All Aboard the Night Train Express!

Henry sometimes finds himself exhausted from simply being too awesome. Here he is in his favorite Stones shirt and his floppy moppy, butterscotch stallion hair. He has become a miniature person -- a miniature person in need of a haircut. Last weekend momma took him to Poik's Barber Shop. Poik has been providing the Chisago Lakes area with quality barbering since the bronze age. He gives a pretty solid haircut for a reasonable price ($10).

Henry looks like a totally new man with his new haircut and has completely shed his hippie image. He sold his ferrets and his Grateful Dead tapes and has abandoned his drum circle buddies. We walks a pretty straight line these days.

Below, Henry demonstrates the simple yet effective Ranger Choke Hold with a neck twist on Baby Sister.

The other day we sat down as a family to enjoy an elegant meal of Mac 'n' Cheese with wienies. I was faced with the difficult task of making a wine pairing. Grape Mad Dog 20/20? Strawberry Hill Boones Farm? Wrong! I went with a sweet 2004 Night Train Express.

Henry was served with a plate that had a compartment filled with a mixture of ketchup and mustard for dipping his wienies. He soon grew bored with eating and decided to start dipping his hands in the condiment mixture. Julie grabbed the camera to capture this candid moment of family fun. "This is CRAAAAZZZYYY!!", says Henry. Also, note the haircut.

But soon this whimsical moment spiraled out of control and into a world of pain. Henry started slapping his face and lathering up. His inquisitive joy quickly turned into confusion and pain. The wife did what any mother would do: followed the developing action with the camera...

I swear, if you took off his shirt, shaved his head and sewed some sausage links to his belly button, this could be mistaken for a delivery room photo! Poor little guy...

Quickly, I grabbed Henry and tucked him under my arm, sprinting to the kitchen sink. I can only imagine what could have been going through Henry's mind as I held his head firmly and sprayed water directly into his eyes.

"DADDY! WHY?!?!"

After the dust had settled, Henry was left visibly shaken and pretty confused but with a new outlook on life . I told him that he was a very brave young man and that mustard was the devil. He normally looks very confident and proud wearing his Bob the Builder "Big Boy" undies.

The last couple of weekends Davie has been helping with me put up siding on the house. Here Henry enjoys a moment with Davie and daughter Gracie.

Not bad for a couple of small town white boys.

The maple trees have reached peak colors at our place.

Despite our continued pleas, Violet continues to refuse to consistently sleep through the night. Here she is with her pumpkin hat.

The other day I was singing "Chocolate Rain" to Henry and he actually mocked me with his own version called "Chocolate Milk". He only has the chorus so far but it was pretty funny.

A brief note on goats...

I should have named those little buggers Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and Jimmy Garner because they are total escape artists. Last weekend I beefed up the fence and they still escape at will. I don't even know how they do it. I suspect they could be shapeshifters. I really have to step up my efforts on fencing if I expect to contain them. I have actually started just letting them out in the evenings and weekends so they can just browse around. They are pretty easily rounded up with a little scoop of goat chow and seem to like to stay in their house over night.

I have been kicking around the idea of starting an online magazine. Through a brief Google search, I have noted that neither Goat Fancier or Goat Aficionado are taken or used titles or product names. Which one sounds the best? I think they both sound like potential winners. Could this be my ticket to becoming an internet millionaire? I'm guessing it's a little obscure. Oh well, a man has to have dreams.