No end to all the nonsense now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

Less visible haze today; more visible blue and green. That said, the fires have exploded today, the one due west of here already over 1,100 acres by this morning, and given that the winds are expected to continue at this velocity for days on end, we're not getting free of the smoke pall anytime soon.

Frankly, we'll deal with that, if unwillingly, provided that the fire itself doesn't spread.

But there's no end to all the nonsense now. Not to the wind, and therefore the smoke and the dust and the inability to breathe; not to the pain that's aggravated by all of it; and not, apparently, to the continuous string of terrible developments, the most recent of which is that we're losing our Web host and now I'm going to have to deal with migrating our site when I don't know how to do it. Oh, and the cost; we'll be paying much more than double.

And then there the tumbler mess of the last week: It became obvious that Wings's replacement tumbler [which we had to buy the previous week, because his 30+-year-old one gave up the ghost completely] is NOT going to work. No one had a replacement for his in stock, so we got one of the cheap[ish] ones, but it's really not meant for this kind of work. What his old tumbler can do in under a day, this one takes a week or more of continuous running, which is just not workable.  It'll burn out the motor in nothing flat, at that rate, never mind all the rest of the problems with that approach.

So the other day, I finally found one in stock like his. Just one. Nobody else has any, and no other models. And $563 cash later, it's arrived, and it's the right one. It's running right now, and it's a damn good thing, because literally no one has any more in that model anywhere on the planet, apparently.

But that's an expense I was NOT anticipating, and it just sucked up all our progress. The hosting stuff will cost a lot more. And then there's our medical stuff next week, and I'm actually terrified that I'm going to be sent for a bunch of expensive tests that we also cannot afford, and if that's the conclusion, then I'm guessing the tests simply don't get run, because I don't have the scratch for it. I would cry if I could, but 1) I don't want him knowing because he's got more than enough to worry about right now, and 2) if I start I won't stop. So I just shove it down, like always, and try to pretend that this new pain is not really there and not scaring the living hell out of me.

So nothing's changed. Through it all, somehow, I have to bring in sales. If you're in the market, now would be a really, REALLY good time. And I did get the four new pairs of earrings up a few nights ago, here, here, here [already sold!], and here [these are my personal favorites]. There will be many more pairs to come; he's got 5-7 in process on his workbench already. I have a new pendant and a new ring to post, possibly tonight, possible also a new turquoise cuff [with heart accents!],and if you missed the Northern Lights last week? He has a brand-new wearable gemstone-bead version, so that you can have them with you always, so be on the lookout for that trio, also hopefully tonight. Some of the beads glow under UV light, and finally got one of the damn lights to work. 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 (Apparently the FlexTape is the priority now, so I'm told; otherwise, Amazon cards are most important now, because they go to buy things we can't get locally, like the protein mixes for Wings and GF stuff for me and all the cleaning and other household products that people in cities can get but we can't; and also the filters for the air purifiers, because we have only one left and the amount of dust and dirt they take in in these winds is indescribable); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim 2023, and with this year starting off MUCH worse (and given that we're already approaching the half-way mark), we really need to get 2024 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.