's grinder and buffing wheel have been babied along for years and years and years; we replaced part of the whole contraption about . . . seven years ago, I think it was. But it's very old, and there are things on the higher-end polishing front it can't do, things that he needs to be able to do, and Rio Grande has the option he needs.  At $475 + tax and shipping. So I need to sell something worth that much today. Ironically, today's feature on his site is $525, but I had already had that lined up for today by Monday; I had no idea this was coming until he showed it to me an hour or so ago. Still, selling it (or anything, actually) would be very helpful right now. And there's a bunch of new work on the site.

Because in addition to the new machinery for his work, the taxes are the big thing still hanging over my head, as well as a bunch of other stuff for the year to come.  And then there's Wings's hearing aids, because I think he's finally convinced that we need to make the investment. And, of course, we 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.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 two and a half months of 2021? Has already buried that. 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. No vaccines for most folks dependent on the state system, either. We have lost SO much to 2020 (and already in 2021), 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 that one week, and a whole lot more 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 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, here and here and now here, among other new pieces from 3 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.