Off and on over the last few months I’ve considered hanging it up once I finished the third year. I’m stubborn enough to insist on seeing each year through, barring a catastrophe severe enough to render it actually impossible, so you were always going to see this many comics before I called it quits.

But… I don’t think I’ve done everything I wanted to do with Quacked Panes yet.

So you’re stuck with me for another year… starting June 4th. I’m taking a proper break this time. As you read this I’ll be in Las Vegas at a work-related conference. (No, I don’t gamble nor do I like the desert heat, so it’s not much of a vacation.) Then I’ll spend a couple of weeks resting & recharging my creative side, followed by a couple of minor improvements around the site and the start of our fourth year of… whatever it is you want to call what we do around here.

See you in June, folks! And thank you, again, for sticking with me all this time. It would only be half as much fun without you.

Kylanath and I took Rex and the camera to the Stumptown Comics Fest last weekend, briefly hobknobbing with the likes of geek-about-town Aaron Duran, the gracious Jake Richmond of Modest Medusa, and the adorable Shing Yin Khor of Marlowe The Monster. We both spent all of our cash on hand, and walked away happy customers. I even got enough usable pictures to make you this comic! All-around win, I figure.

This comic is brought to you by the letter Z, the number 3, and the horrid luck I’ve had with catching Zs for the last three nights.

Ugh.

Mind you, originally I was going to shoot a “Rusty Plays With The Ducklings” comic outside, but then I came down sick and could only look outside at the lovely weather and dream about it.

Then I came up with this comic, and went back to playing video games on my computer… whoops?

You were wondering how long I could go between bad puns, weren’t you?

And now you know.

Hey! Are you as amazed as I am that we’re almost through three years of this silly thing? And that means… yes, the annual break is coming up. Lacking inspiration to the contrary, I’m probably going to just take an actual break rather than try to come up with a “more work” way to fill time for a few weeks.

I’ll get you through to May 3rd, and then I’m off for a few weeks to recharge. If I come up with something really simple to make the balance of May go more entertainingly, I will… but I make no promises. Right now there are still only a couple dozen of you fine people visiting every week and while I hate to leave you in the lurch it’s also not like I’m expecting some kind of precipitous drop-off once June arrives.

Besides, the plan is to make a few small improvements around here during the downtime, and to sprinkle some adverts around the webcomic-o-sphere for the Year Four launch. We’ll see how that pans out…

This is one of those conversations which come up from time to time, usually with someone who doesn’t know me very well. All they know is that a) I don’t drive and b) I love exotic & classic cars. Apparently this combination baffles folks.

So be it. I don’t have to explain myself to people, really.

(Isn’t that little Lamborghini Reventón pretty? Kylanath bought it for me. Yay!)

I actually prefer autumn to spring: cooling down, rather than warming up, and it’s still temperate. Not to mention the lovely colors of the changing leaves.

Spring just means allergies, really.

Were it not for the utterly glorious weather this past weekend, you’d have been stuck with some sort of Rusty-and-Easter-candy gag today.

Instead, please enjoy the fruits of my labor of walking around the neighborhood on Saturday! Bonus: Thursday’s strip was shot outside, too!

I need to do more of this. Yes, indeedy.

Yes, I know I saved money. Yes, I know the gadgets will get here when they get here.

But they’re not here now, see?

I’m absolutely delighted that April Fools Day landed on a Sunday this year so I didn’t have to deal with it during a workday. I don’t like pranks, head games, or practical jokes. I know: That makes me a bona fide stick in the mud. I can live with that.