Dawdling autumn

     The season of autumn has been around since October but, for some strange reason, to me it doesn't feel like fall. The park's trees still have most of it's leaves and so do the shrubs and the bushes. Even the grass is still soft and full of that deep forest green color.

     This did not look or feel like fall to me. This year is different unlike the past years where I would see the whole north fence be completely covered in bright yellow and orange leaves. Slowly, but surely, the leaves started to appear on the north fence. It was almost as everyday a new small layer of leaves would be added to the fence. I can expect the fence to be covered by the end of November or early December, but the park makes no promises, and I should not burden it. 

     And just like the leaves are slowly falling of the branches of the trees, so is Lucky's coat. His hairs are so thin that I cannot see them brush off when the wind blows against his sturdy body. I just assume that hundreds of tiny hair follicles break off and catch a drift of air that carries them wherever the wind pleases. They sometimes end up in my clothes and other times they end up who knows where. Wherever they end up I'm sure they manage to make it to the ground to decay. They become a part of this earth again. Just like every single living thing on this planet.

      Recently the days seem so quiet. Especially being in the middle of the park. Where the only sound that I hear, now, is the chime of Lucky's dog tags and the crunch of leaves with every step that I take. Silence seem to finally cast it's shadow on the park. I enjoy it. It gives me space to think about my thoughts that, during this time of year, seem to rush through my mind so fluidly like a stream of water. Silence is everything and silence is what everything originated from.
     Occasionally the silence is suddenly annihilated by F-14's that not only break the sound barrier, but also rupture my ear drums. Other times military cargo planes pass by but they are not as aggressive as the jets. Commercial airlines are the usual inhabitants of the airspace above the park. And when these aircraft do fly by Lucky will suddenly become startled. He tucks his tall in between his hind legs and timidly walks towards me. I have to hug him or do something to let him know that I'm there right beside him. He has my back and I have his.

     "The cold weather is approaching. Soon this park will be still. Less people will visit and the trees will be naked. Of course, I'll still be here and so will Lucky." (Field notes 10-31)

     I believe that most of the animals in the park are either migrating, like Canadian Geese did just a couple of weeks ago, or are hibernating, like bears do. Even the pesky insects and flies and mosquitoes are gone now too. I see and record the same things over and over again in the park like "fallen leaves from the trees" or "The stillness of the park." I soon asked myself, "Okay, am I going to see anything other than trees and grass? Maybe an animal perhaps?"
     Those question were swimming in head for about a day or two until I decided to ease the thought of it by doing some research. I went online to the Nevada department of Wildlife website to see what types of animals stay here in Nevada during fall and winter season. They gave me a list of animals that I doubt I will ever see in such an urbanized area. But, nonetheless, these animals neither migrate nor hibernate which include Mule deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Mountain goats, Elk, and Bighorn sheep. Two animals that I do believe I'll see at the park, if I'm lucky enough, are the Sage Grouse and the Chukar. The Sage grouse diet consist of sage brush leaves and when the snow fall grows to two feet or higher, they will burrow in the snow underneath the sage brush. The Chukar are very small and they have eight to nine vertical black strips that go across their sides underneath their wings. They do not migrate, however, they will head for lower levels of elevation when snow accumulates. (Winter wildlife)

"Sage grouse" Photo by Nevada department of wildlife

 
     So, now I definitely know what to look out for when snow settles in. Hopefully I catch a glimpse of either birds.

     Although the cold seasons, at least to me, feel like they last forever, I do enjoy them to some extent. I enjoy the celebrations and holiday spirit it brings to me. Or maybe I just care about all the temporary things that come with the holidays like gifts and feasts. What ever the reason may be, I still feel, and always will feel, that this period of time will take the longest to pass by. I think the only reason why I like the slowness of days is because I am enlightened by the experiences that come with it. Not so much the cold temperatures, but rather the sensations of the events that occur during fall and winter seasons. The leaves changing color in October, the scents of pies and hams and turkeys being cooking in ovens and the sight of beautiful blankets of pure, undiluted snow that, sometimes, seem to go on forever.
     From this slow period of time I do look forward to a number of things in the future. One of these things include a new album by my favorite artist, J. Cole. Not only that, I will also most likely be traveling to Mexico during winter break. But that is still to come. I still have time.
     It feels like time is just completely stopping all at once when I'm observing. I lay against the trunk of one of the oak trees and feel the grass with the extremities of my fingers. I feel the cold breeze smack my face. Serenity. I forget about time all together. I forget about the concept of time and how humans created hours, days, weeks, months, years, and millenniums to measure it. Is it incorrect to think that time is only an illusion? I think of time as drawing a straight line on a blank piece of paper that never ends. As the graphite from the pencil sticks to the paper it leaves it's trail behind; that would be represented as past events that have already happened. The past is far behind us. Yet, nothing lies ahead of time. The future doesn't exist. Time dives blindly into the abyss and sooner or later it will dematerialize because there will be no more time left to continue. Like a pencil does after there is no more graphite to continue the line. Every single living thing starts a line and it doesn't end until their life ceases to exist.

Eventually, everyone runs out of time.

Works cited

"Winter wildlife." Nevada department of wildlife. web. 17 Nov 2014.

Coton de tulear

     I remember when I first got him. He walked through the front door with awe and a little bit of fear. All he would do was run down the main hall in the house, back and fourth like a Newton's cradle. This house and the people that lived in it were foreign to him. Almost hostile since he had never even seen us before. Whenever I tried to pet him he would stop and faintly growl. Showing his front row of large teeth and scrunching up his snout. I don't think he slept at all that night because I can still remember his whimpers and how he was howling, begging to go back to his mother. I was filled with sadness to hear him cry but at the sane time I was really amazed that my family was actually getting a dog. Our first dog.

***

     Two weeks later after he arrived I still couldn't figure out a name for him. It was hard because I couldn't find anything unique and creative to name him. The past owner named him "Angel" because of his bright, white coat. I thought that name was horrid. So, I decided to name him something else. I just hadn't figured it out yet. 

***

      One early morning as I was waiting for the school bus my father and my dog accompanied me. We soon figured out that the dog has lots, and I mean lots, of energy in his small, but strong, body. So in order to satisfy his needs we bought him a tennis ball and he just absolutely loved it.

     All was going well for a while. The natural order of things were aligned and the universe was in harmony, until a car came by. The ball went across the street and the dog went after it blind to the fact that a car was coming his way. Then the ball went under the car's rear tire and he was trampled by the left rear tire. He yelped in pain and I was more than sure he was not going to survive. A woman came out of the car as my dad picked the poor animal off the asphalt. I couldn't speak because I was too concentrated on the dog's cries. I just stood there watching everything unfold.

     The woman and my dad left with my dog. My dad told me that he'd pick me up at school later to come and see how the dog was doing. Then I left on the school bus and all I could think about was the sight of an animal being run over. It felt like the bus ride took forever to get to school. Or maybe it was because I wasn't paying attention to the actual trip from Sparks to Hidden Valley.
     I was called down to the office, but I already knew the reason why. My dad was waiting for me there. We left to go see how the dog was doing at a local animal hospital. When we arrived I barged through the front doors and immediately ask where my dog was. Then a man in a lab coat took my dad and I into a room where we found the dog on a table asleep. The veterinarian told us that he suffered minor injuries and only one broken bone. He was going to live.  

     I was relieved to know that he was going to survive. We took him home and I thought of a name for my nameless dog. Lucky.

 ***

     Lucky is now approximately ten years old ( I say approximately because apparently he already was two years old when I first got him).  Yet I don't see him act like an old dog where they get grumpy and just aren't fun anymore. I feel like he is still a little puppy because all he wants to do is play all the time. Whether it's fetch of tug of war he will not stop bothering me to play until I get up and fulfill his wishes.
     What are you? I started to become curious about my dog so I decided to do some research. But where would I even start? I don't even know what type of breed he is! My dad told me the only information the previous owners gave him was that he was from an island.

     So I started my search with the types of dog breeds that developed on islands. I thought of places where he could have possibly come from like the Easter islands, Hawaii, Japan, Micronesia, and Malaysia. My search led me to Madagascar where I stumbled upon a dog breed called "Coton de Tulear" and they looked exactly like Lucky. The snout, eyes, and fur all matched the way Lucky looked. "That's him. That's his breed," I told myself.

     Coton de Tulear dogs are believed to originate from Madagascar but it is unclear whether they are indigenous or another breed was brought from another country where it mated with a native dog, creating the coton. These little white balls of fun were named after the port city of Tulear (now Toliara) on the southern tip of Madagascar and because their fur resembled a very soft, "cotton" texture and color. During the 17th century the Merina, a ruling tribal monarchy, domesticated and bred these dogs to become royal dogs. Coastal tribesmen and non-noblemen were forbidden to even own this dog as it soon became known as "The Royal dog of Madagascar." Later french colonist soon conquered most of the island and they also adopted the coton as a most noble dog. (History: coton de...)
     Who would've known that Lucky was so important to people at one point in history. And his decedents come all the way from Madagascar! Lucky, what else have you been hiding from me?

***

     In most of my observations Lucky does the same things over and over again like pee and shit everywhere. Sometimes, if he tries hard enough, he'll find a treasure of some sort--like a tennis ball or a Frisbee. In the most recent observation he found a torn pair of pants deep inside of some shrubs on the south end of the park. It didn't seem much like a treasure but to him it was the best thing he could have ever found. Of course I think that is pretty disgusting, but who am kidding, he's a dog and he doesn't really care about the sort of things that disgust us humans. Either way, I still love him. 

     Lucky doesn't mind the cold. He has a thick coat of cotton-white hairs mixed with patches of brown fur on his back. Actually the brown is very light and it stands out so much it almost looks like someone spilled their morning cup of coffee on him (Field notes 10-14).

Works cited

"History: Coton de Tulear." American kennel club. web. 29 Oct 2014.