Gary Jones says his life has been a testament to questionable decisions and lost opportunities. However, his wife of many years says she knows of nothing in the record to justify such unfettered optimism. Gary is one of the last generation of rural veterinarians who remembers working with cows that had names and personalities and dairymen who worked in the barn with their families. He's also a part of the first wave of Baby Boomers, crusty codgers who are writing their wills and grousing about kids who can be damned condescending at times. He practiced bovine medicine in rural Wisconsin for nineteen years, returned to graduate school at the University of Minnesota, earned a PhD is microbiology, and spent the next nineteen years working on the development of bovine and swine vaccines.