Dad and Grandma Gallant come for a visit

On a last minute charter deal, my dad and his sister, Marie came for a quick week long visit. This was my dad's first time here and Grandma Gallant's second. With most of our construction projects finished we could all take time to enjoy their visit. They joined us for our Cafe con Leche coffee group and we joined some friends for a pizza night. We took them down to meet friends at Samara beach where we learned how to play Mexican train dominoes. John took my Dad for a quad ride.

We went cashew picking and then learned how to process the cashews. Once you see those pictures you'll understand why they're so expensive! We picked the fruit at Josue's house where we met his father, Victor, wife Cecilia and little boy George. Josue climbed the tree to pick us some Zapote fruit as well. We picked a couple of mangos but the mango crop has not been good this year due to the high winds we experienced in early March. There goes my mango margaritas!

With the cashews, here's how the process goes: The fruit is squeezed for the juice and then the squished fruit can be stewed with brown sugar and brandy for a lovely dessert (especially over ice cream). The cashew nut needs to be roasted over a fire allowing the toxic resin inside to sizzle and steam away until the entire nut is charred. Then quickly douse the flames to stop the roasting process. Next use a hammer to hit the end of the nut to crack it and then pry out your nut. Viola, you have cashews. See our little pile' emphasis on little. It took quite awhile to get a dessert bowl full but they were delicious and we had quite the time learning how to roast them. Our friend Gretchen and her son, Nahim, showed us. See my dad cracking the cashews.

We also went up to our condo lot for a look around and Dad and the boys rode in the back which Dad thought was terrific as he could see everything better. Pretty good for 79 years old I think. The boys had a ball with him. We had the neighbours over for a cocktail party to meet both of them and we went to the Shepherd's for a visit one day too. Before we knew it the week was over and back to the airport we went. Short but definitely very sweet.

Wallace and Laurie visit from Drumheller

March saw our friends from Drumheller visit. They stayed for a few days before taking a tour in southern Costa Rica. Wallace helped us make a corral for all the puppies as they were starting to escape from the bathroom shower. We went to Barragones beach one day and spent a day in our pool. Unfortunately, both guests were sunburned; Laurie the worst. We also took them on a quad tour which was great fun.

Debbie and Randy visit from Canada

John's sister Debbie and her husband Randy came for a visit in January. They stayed a week in Samara and a week with us at the house. We took them on a quad trip to San Miguel including riding on two beaches and crossing two rivers. We went to Barragones beach and we hosted a party for them which also happened to be a friend's birthday.

Rescuing the Tourists

January 6th saw us rescuing a pair of tourists who had driven their small rental car down a side road that was too steep for them to get back up. They hiked about 3 km. back up before they came to our house for help. This is how we met Dan and Flora. We were able to get them out the next day and in turn Dan helped us with the wiring for our security system and our rancho. Here's a few pictures of us as we hike through the mango orchard with them.

Puppies

In January, a stray dog was laying on our pool deck near death. Austin and Andrew gave her some water and something to eat but she just didn't have the strength anymore. In the morning we gave her a bit more and then Austin and I proceeded to clean her up. The poor thing was so malnourished that we could see every bone. She was covered in ticks, fleas and lice. After picking everything off and spraying her down we showered her and let her rest. Within about 3 days she was much improved and I named her Diamond. After all, a dog is a man's best friend and diamonds are a girls best friend; so it made sense to me!

As her health and weight improved I suppose it was no surprise that we found she was pregnant and so 3 weeks later she delivered 8 puppies. She delivered the night of Frida, February 13th and luckily she chose our pool shower which was just the right size for her and easy to clean. Surprisingly, they were healthy and didn't look at all malnourished and Diamond was holding her own. With such a large litter to feed, we lost the runt a week later but all 7 others are alive and well. Diamond did develop eclampsia and I had to race to Nicoya to get her some calcium which helped her completely. She is now gaining weight and weaning her puppies as they are 7 weeks old now. Two of them will be delivered to their new homes tomorrow and we are keeping one; Austin named her Lucy. She's the black one in the pictures. The others will be off to their new homes soon we hope! We've really gone to the dogs - who would have guessed that we'd have 9 dogs and a cat????