Although I have published more than 35 scientific and technical reports, this book is my first attempt at Creative Nonfiction writing. In the early days of my youth, my family lived a nomadic life style, taking possession of unattended shelter wherever we could find it. We lived in tents, crumbling log cabins, abandoned houses, a barn, a school bus, and even a chicken coop. This is the tale of my life during those years as my mother and father slowly (but somewhat reluctantly) lifted themselves out of the post-Depression era into contemporary society. I was 16 before we had a home of our own that had indoor plumbing, electricity, and a telephone. My brothers and I never minded the way we lived and, in fact, were quite happy with our way of life. If I have taken literary liberties in relating a few, otherwise mundane, incidents to
spin a yarn, it was only to entertain, not to alter the facts of history. The anecdotes are real, even if the telling is a bit embellished at times.
