It looks like a beautiful summer evening.

Photo copyright Aji, 2026; all rights reserved.

That was just a few minutes ago. It looks like a beautiful summer evening, and it would be, if it weren't for the wind and the smoke. Unfortunately, we've got too much of both.

Too much heat, too. Today was an awful day; we're both just exhausted after the pace of the last few weeks, and today it caught up with both of us. So we did almost nothing in terms of heavy labor, but there will be a lot more to catch up on tomorrow.

We're also down a chicken. When we went out to put them in, at first I could only find two, the blind one that I carry into the coop each night, and one of the 'lorps, hiding in the weeds on the west side of the house. Then the other Americauna, also somewhat vision-impaired [they're old girls now] showed up on the other side of the studio. Finally, Jade, the boss bitch, emerged from somewhere beyond the arbor, so four of them are in. Peony is missing. There are feathers, but it doesn't look like enough to mean "dead chicken." Either whatever did that [likely a coyote or an area dog, but if so, they're getting really brazen] carried her off, or she's hiding. At any rate, I'm going out every little while to look for her, because they all know where to go, and if she does make it back, I don't want her locked out of the coop.

Somehow, it seems emblematic of this whole day. week. month. year. 

I'm so burned out, on every front, and I've actually got to bring in a lot more sales than I expected us to need at this particular moment. We were so blessed to make one today; another three or four over the next week would do wonders. And we can still use help with shares, testimonials, wishlist stuff I can't get to yet, etc. To that end, links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here [the current remaining priorities are the LaminaSaver for Miika, and the Farnam fly spray, which is the very last item on the list as it displays here, despite being "highest" priority, so go figure];
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And we do still need to make those regular weekly sales, so please share all of the links. We really do need to get this year onto a better footing than the last two, a year that, so far, has been very grim.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2026; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.