Every person has periods in his life, when life as he knows it, suddenly changes, sometimes drastically. My first book, "Whoa Yonder!" was about my childhood growing up on the family farm in the 1950's and early '60's. Those years were about as peaceful and idyllic as you can imagine. But this book, "Tomfoolery and Tragedy" is a collection of stories taken from 1963-1965, when my world suddenly began to tremble. The farm boy had grown into a throbbing 16 year old who was beginning to anxiously respond to the calls of a mysterious, exciting and sometimes dangerous world. Crossing over the bridge between childhood and the rest of my life in many ways was a wonderful and delightful journey, and a big portion of this book consists of funny and interesting stories drawn from those experiences.