Bare.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

[Out of order today, because the NDN Silver post is going to be long (9 photos of a single work), and because I have spent the day so far making myself sick dealing with the taxes.]

See that snow? That was this morning: what was left from yesterday, and already melting fast.

Five hours later? It's all gone now. Oh, there's a patch or two here and there, but the ground is essentially bare. Of course, it's also fifty-four degrees. Much too warm.

That's not all that's bare. This tax nonsense is making me genuinely ill. Our practice has long been to give something [what folks now call paying forward] out of every sale. That's going to have to stop for a while. So many people came to us for help last year. We didn't turn any of them away, even when it meant tighter belts for us. Now? Now, the tax bill is due, and we don't have nearly enough to pay it. Why? In part because people have come to us this year already at even higher rates. The amount that we've given away/spent on folks in more immediate need . . . it's a lot.

In part, too, because we had to pay out nearly $10K [cash] since the leachfield failed on Christmas Day to deal with the septic disaster. And in part because my Patreon, our steadiest source of income, is down more than $700 a month since this time last year. Do you what that kind of hit does to folks like us?

I'm sick. We have to pay this, and we have nowhere near enough to cover it. The only way to do that is to make several decently-sized sales very fast. Because everything that came in prior to this went on the damn leachfield replacement. I'm tearing my hair out, because there is nothing I can do to fix it.

I don't know what to do. I can't force people to buy. Somehow, I have to bring in sales. If you're in the market, now would be a really, REALLY good time. There's lots of new work on the site. And as always, all the regular links are listed below, with sales, as always, being the most important:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here ( we'll always need the liquid soaps that I can't get here, the dog treats for the monsters, and Amazon and Lowe's cards [the Lowe's cards are probably going to have to go on a new fridge, so I'm hoarding them]); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim 2023, and with this year starting off MUCH worse, we really need to get 2024 moving onto 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.