People still wonder why I hate spring so much.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

First clouds of the day, and they pop up in a place and in a way that makes me have to take photos and examine them closely to make sure they're actually, you know, clouds and not smoke. If you recall, this is the month last year that the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Wildfire Complex took off, tearing through hundreds of thousands of acres over a period of months before it was brought to heel. Recall, too, that both fires, that would merge over a space of many miles to become a record megafire, were both started thanks to active negligence by the forest service and its officials.

Every low-clinging cloud over those ridgelines now get much more than a second look. So does every smoke plume closer to home, because here, now? Fire is uncontrollable.

April is an awful month. I hate it. The tax stuff is bad enough, and that's very bad this year. But on top of it are all the reminders of loss. Yes, I know people mock us for mourning our animals, but that's their problem, not ours, and this is the worst month of the year. Today, late afternoon, is the ninth anniversary of our fierce little Warrior Girl, the one Wings nicknamed Kachina, and despite cancer she lasted years longer than we had any right to expect (and simply went to sleep on her blanket on this day in 2014, one little sigh, and that was it). But there are two more this week, and one at month's end. Actually, it's all markers of mourning from January to May, human and animal alike, and with the misery this wind inflicts, on the land and on my body, people still wonder why I hate spring so much.

And there's no respite. None. I can't get proper pain management because of this country's backwards, hidebound, punitive approach to it. The same country that takes a cool third of our income while letting Musk and Bezos and Thiel and all the other escape without paying a red cent. We don't have credit cards; every. single. thing we have to pay for has to be paid in full, in cash. And this week, we have to write a couple of very big checks, both of them first installments only, to that same government.

I posted Wings's two newest here the other day, the sale of which would help a small fraction, but nowhere near enough. He's got more coming, possibly today, or maybe  tomorrow. Anyway, all of our links are here; emphasis on sales (because we'll probably be writing a big check to the tax man next week) and testimonials for now:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (the Zero-Odor sprays are the priority right now; the house smells constantly of wet dog at the moment, and we can't get these locally); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.