Hello, friend! You have now stepped from the real world onto Clan Duncan Virtual Hill.   Antelope Hill is a real hill, a little bump of land in the high desert somewhere in the West, surrounded by mountain ranges at a time when the bones of the ridges are beginning to show dark brown through the snow.  At this season, it is just as likely to rain as to snow, and the snow still remaining on Antelope Hill is slowly melting. Patches of mud are emerging, pock-marked with rabbit tracks. Antelope are trudging up and down our gulch, their usually light steps more deliberate now, as the does are heavy with fawn. Snow geese are on the move, restlessly beginning their long flights north; a small flock landed on Paiute Creek Reservoir one day last week, looking like bright chips of ice against the dark blue water. They may be in Canada by now. Today is a gray day, raining on the desert flats. The tops of the Cougar Mountains are lost in mist; up there it is snowing. Outside in the wet wind, our local pair of ravens is diving and soaring north of our house, their sense of fun undampened by the chilly, soggy weather.

It's noon on a rainy Saturday, and the incomparable scent of bacon wafts from the kitchen into the computer room: Scott is fixing us a very late breakfast. Pour yourself a cup of steaming tea and join us for a time.  In these pages you will find historic Shelties, fun, fantasy, living on Antelope Hill, this breeder’s working notes, issues confronting our breed, a little laughter, a spoonful of tears, and last but not least, the Clan Duncan Shelties themselves. Be sure to place your mouse over all the images, great and small, for more text. That is how I always get the last word!

If you wish to contact me, please email me at danaq@aol.com.  If I don’t reply, please try again – sometimes I get too many emails at once, and AOL will delete some emails before I get a chance to answer them, or even to read them!

We really have only two bits of sparkling, heart-lifting news, but they are doozies! Read on. As always, there is a new Hill Page, so please visit there to see our elk visitors. There is some free web art on the Art Page that I forgot to mention last time. And: here is the news:

We had a lovely surprise last Sunday. Galen went WD at the Santiago Shetland Sheepdog Club Specialty under Dorothy Christiansen! The show photo, of course, has not arrived yet, so the above is cut out from a photo I took of Galen at one year old. Now all he needs to finish his championship is a second major. Galen and Dottie are a great team. We miss him very much, and look forward to having him home, finished (understatement)!

Flash! Yesterday Galen was RWD under Lorraine Still at the Shetland Sheepdog Club of Southern California. This nice candid shot from ringside was sent to us by Chris Osborne. Sure wish I could have been there, too. Ah, so near and yet so far! Go, Galen, you are almost there!

We are very pleased to be celebrating the fifteenth birthday of Int. Ch. Caviar's Blue Sky Lark. Blue came to us through the generosity of Elicia Stevens when he was seven years old. As I came back into the fancy, I looked far and wide for a dog that had several times Ch. Banchory Thunder Blue ROM in his pedigree, and carried many of the qualities that George possessed and passed on. Lucky for me I found Blue Sky. Blue is what I call my "paradox dog," having several of the Sheltie paradox qualities that are easy to get, but very difficult to get in pairs: short back with long neck, full muzzle with clean backskull, sturdiness with lasting refinement. And then there is his very sweet personalty -- and his powder-blue cloud of correct coat. He is the sire of our beautiful Ghost Girls, of Greggie, Chubby Checker, Martie, Int. Ch. Verity, and some dearly loved companions -- and he is the grandsire of almost all the current Clan Duncan Shelties, from Galen (above) to Ch. Grace, to our youngest, little Styx and company. Now, as Blue passes his fifteenth birthday, I realize what in the way of health that he has no doubt given to Clan Duncan. Blue can still hear the slightest whisper. He still sees just as well as the young dogs. He cannot streak at top speed like a puppy, but he still enjoys trotting around. He's had to have some teeth pulled, but his skin is healthy, he is in good weight, he still loves to eat, and he has no sign of disease. He's a good boy! Happy Birthday, Blue Sky!

I am still looking for dogs down from the “old” Clan Duncan Shelties, now especially for any Sheltie with  either one of these two in the pedigree:  Clan Duncan Midnight Special, or Ch. Banchory Blue Ballad, CD.  Please let me know if you come across any descendents. Do stay awhile and explore the other pages! We hope to see you at the National!