Growing up in the 50-60s was a very different time in this country's history. Many of the moors were stretched and broken, many of the old ways were never to be the same again, and the price we have and will continue paying for that growing will haunt us for generations to come.

I am a female "Jack of All Trades." I have many certificates and some titles, but seldom use any of them. A short while ago, and for the prior 4 years, I published a small weekly newspaper for a small but growing community in northern Nevada. Two dogs, a bird, and several cats own me. I am a Grandmother of 2 natural and 14 Step Grandchildren and a mother of 3 wonderful now grown children. The writing of this book is my best achievement, for it will tell my children why I did what I did.

I recently published a small community weekly newspaper in a little suburb outside of Reno, NV, called "Coyote News." Our community is small but growing at a furious rate. I look out at the mountains all around me and wonder when, with much trepidation, this little valley will all be filled with people. There are calm nights looking at the stars and hearing the cows down at the dry lake, but those will soon disappear, if every developer has their way in this valley. Much is the pity, for children coming into the world now will never know the still of a quiet night with nothing but a shooting star and all the skies open for the whole horizon to see. I live with that vista every day, and miss it already.