Jim Poole grew up long ago on a mink farm in the small town of Sudbury, Massachusetts. During the Depression Jim went to school, watered mink and explored and enjoyed life pretty much on his own terms-a time when parents were busy and neighborhood children played outside on their own. During WWII Jim took on more adult responsibilities as a young farmhand, helping his father and older sister feed and water mink on a neighbor's mink ranch. Jim's colorful "Thumbs Out" reminiscences begin well before he headed off to first grade and play out through years in Sudbury schools, college at UVM in Vermont and U.S. Army service in Fort Rucker, Alabama. These stories, interspersed with 44 snapshots and other illustrations, come to a close after Jim's Army stint when he returned to the mink farm with his lovely pregnant wife and a protective dachshund puppy to welcome Dirk Daniel, their firstborn, into their lives almost before they had unpacked."