A surly Declan says, while in mid-air in his father's arms:"You know what, Daddy? It's hard to be angry and spinning at the same time." Simian Farmer

Dear (erstwhile) readers,More content and a new banner coming soon to this space. Honest.But first, for your edification, a thorough understanding of the cause of the financial crisis plaguing the US and affecting all the rest of us. Reading this linked article will only take you two minutes, and it's written from the perspective of Pokémon as explained to a 14 year-old girl.I feel smarter already, and it's not even 9 am.Financial Crisis Explained Simian Farmer

... are often the best.I bathe Declan and Tavish together every night (because it's more efficient), and they always sit in the same spots: Dex a little higher in the shallow end and Tav down in the deeper end by the drain.Tavish regularly complains of a sore bum during and just after his bath, but never at any other time. It is a conumdrum that has stymied me, but to which I have given very little thought outside of the bathing arena. The solution presented itself one night last week, and he hasn't had a sore bum since. The conversation... Simian Farmer

A couple weekends ago, my good buddy Lance and I took our (total of) three sons to an awesome little farm about a half hour north east of the city. There's a corn maze, a hay bale maze, a puppet show, petting zoo, wagon rides... and a compressed air Corn Cannon.Good times had by all!Tav and Dex posing in front of the Arachno-Dragon. I don't know why, but the farm had a dragon theme throughout the whole place. We just went with it. There was a series of eavestroughs under these old hand pumps (sucking water from horse troughs underneath),... Simian Farmer

Simon sits on the living room sofa, laptop on lap, listening raptly. Amy ambles upstairs from having gotten her Facebook fix on the computer downstairs.Amy: What are you watching there?Si: A TED presentation on what the Large Hadron Collider is hoping to achieve for science.Amy: Oh God! [walks away] I really can't believe I married you sometimes.Simon: [defensively] Come on! It's pretty much the greatest single scientific device ever created! It just may give us the means to confirm the building blocks of the universe as they came into existence at the Big Bang! It could...Amy: [interrupting, kissing me on... Simian Farmer

I got my form letter email back from the Canadian Space Agency late last week. It turns out that my short-lived dreams of becoming an astronaut got grounded indefinitely, and I have been informed that my application will no longer be considered to proceed further through the selection process.This is exactly how far I thought I'd get in my impromptu decision to apply to fly into space. Still, there was, of course, that little part of me that couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of being selected to be trained as an astronaut.I'm holding out hope, one day,... Simian Farmer

Amy and I are heading off to a wedding for the afternoon and evening, so in the mean time (and in between time), here are a few pics of the many I shot last weekend when the boys and I were out playing in the yard. (I know it's time for a haircut or two.) Simian Farmer

There's a page on our company intranet where employees can post personal items for sale or rent. It's full of mostly used cars, TVs, and miscellaneous household electronica.So I shook my head at myself at being pressed to utter:"So Tony, I don't know which is gayer: you posting scrapbooking supplies on the intranet for sale, or me asking to see what you have in stock."The things I do for my wife. Simian Farmer

Friday evening was a busy one for the Fraser household.I had to bail early on a company meeting at a local hotel (though I did manage to score two free beers before high-tailing it) in order to get home in time to help get the boys fed and ready to run out the door. We had a birthday party at 6 p.m. and Amy had a girlfriend's baby shower at 7, just a few blocks away from the birthday party, thankfully.So there we were at our friends' house in north Edmonton, mingling amiably on the balcony while Lance (the birthday... Simian Farmer

Two items of note today, and I'm not entirely sure which has greater significance.First, I am pleased to report that, for the past several weeks, the Fraser household has been completely diaper-free. We have exchanged Tavish's Pampers Cruisers™ for Pull-Ups at night and Curious George undies during the day. It seems the younger boy went and potty-trained himself. Mostly. One thing about having an older brother in the house is that the younger one wants to emulate him ALL THE TIME. While frustrating and annoying when the older guy is misbehaving and the wee lad just exacerbates a situation simply... Simian Farmer

Like renewing an exercise program after a long stretch of indolence, I'm getting back into the blog posting thing. Perhaps with a tad more regularity? I'll have to eat more bran. And like those sore muscles after exercise, I hope to feel a sense of invigoration that drives me to keep at it. We'll see. Tuesday was Canada Day up here in the Great White North, and the weather in this western part of it was nearly perfect. The temp crested to 30 degrees (C), which was, quite frankly, a little on the sweaty side. But we donned our red... Simian Farmer