A beautiful last day of April.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

Wings had a chance to score some high-quality grass hay for Miika for less than half the going rate, so he snapped it up. She's running low anyway, and it's pushing $20 a bale most places. Of course, it wasn't in the budget, but it's better than being forced to budget $20/bale down the road. The guy also brought us some lamb and pork from his farm. Since Wings is mostly still on soups and stews at the moment [those dental extractions], both will be very useful. 

And yes, that is indeed a mask that Wings is wearing. When I said we wear them all the time? I was not joking, and not exaggerating either. If we're going to be in contact with anyone other than each other, the masks go on. It's what keeps us both as healthy as possible.

It's been a beautiful last day of April: in the seventies, the wind brisk but mostly not murderous [save for one dust devil that ripped through while we were doing evening chores, and ramped up into something much bigger when got past our east boundary]. But we're still going to be glad to see the calendar turn over to May tomorrow. As I said yesterday, April's a bad month every single year, for so many reasons, but this has been one of the worst in recent memory, and while May is not going to be any better on certain fronts [namely the financial ones], it'll be an improvement in a lot of other ways.

But May is still going to be hellishly costly: In addition to all the usual, we both have major medical expenses near month's end; there's Wings's ongoing dental; we have some bureaucratic nonsense to take care of; and somehow, I have to squeeze out a big chunk for taxes. And the other demands on me are just as relentless [the ones that don't, directly, anyway, have to do explicitly with money]; there is no help for any of it, and I am at my wits' end over the latter ones especially.

As though that weren't enough, my Patreon is still down by more than $700 a month over last year, and as our most consistent source of income, that is what pays our monthly bills like utilities and groceries and gas and so forth. It's not going to be enough even for that, never mind the taxes and everything else. Somehow, I have to bring in sales. If you're in the market, now would be a really, REALLY good time. I posted four new pairs of earrings a few nights ago, here, all at lower price points than his usual, and three new all-silver cuffs, here. And the other night, I got the new naja [it's extraordinary] posted and sent viral, and it matches an existing cuff! and you can find them here and here. 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 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.