The Mysterious changing Andy Taylor What happened to Andy Griffith from black and white days of Andy Griffith Show to days of color? It is common knowledge black and white episodes with Barney were more funny and entertaining, but why did Andy suddenly change from a loveable country bumpkin, who was always wise but never serious, to a almost bitter man that seemed to even lose his country accent?

Is original answer for this something that belongs in Twilight Zone? Did writers of show have an intriguing plot to reveal that just never came to be? What could make a man change so drastically from changing of black and white to color? Is there a scientific explanation? Could answer be as bizarre as a UFO kidnapping? Was Andy Taylor replaced with a clone? Were we watching two different dimensions of time and space?

I have some more reasonable explanations, but you be judge. Perhaps Andy had attempted to quit smoking which made him grumpy in real life. Perhaps he was trying to impress equally grumpy Miss Crump or should we say Miss Grump. Why, oh why, didn't he marry lady druggist? Perhaps none of this would have happened.

The changed Andy happened about time Barney Fife left town. Did antics of Don Knotts keep Andy in a good ol' home town mood? Or did emergence of Jughead hat wearing Goober affect Andy in a way that can't be explained. After all, just before show turned color, Andy threatened life of Goober, after he put a car together right inside court house.

So what do you think? Was it aliens, a lack of nicotine, Goober, Gomer, Miss Crump, or no Barney? You be judge, I just present facts as I know them.

Later on, however, after I had graduated from high school and started traveling around United States, I was hard-pressed to meet anyone who had ever been on a dairy farm, much less lived on one. People would ask me where I was from and when I told them Wisconsin, they’d say, “I suppose you lived on a dairy farm.”

After a while, it became clear to me that for people in other states, ‘Wisconsin’ and ‘dairy farm’ were synonymous. I would explain that not everyone in Wisconsin lives on a dairy farm, and then I would find myself answering questions about what it was like growing up on a farm.

Today, most of small family dairy farms like one where I grew up are gone. My parents milked 20 cows, but farmers can no longer make a living that way. Milk prices have essentially stayed same since 1970s, and many small farmers decided to sell their dairy herds when their business expenses ended up exceeding their gross farm income year after year.

Even though most of small family farms have disappeared, evidence that they once existed remains—in empty dairy barns scattered around countryside—in pastures that have been turned into residential subdivisions—in creameries that have been abandoned or converted into other uses.

And in my stories about growing up on a Wisconsin dairy farm.

My books "Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm)" (July 2003) and "Give Me a Home Where Dairy Cows Roam" (October 2004) each contain 20 true stories about growing up on a family farm 40 years ago. Christmas in Dairyland includes a number of family recipes (lefse; sugar cookies; bon-bons; Christmas bread; fattigman; and several others). Both books are appropriate for readers of all ages.

Christmas in Dairyland -- Celebrate Christmas during a simpler time 40 years ago when happiness was baking cookies, decorating Christmas tree, or even just getting out of wearing snow boots to school.

Give Me a Home Where Dairy Cows Roam -- Stories set on a small family dairy farm in Wisconsin 40 years ago at a time when small family farms still dotted countryside and summertime meant learning to drive tractor, making ice cream, and riding a pony to hayfield.

Here are what some of my readers are saying about books:

I have to tell you I feel a little sad. Just read LAST page of "Give me a home where dairy cows roam." I enjoyed every word. . .I wish your book went on forever . . .now, bring on "Cream of Crop!" I'll be waiting! Anita(Wisconsin)