90th birthday party!

OK... I had a whole post written up on my flash drive, but it appears to have left. So, the abridged version is that Jess and I went to the canyon again this weekend to look for cool rocks. Then we went to a 90th birthday party for a neighbor´s mom. Lastly, Astro got hit by a car and lost a toenail, but he´s alright!

OK, more to come!

Jess and the birthday girl, Rosa Mariela.

Rosa Mariela and her 5 kids who live in Somoto, Managua, Costa Rica, and Canada.

Dancing with her son from Canada who was forced to leave when the Sandanistas took power. He´s been living abroad more that 25 years, but manages to visit his mom every year or so.

This party was a big deal, with a monster cake and everything. Almost 100 people showed up!

A picture from the mouth of the Somoto Cañon. Jess took this one.

Here´s Astro scrambling among the rocks. It´s almost impossible to get him to sit still long enough to take a picture. We´ve also finally come up with Astro´s breed. He´s really a mutt, but we have to say something to everyone that asks. Therefore, he is officially a Nicaraguan Highland Retriever. It´s not a very well known breed because they live in the isolated mountanous communities of Nicaragua. Their primary uses are cattle, sheep, goat, and bee herding, but have also known to be used by rescue teams during crisis situations to find lost people and food. An official census shows that the breed is down to only about 200 in the world.

Jess and Astro harnessing their chi at the river shore.

That´s all for now, sorry for the delay. We´d love to hear your ideas for a breed for Astro, so post them on the blog!