Spirits Who Ride the Trickster Winds

Photo copyright Aji, 2022;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a pair of works for seasonal forces and beings, defying conditions to bring some brightness and healing to our world. It's a tribute to two of the spirits of summer, spirits who ride the trickster winds, here with the medicine of the season and a message our world needs now.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We will still need to make consistent sales to make it through this third year of pandemic and loss, especially with extortionate tax payments and extremely costly medical procedures due over the months to come, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Lots of lost causes.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

Click on the photo.  See that haze to the left of center, with all those gold splotches in the middle of the image? That's a massive dust devil, and those gold splotches are tumbleweeds flung high in the air. The camera filters out a lot of the light, so you don't get the full effect of the dirt haze that accompanied it, but it was massive, and it tore across our south field yesterday.

And it spun out before doing any damage, but that's never a given.

Smoke haze everywhere again today, and much worse after the winds really kicked up mid-afternoon. Wings was out in it almost the entire day, helping our b-i-l finish off the wire fence and set up a water trough so he could put his horses in the adjacent field. Yes, there was a lot we were going to get done yesterday and today, but he's spent most of his time outside on that, so we're way behind and our whole remainder of the week is getting pushed to next week because we're so far behind. Which is fine, as far as it goes; the wind is worse than literally anything else, climate- and weather-wise, on my pain levels, and I'm in absolute agony tonight and in no shape to do what I had planned for tomorrow. Also absolute annoyance, because the interruptions have been constant, and I'm only now just getting to my work for the day. It would be nice to get some sleep tonight, but that's probably a lost cause, too.

Lots of lost causes right now. An end to the wind, an end to the drought, an end to the flames among them, apparently. Also any end to the pandemic, and any chance of holding on to rights and autonomy and sovereignty in this cowardly, venal, violent colonial system.

Despite all of that, and a bunch of other colonizer nonsense too, we were blessed this weekend to make a really good sale, and so we'll be able to cover the most urgent expenses in the weeks to come. But I'm still increasingly disabled, and I can't work if I can't get the pain under control, or get back my ability to walk [mostly] unhindered. That's the point of the extremely costly therapy [$4,500, all told, and all cash]: rewiring my brain to lower my pain response and let my body start finding ways to heal a little. So we will still need to make steady, consistent sales over the course of the coming months to keep everything above water. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the other ladder, the Thermacell lanterns [the flies are already out, so the mosquitoes won't be far behind], and the liquid soaps, which prevent our hands from cracking and bleeding given that we're forced to wash them fifty times a day;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

We're still hoping to put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring, too, Nah, we've given up on the well. No one's available to drill before the latter half of summer, and the tax burden means we would never be able to afford it anyway. But it's perhaps even more of a good time to make a purchase, because Uncle Sam is a vindictive colonizer, and my current stress levels about paying it all are off the charts. And there's lots of fabulous work, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                              

Red Willow Spirit: Gifts of the Air, and of Other Elements

Photo copyright Wings, 2022; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's an edition of Red Willow Spirit for what should be a season of medicine, rather than a trickster mix of chaos and catastrophe. It's a reminder of who the spirits of spring should be, of the gifts of the air, and of other elements, that these messengers bring, and of the fact that their restoration is now long overdue.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, his photos are available in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the site's Contact form. We will still need to make consistent sales to make it through this third year of pandemic and loss and now an outrageously high tax burden and new medical expenses, too, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.    

Talk about lying down on the job.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

Mr. Snek, hangin' out under the mower in the hay barn yesterday.

Snakes are supposed to bring prosperity. Instead, we got news this morning that our debit card info was stolen (not hacked; stolen by a vendor, but who knows which one), and they've already charged $300 worth of Uber rides on it. Our friend who works at the bank knew immediately that they were fraudulent charges.

There's no Uber here.

So we're dealing with that mess this morning and the process of trying to claw it all back. 

Talk about lying down on the job. Mr. Bullsnake and I might need to have a little discussion about this.

And our world is still in flames.

Multiple new starts over the weekend, plus loss of containment both on the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Complex to the south and east of us, which is now spreading again in all directions, and on the Cerro Pollado/Freelove Canyon Fires to the west of us. The winds kicked up extra-early today, and reportedly aerial support turned back to base in ABQ, because they can't fly in these winds. That means all firefighting will be left to ground crews, and as someone said yesterday, if it jumps 518, it's all over.

Meanwhile, I'm still struggling with the lupus meds and effects and trying to figure the best way forward, and there are no answers. But the crippling effects are really getting to me now, and I'm beginning to think that I'm better off not taking them if all it's going to be is too much pain to walk, constant insomnia, and other effects that force me to stay housebound. But lupus inflicts long-term organ damage, and being unmedicated also means a likely earlier death, so at some point I'm going to have to figure out exactly what I'm willing to trade off for what. I'm leaning strongly toward quality of life over quantity right now.

Despite all of that, and a bunch of other colonizer nonsense too, we were blessed this weekend to make a really good sale, and so we'll be able to cover the most urgent expenses in the weeks to come. But I'm still increasingly disabled, and I can't work if I can't get the pain under control, or get back my ability to walk [mostly] unhindered. That's the point of the extremely costly therapy: rewiring my brain to lower my pain response and let my body start finding ways to heal a little. So we will still need to make steady, consistent sales over the course of the coming months to keep everything above water. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the other ladder, the Thermacell lanterns [the flies are already out, so the mosquitoes won't be far behind], and the liquid soaps, which prevent our hands from cracking and bleeding given that we're forced to wash them fifty times a day;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

We're still hoping to put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring, too, Nah, we've given up on the well. No one's available to drill before the latter half of summer, and the tax burden means we would never be able to afford it anyway. But it's perhaps even more of a good time to make a purchase, because Uncle Sam is a vindictive colonizer, and my current stress levels about paying it all are off the charts. And there's lots of fabulous work, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                              

Monday Photo Meditation: The Winds of Hope

Photo copyright Wings, 2022; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a photo meditation for a Monday when the world around us is under immediate threat, for a week when hope is hard come by now. It's a reminder to appreciate what Mother Earth and her children can teach us, not from the flames, but from those who ride the winds of hope.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As always, his photos are available in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the site's Contact form. We will still need to make consistent sales to make it through this third year of pandemic and loss and now an outrageously high tax burden and heavy medical costs to come, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.   

Socking us in.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

Smoke plume socking us in this morning. That amount of blue was not visible to us; the camera filters out a lot of the glare even when I don't bother correcting for it. All we could see was the dirty white, especially from ground level. It's so bad out there that we're both wearing masks whenever we have to go outside, and we're still coughing, congested, eyes burning. 

On Friday they had a column collapse in the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Wildfire Complex, which is part of our problem now. You know when the smoke plume rises into a really high tower? Well, there's a point at which that hot smoke smacks into a ceiling of high cold air (and it was bitterly cold Thursday and Friday nights, down below freezing). When that happens, the plume collapses; think what happens when the air gets forced out of a balloon by sudden cold.  Trouble is, it flattens out on all sides, like a mushroom cloud, so it extends far beyond the fire line . . . and that smoke plume? Ain't just smoke. It contains hot ash, but it also contains live embers, and they get flung far and wide in all directions, starting ew spot fires beyond the fire lines. That, plus a shift in wind direction, is what happened here, and now it's also heading south toward Las Vegas, and they lost acreage on containment.

Also, today, the winds kicked in right on schedule, so a lot of that, but by no means all, has been blown out now . . . only to be rapidly getting replaced from the west by the blazes there that have escaped containment. There are two below Valles Caldera, threatening Bandelier. To get here from there is about a two-hour drive. 

The winds face no such impediments.

And our world is still in flames.

Despite all of that, and a bunch of other colonizer nonsense too, we were blessed this weekend to make a really good sale, and so we'll be able to cover the most urgent expenses in the weeks to come. But I'm still increasingly disabled, and I can't work if I can't get the pain under control, or get back my ability to walk [mostly] unhindered. That's the point of the extremely costly therapy: rewiring my brain to lower my pain response and let my body start finding ways to heal a little. So we will still need to make steady, consistent sales over the course of the coming months to keep everything above water. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the other ladder, the Thermacell lanterns [the flies are already out, so the mosquitoes won't be far behind], and the liquid soaps, which prevent our hands from cracking and bleeding given that we're forced to wash them fifty times a day;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

We're still hoping to put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring, too, Nah, we've given up on the well. No one's available to drill before the latter half of summer, and the tax burden means we would never be able to afford it anyway. But it's perhaps even more of a good time to make a purchase, because Uncle Sam is a vindictive colonizer, and my current stress levels about paying it all are off the charts. And there's lots of fabulous work, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.                              

A Medicine of the Air

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's Wings's most recent masterwork, wrought freehand in a relative's form and the promise of prayer made real. It's Eagle as you've never seen her, saw-cut and enshawled in shimmering silver, holding within her wings a medicine of the air as her gift to us.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We will still need to make consistent sales to make it through this third year of pandemic and loss, especially with extortionate tax payments and extremely costly medical procedures due over the months to come, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.