A quick status update (Patreon)

Hey everybody. I've been out of touch for quite a while, so I thought I'd give you a sitrep.

First off:

I am not dead. 

I am not in the hospital due to a terrible illness or injury. 

I am not broke. 

I am not homeless. 

I am not unemployed. 

What I *am* however… is physically and creatively exhausted. 

Here's what has happened in my life since the last page of HtbD got published.

1) I threw my back out when I got a little overambitious at work. Anyone who's done this knows it's no joke. This had me in various levels of sick-leave for a whole month. I *hobbled* to the PT the day after and the pain got so bad when she was trying to help that I fainted and woke up on the floor under her table, having nearly hit her on the way down. After that they gave me some serious painkillers and ordered me to just rest. I couldn't stand up for 3 days straight, and after that it took a week before I could spend more than 10 minutes sitting in a chair before the pain got too bad. Thankfully my mom moved in while I was recuperating, so I had help. After about a week and half I went back to work, starting at 50% workload for 3 Days Before the weekend, then 75% for the next week. And then the next bomb hit.

2) My sister (who has a horse at my stable)  took a vacation to Greece, and another client went to Denmark, both being gone for a week and upping their coverage from half- to full service. That means we got an additional 2 horses to muck for and feed, and I got my sister's horse, bringing my total up to 11 horses to handle in one day. That includes mucking their stall, changing their water, sweeping in front of their box, packing their hay, as well and taking them in and out to their enclosures. I had only gotten back to 100%, which in my case is 10 horses two Days earlier, so this was a strain, but the others had plenty on their plate so it was just "grin and bear it".

3) About two months before this I had accepted the job of babysitting a friend's dog for 2 weeks while they were on a Convention/vacation tour. I had no idea I would have these backproblems when I took the job, and when the time came for them to go I was about 95% back to normal, to I took the dog. Thing is, I work in a stable, and I've seen enough stable-living dogs to know that I don't want one in my house, so the dog stays at home while I work.  My day prety much goes; Wake up, walk the dog, she and I eat breakfast, drive to work, work until noon, drive home, walk the dog, she and I eat a Quick lunch, drive back to work, work until five, drive home, walk and play with the dog, she and I eat dinner, cuddle with the dog a bit, then try to unwind for the rest of the evening, minus any chores that needs to get done. I have done this before and I know that two weeks is my absolute limit at this pace. After that, I start burning out. During this, cue the next bomb.

4) We had what qualifies as a drought this summer in my part of Sweden, meaning a lot of the hay that we were depending on for the Winter never got grown, so we had to switch to a new kind of hay. This new kind is thinner, shorter, and a hell of a lot dried, meaning that packing this shit into bags is almost like working with an armful of needles. I packed my hay as usual the first day wearing nothing but a t-shirt, and the next morning I woke up with my arms looking like they'd gotten a whole body's Worth of measles each. I understandably freaked out, thinking I had somehow gotten some *very* aggressive fleas in my bed. I spent the whole day working in angst and severe itching, thinking I would have to get my entire apartment fumigated. The next day after work I Went to the doctors to get checked out. She looked me over and said that this was most likely not flea bites, since these were small water-filled bumps, but rather an allergic reaction. She asked me if there's been any Changes lately, I told her about the hay and she said that was probably it, and told me to get some anti-allergic medication and maybe some ointment for the sores. I was relieved that it wasn't fleas (my sanctuary had NOT been invaded by parasites!!), but the medication didn't relieve the itch very fast, and I spent a few Days in "Scratch Until You Bleed" mode. I know I shouldn't, but damn does that pain feel good. Hard to stop though, despite the fact that you *need* to. Cue next bomb-Shell.

5) I found out via Facebook that a horse owned by a friend, a mare that I had helped deliver, had died at the far-too-early age of 4, due to some kind of accident. This was the daughter/foal of the first horse I ever took care of, and I spent the whole of her first summer taking care of and cuddling with her and her mom. The owner once said that she would *never* have become so social If I hadn't spent almost every day visiting her. I loved that little tyke, and hearing that she had died broke my heart a Little. And sicne misery loves Company, more Death soon followed.

6) The owner of the stable where I work owns this female Dalmatian, 14 years old, who has got to be the most vocal dog I have ever come across. Every time I start cuddling with her, which is every time she sees me if she has her way, she makes all kind of cooing noises that I at first thought meant that she was in pain, but was in fact just to show that she loved getign attention. She's lived here at the stable for the last 3 years and have been a source of joy every day, if sometimes a bit too needy, but we all love her. Well, she's been having problems with her hips lately, and the owner has had to help her get down from the car when they arrive at the stable, but she never complained or slowed down, it was just zips right up to me and demand cuddles. Last week I dound out, again via Facebook, that the owner had had to put her down when suddenly stop being able to stand up. Vet said there was nothing to do so they let her go to sleep. The stable still seems eerily quiet without her, like there's something missing when that constant sound of clicking claws isn't around anymore.

These last two happened this weekend. 

7) First on Saturday I stop by the stable to drop off my latest picking of wild apples (a hobby of mine), when I run into one of the vets that's we regularly have over (this is not a good sign). He sees me  carrying the bags with apples and immediately starts explaining how easily horses can get apples stuck in their throats and suffocate if you don't split or quarter the apples (I know this full and well). With a feeling of dread I check our waterhouse and there's one of our former customers, holding the head of her drugged horse up while blood is oozing out of both nostrils. Apparently they had given the horse some small apples in the transport Before they drove over to us for training, and when they opened the transport she was coughing up blood and snot. Thanksfully the vet got there in time and was able to help, but it was a Close call for the poor horse. The owner of the stable had already removed the apple crate that I leave lying out for the horse owners, and she will most likely ban the giving out of apples at the stables, which hurts my heart because it's been a source of joy for me for years and a free luxury for our customers. And considering I've been putting them out for about 4 month every year for the last 3 years, and we've never had a problem until now, clearly we all know the risks and how to avoid them, so I hope that she will change her mind and let me keep the apples around, though probably not as readily accessible. 

8) And the very next morning, I'm eating lunch when a friend text me, asking if it was one of our horses that got hurt. Not having a clue what she's talking about (I hadn't turned on the TV all day), she sends me a link to a story saying that a horse had been run over on the road that passes right by my stable. Almost choking on my toast, I check the stable's FB page and see the boss has put up a notice that all our horses are fine. Apparently the horse had escaped from a stable a few towns over, so she'd gotten quite a ways before her luck ran out. I was so relieved that it wasn't one of ours (some of our clients are *really* sloppy about closing the that leads out to the road, so it wouldn't be impossible that it could have been one of ours).

Later on Sunday the dog's owner came by and picked her up, so that is one burden off my chest, but as you can see… it's not exactly been uneventful around here, and not in a good way. I have neither had the time, energy or inclination to write for HtbD, so Karno has not had any page scripts to work with, meaning no new comic pages. 

I hope the worst is behind me now, and I'm going to try and rest up, but please, be patient and give us a little time. Karno has had his own share of IRL problems, so I don't Think the comic would have gotten done faster if I *had* been fine. 

Getting back into the motions though. I haven't given up on the comic yet. Still got a lot of plans.

Best regards

Euro_salamander