Greetings and thanks for stopping by for a visit.  Don (aka Dad), Gina, Kona, Koko, Cully, Pearl, Pookie and Pinky bid you a fond and slightly fur strewn welcome.  You have come by as Gina and Dad were enjoying a windy afternoon on the back porch, er . . .sorry wrong photo.  This one is actually taken last spring on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.  I wish it was my back porch.  We hope you will enjoy discovering what we have been doing this year and encourage you to send us an "e" letting us know how you have been and what you think of our new web page.  You may also want to take a look at our links page.

Gina  returned from her yearly 2 month visitation with her mom and the Hawaii family in Kealakekua in mid August.  She spent her summer paddling outrigger canoes, hitting the beach and missing her studies (not!).  We struggled with home schooling last year and her return to public middle school has been difficult for her.  At present she is make incremental progress but still has a way to go before she will be up with the rest of her classmates.  After insisting she was "almost 13" for nearly 11 months, Gina finally celebrated her arrival at bone fide "teen hood" in June.  This corresponded with a dramatic increase in number of her Dad's gray hairs going to pure white.

Dad spent the last year working with Gina on her home schooling and trying unsuccessfully to find a way to handle parenting a nouvo-teen with some semblance of style and grace.  He was able to make some incremental progress on the five year "remodeling" project on the house, but fears the work is approaching "Winchester Mystery House" proportions.   Last summer was spent recovering from home schooling, taking "therapy" motorcycle rides, working on the house and hunting for cleverly hidden ferrets.  The colder weather has brought a drastic reduction in the rides in favor of warmer indoor activities.

Tad (Don Jr.) has been making Don Sr. proud with his straight "A" work at Denver's ITT in computer technology.  He has been attending night classes there while working for a Boulder company installing computer networks..  When not in school or at work he splits his time between his son Steffan his girlfriend Hollie.  We get the chance to visit with Tad about once a month, and look forward to having the chance to share how his life in Denver is going.

The Furries continue to be pivotal members of our Boulder family.  We have added the two ferrets, Pinky and Koko, to our Martin Acres Menagerie this year and they have been smoothly assimilated into the family by both golden retrievers and one of the two cats.  Cully, our obnoxious and loud old cat, has no use for any additional family that further dilute the affection rations.

Grampa (Dave Casto) was working on a book about Casto family genealogy when he died in 1996.  The book has been taken over by a distant cousin, Jim Casto.  We are very grateful to Jim for volunteering to continue with Dad's great passion.  Jim has recently published his own web page devoted to Casto genealogy, The Casto Stories and Collections - 2000, documenting his continuing efforts and research. Feel free to email him with information or questions about the family history.  Thanks Jim!
    I have recently found another great source for Casto family information and genealogy.  Whether you are researching your Casto origins or just interested in family stories you will enjoy Casto Connections published by Danita Smith.