This book is dedicated to the memory of my Uncles Billy, Ralph, Scott and Carl - all of whom invested in my life as a teenage boy in various ways and at different times on the pig farm. I grew to appreciate them as they were well-respected, hard-working, and intelligent businessmen and farmers.

As I look back on my life, I am grateful for the day my father announced, "Boy, on Monday morning you are going to work on your Uncle Carl's pig farm. Be there at 8:00 a.m. sharp." Dad was a doctor, a major in the Air National Guard at the time, and a Vietnam veteran. I didn't get a vote. It never even crossed my mind that I could protest and say, "Aw, Dad, I won't work on no pig farm." I dutifully showed up at 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning and every morning thereafter. You don't jerk the mask off the Ole' Lone Ranger, and you don't disobey Dr. J! You catch my drift?

Nevertheless, I am glad I had the opportunity to get to know my uncles and some of my cousins working on the farm. I got a real good suntan, tons more freckles, learned how to be alone on a tractor for endless hours in tedious boredom, and made close friends with hundreds of pigs.