Not at all a welcome development.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

Eerie light this morning; a few minutes of flurries later, even though we weren't supposed to get anything at all. It didn't last, of course. The winds, on the other hand?  Oh, the winds are here in full force.

These aren't the winds of change in any kind of good way; they're the spring trickster winds here a month early, and they'll likely last until June, given the catastrophic changes to our climate here. And I have four months of misery ahead of me.

Yesterday was brutal in terms of my illness. I overdid it all week, trying to get just a few things caught up, and by the time I got home from being on my feet at the  post office yesterday, my right knee and both feet were screaming at me. More worrying was the increasing swelling inside the joint at the base of my left, which I could feel growing, and the pain that goes with that. Sure enough, today my left knee is shot, too; my first long-term sublux [dislocation] since I went on the chemo in early December, and not at all a welcome development. I can barely walk; every step is agonizing, but I have to get around somehow.

And of course, there's no time to try to recover. There's too much that needs to get done, and most of all, I need to bring in sales to cover all the other expense. Thursday was the doors: The side door needed to be rehung, because Jeld-Wen's proprietary hinges [that they no longer make, in hopes of forcing people to buy a whole new door] suck; two of the three hinges simply broke apart, and we're damn lucky we didn't have a broken door, broken glass, or injured us or dogs in the process when the whole thing fell in flat on the kitchen floor a few months back. The front door needed some jerry-rigging to make up for the damage that terrible windstorm inflicted, tearing off a part of the bottom where the two come together, which occurred while said wind was busy tearing open the deadbolted door [climate collapse is here, and then some], and replacing the lock in the door handle, which has not worked for months, apparently the result of someone literally trying to break into our house while we were out once. Today's 3-figure expense will be the septic pumping, although he hasn't gotten here yet.

And we're entering the third week of the shortest month, and it's been a hell of a year already. We're hemorrhaging money. Wings had to buy silver last Wednesday, and the cost has skyrocketed. Thursday, it was another $700 out the door for septic service [that's killing us right now] and refilling our propane tank. Fortunately, the latter is something we only do once a year at most, sometimes once every couple of years. But it was in the red zone, which means it's time, and the cost has gone up drastically since the last time we had it done.

Just like everything else.

Apparently, we also need to get the water heater serviced. I spent too much time on a ladder Saturday doing battle with it, and I think I've got a workaround for now, but that will only work for so long. On top of that, we have relatives with traditional responsibilities coming up, and that's very, very expensive, so we've had to help them out [and will have to do so in the months to come]. Another elder came to us last Tuesday for help. And the taxes have to come before the leachfield. Add to all that the fact that my laptop is dying, and I don't have the kind of money I need to replace it [the image work I do means that it has to have a certain level of power]. It's been on the decline for three or four months, but I thought I had more time; last week , it became clear that it's going to be a very big problem sooner rather than later. If I can't replace it, I can't work; if I can't work, there's no income. 

Oh, and at some point, I'm going to need a power wheelchair. I have been feeling like death warmed for two weeks, and it's all autoimmune, but knowing that doesn't change it, doesn't make the slightest bit more functional. The pain and fatigue are absolute hell, and it's keeping me from doing the work I need to be doing. Because I have GOT to bring in more income to cover all these outlays and shortfalls somehow.

My Patreon down $250 again; that's both January's payout and now February's. That's a huge hit for us, one I suspect will prove permanent, but it's even worse right now, since we're already paying out $200+ every 8-10 days to have the tank pumped, because the water has nowhere to go [and believe me, we're conserving as much as we can]; next pumping is today. All this nonsense comes in the same quarter as taxes, and no amount of tearing my hair out is going to make all this reconcile, but here we are. Amid the constant, unremitting physical pain and the ugly new developments and complete and utter lack of an immune system in a place where no one mitigates the pandemic in the slightest, leaving me almost entirely housebound.

And you wonder why I'm depressed? This is why. I need help to make it all work.

Which is why the only way out of this is SALES. Please, go look. Go buy.

I posted his newest pair here last night, and they are extraordinary; I haven't had time yet to get them up on the site. Wings has more earrings just completed last week; those not yet sold are here, here, and here], as well as four new Warrior Woman pins [turquoise here, jade here, amber here, and carnelian here], and a truly extraordinary pendant [necklace] in the works that I'm not even going to describe here yet [the one in progress above]. The earrings and pins will be up later today on the site, although I've posted the images on social media already. I got the Wings's previously most recent pairs of earrings and the ring up last week: those that remain in inventory are here, here, here, here, and here. These are all more moderately priced than most of his work [as are the newest ones, 2 pairs at $225 each and 2 pairs at $175 each], and the silverwork and stones are absolutely incredible, so go look. As always, all the links are listed below, and sales are the most important:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities now are the liquid soaps and the descalers that I can't get here, and the dog treats for the monsters; 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, about a dozen all told over the last three weeks or so, cuffs and earrings and pins and necklaces and more earrings [and soon, all the items I mentioned above]. After such a grim 2023, we really need to get this year started off on a better footing, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.