A brutal day.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

That's what the land looks like now, after Ivan got done discing it yesterday. Damp enough to give us some hope for reseeding, but still incredibly fragile. And it's been battered nearly every moment since by the relentless gale-force winds.

All in all, today's been a brutal day. The weather and especially the wind, bitterly cold with graupel and hail and sleet intermittently, the kind of weather where just stepping outside makes you feel like you've been run over by an 18-wheeler. And I feel like that anyway, but this wind makes the pain so much worse.

But today, pain of all kinds, including the monetary kind. We filed today, signed off, paid the preparer, and are sending out the [first] check tomorrow. The good news is that she had forgotten that this was a Native business on tribal land, so that took care of the state, which took about $1,500 off the top. But it's still a gigantic bill, and we'll be paying on it, and on the quarterly taxes for '22, all year long. Our best sales year ever (last year) is our worst tax year ever now, and most folks don't understand just how fast every dollar goes when you don't have credit cards. We have to pay cash, in full, for every single thing, including medical costs and, yes, taxes. We're having to pay this in CASH.

I need help to keep everything going.

We've made a couple of sales and the bank has indicated we may have access to our funds by mid-week anyway, but it's still going to be A LOT. I'm not going to feel confident until I've made at least a couple more good sales in the next couple of days. Add to that the fact that my Patreon is down by almost $100 this month, probably because folks are having to use that money to pay their own taxes, and it's a lot tighter than I expected it to be, enough so that I'm contemplating canceling my appointment at the end of the month to start ketamine therapy for pain (it's hellishly expensive, and we have to pay cash, up front and in full). My pain levels are completely out of control right now, and they're crippling me in very literal terms, but I'm not sure we can afford this after all. After the tax nonsense is done, then we can worry about how we're going to save the land (and ourselves). Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the other ladder and the Thermacell lanterns; the flies are already out, so the mosquitoes won't be far behind);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

We're still hoping to put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring, too, Nah, we've given up on the well. No one's available to drill before the latter half of summer, and the tax burden means we would never be able to afford it anyway. But it's perhaps even more of a good time to make a purchase, because Uncle Sam is a vindictive colonizer, and my current stress levels about paying it all are off the charts. And there's lots of fabulous work, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.