Not a raindrop or snowflake in sight.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

All those "clouds"? Again, mostly contrails. There is a faint band of slate blue at the horizon a little further west that constitutes actual clouds, and we may get some cover over the next few days, but that's it. Even with the bitter cold at night, still twenty degrees too warm in the daytime [about to be thirty again next week], and not a raindrop or snowflake in sight.

As terrible as everything has been and still is right now, we made a sale today, and I am so profoundly grateful to the buyer, and to Spirit, for that. Our holiday business season has been essentially nothing so far, but the bills and expenses won't wait. As it is, there will be no gifts this year, for anyone, if things don't break soon. I realize that the season has sneaked up on everyone this year us included, and it feels like there should be more time, but for shipping? Early next week is IT. I realize, too, that the election has everyone not-rich or at some axis of marginalization scared right now, and that certainly includes us. But we need to make it out of this year in one piece. And there's till the fact that I have GOT to replace my laptop before the new year when prices skyrocket thanks to that asshole's tariff announcement, plus there's the well pump and the laptop and the taxes and the medical and everything else, all still looming over my shoulder every moment like some vampiric version of Lurch, where he's not after blood but money [and maybe my nonexistent first-born, but whatever].

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, also go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order; right now, it's gloves and backpacks and tarps, plus safety gear, that are almost gone. The outreach program is giving gear out as fast as they get them, and being mostly housebound now, it's hard for me to get out to pick up any before they're gone. To that end, I've put some tents and sleeping bags and other essentials on our own wishlist, with a note that they're for the outreach effort, and if folks would like to hit it up [because I cannot spend $145 on a 10-pack of sleeping bags right now because we don't have the money, but they are so very badly needed] we would be grateful.

I'm whacking the daly feature thing here for the duration. I'm housebound at the moment, pain so bad I can barely move; I have to do these features on social media, more than once each night, and I just don't have the bandwidth to do it here, too. Even so, there's more on the way very soon; he's got what I believe is a necklace [a giant lapis oval in a minimalist Deco setting], a new bolo and belt buckle combo coming to match an existing cuff, potentially several new pairs of earrings, and eventually all the new coils he'll need for holiday inventory [that I clearly better get sorted for him, because we're almost out of time]. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make sales weekly for us to catch up on the year and cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof next year AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priority is the liquid soaps and Amazon cards, probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really need to end 2024 on a better footing before 2025 and taxes take every cent, 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.