The Tao of Duncan

Every Day is a Gift

2009-05-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

Duncan passed away suddenly December 10, 2008
He is still missed

There was a garden

2008-09-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

That's me Duncan I'm 12 1/2 now

The weeds under the palm trees are up past my shoulders. It's almost cool enough to go out and pull them up again, maybe next week. I know it's been a while since I've written. I've been commanding my place in front of the fan under the air conditioning vent all summer.

We had a garden. Where there was nothing, dry earth and weeds Mom worked it last spring and made a garden. She dug and turned big chunks of dirt over. She watered. We watched her from the driveway in the shade. It's a good four and a half Bassets wide and really, really long enclosed in a fence with a gate that she keeps shut. Of course we offered to help.

At every stage of it we thought it would be nothing but great fun! Here it is when the dirt was almost ready. She watered, soaking it good and we thought it would be the perfect time to help maybe flatten the pathway she made with the desert rocks.

Here is a view from the street. Way at the end there are three tomato plants.

Four rows of yellow sweet corn are just coming up to the left of the stepping stones, those four desert rocks all in a row. We were pretty excited about this.

All along the fence on the right and the curve of the rocks she planted wildflowers, sprayed them from a can, but it was windy for days after that and we think they are growing over on Robindale.

Mom put in the solar lamp that used to be in front of the house with three other ones, but we knocked it over a lot so we all think it looks swell right here next to the gate. Ay night it looks like fairies are having a party.

Next to it are the three tomatoes, Early Girl is the first one. It's small and in a cage because the day after Mom planted it we had 40 mph winds and it broke in half. She cut off the large broken part and put the little rest of it in the cage and hoped it would live.

The one in the middle, another caged one was supposed to be Sweet 100, that's what the label said. See how big it is already? The third one is going to vine on the ground like the Tomato Lady here says is best for growing tomatoes in Gates of Hell heat, actually Mom says that. She thought it sounded like a really good idea so we gave that method a try. The tomoato is Heat Wave and bred to enjoy the Las Vegas weather.

Here is entrance with one of rare times the is gate open. I believe just so she could take the photo. We watched her plant marigolds there to the left and put in the Squash post that her friend Debbie Bamberry made for her. Debbie live on the next street over and has a nice garden I'm told called Ladybug Lane. We still ahven't come up with a good name for ours yet.

More to come tomorrow. Mom's going to get dinner for us.

Later,
Duncan

Gracie

2008-09-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

Helix's Palomino Valley Grace C.D. Therapy Dog

February 23, 1990 - September 11, 2001

Still Queen of our hearts

Little Pictures

2008-01-28T21:55:00.000-08:00

Phoebe Pretty even on Mom's little phone camera

Hey, it's me Duncan.
Who would have thought you could ever take a picture with a phone!

Welcome Another Beautiful Day!

2007-07-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

I'm ready for my toast now.

Happy Birthday America!

2007-07-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

We love you!

Good Morning Las Vegas

2007-07-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another beautiful day.

United Hearts

2007-06-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

Life leads the thoughtful man on a path of many windings.
Now the course is checked, now it runs straight again.
Here the winged thoughts may pour freely forth in words,
There the heavy burdon of knowledge must be shut away in silence.
But when two people are at one in their inmost hearts,
They shatter even the strength of iron and bronze.
And when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts,
Their words are sweet and strong, like the fragrance of orchids.

Confucious

Las Vegas From My Perspective

2007-06-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve lived in this town for six and a half years now, that’s about forty-five dog years and over half my life. I’m still just a newcomer to those locals who’ve spent their whole lives watching the dramatic changes unfold right before their eyes, and I’m an old timer to the brand new folks who may think traffic has always been like this. I’ve been here long enough to remember sitting in the dark quiet of the night on the veranda seeing all the yellow twinkling lights from Henderson laid out before us like a galaxy of golden diamonds. You could almost reach out and touch them. We watched the planes come in and could see the Tavern with the green neon light over on Blue Diamond. Blue Diamond was a safe road then if you can imagine. Southern Highlands was merely waves of desert heat, a mirage that materialized into a city within itself when no one was paying attention.

There are houses all around us now behind a wall, big new ones lit up all-important like Cinderella’s Castle at Disneyland. Their palm trees aglow with spotlights and twinkling strings of little white lights like thousands of tennis bracelets stacked upon each other, it looks magical, but I always appreciate trees. We can’t see the things we used to see but I do welcome that whole neighborhood, it’s a wonderful windbreak.

I remember driving up Warm Springs into town being the only car on the road and actually doing the 35-mile an hour speed limit. Horsin’ Around had a big apple green fiberglass Quarter Horse lofted atop their front door. We thought it would always be there. We’d stop for Mrs. Pasture’s horse cookies a favorite of our little old mare Olivia.

We thought she would always be in our back yard. They are both gone now. We saw Elvis beside us at the light by Boot Barn in an old Dodge colt with duct tape holding the door closed. We saw him pumping gas at Fast Eddies on the Boulevard and delivering Pepsi at Albertson’s. I saw him coming out of Gold’s Gym once without a T-shirt and he looked like Hercules! That Elvis gets around.

What used to be desert on the corner of our block is now a neighborhood park, a mini Knott’s Berry Farm with a windmill, a horseshoe pit, and covered wagons in a circle each with a picnic table and barbeque, the restroom looks like an old General store and there are native plants and Wisteria blossoming everywhere. It’s a delight. A designated horse’s trail passes through the back of it to the ten acres of desert across the street from us and will be a horse park by sometime next year.

We’ve watched at least four hotel implosions on the news and saw the most magnificent complete rainbow of our lives stretched out in a perfect arch across the southern entrance to the valley welcoming everyone from California. We sat numb the week the sky was still, no airplanes coming in to land at McCarran Airport like a string of pearls into the night sky. With each breath our hearts hurt more than the last. The whole country was hurting but we lost our best friend that very September afternoon too and knew nothing would ever be the same again and it hasn’t been but it goes on. It all changes. I love my life here. Change is good.

Hey, Welcome to my New Blog!

2007-06-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

My name is Duncan, Bunkie to my close personal friends and to my Mom who types my thoughts with her nonjudgemental nimble fingers. I'm 11 1/2 in human years, and it's getting to be a whole lotta dog years. I live in Las Vegas on a corner with a see through fence so I can keep an eye on my neighborhood. I share my sofa with Phoebe. Just recently she stopped looking for plastic things to chew up, she likes the feel of the crunch.

It's summer here now, or the beginning of getting misted before we run outside to pee and run right back in again trying not to touch the sidewalk. We spend these days in front of the fan under the air conditioner vent so I am finding time in my busy schedule to reflect. I guess that's what you do at this point in your life when it's too hot to go to the park. So that's what this blog is for.
The Tao of me Duncan.

Later