Stitching Amy

It was a bloody gash.

We have a dog. A yellow lab. Her name is Amy. We got her almost exactly one year ago. I made a YouTube film when we got her from the pound (click HERE to watch).  

Amy is more Marlene's dog than mine. She loves Marlene, which is understandable. I feel the same way towards Marlene. :-)

Unfortunately, Amy does not bark. We wondered if maybe she didn't know how to bark. But a couple weeks after her arrival, I got her to bark. I'm the only person who, thus far, can get her to bark.

When we're outdoors in the yard, I give her "the look" and I walk towards her, slow like. She stays at a distance, fully alert. Then I lunge at her. That gets her excited enough to start barking.  At first she thoought I was serious. But now she knows its a game. And she plays along.

Amy is a good dog for Marlene because she needs to be walked, and Marlene needs the exercise. So, they walk together almost every day. On a good day they'll walk two miles. If it's really cold and snowy, they don't go so far. On some days Marlene will walk a mile down our country road and a mile back and not a single vehicle goes by. We like it that way.

A couple weeks ago Marlene called me during her walk. She said Amy cut her leg somehow. She came running out of the woods by the road and was bleeding. I grabbed a roll of gauze and got there fast. I wrapped up Amy's leg and we put her in the car.

The cut was bad enough that it really needed to be stitched. But it was a Sunday morning and getting a vet to do it would be expensive. I'm pretty sure it would have cost hundreds of dollars.

So we decided to stitch the cut ourselves. It's really not that hard to do, and Marlene has done it before... on me.

Before we started having children Marlene worked for a doctor in Moravia. She worked for him several years, and assisted with various medical procedures, including stitches. A lot of people thought she was a nurse, but she wasn't, at least not a formally trained one.

One Sunday morning way back then I was doing some woodworking and cut my hand pretty good with a knife. Marlene went to the office and got sutures and some sort of pain killer. She stitched me back together like a pro.

That was, however, nearly 40 years ago, and though Marlene felt confident (even eager) about stitching Amy, she couldn't quite remember how to tie off the knot.

The picture at the top of this post shows Marlene, hemostat in hand, making a stitch. The operating table is an enameled kitchen table in our mud room. I lifted Amy onto it and reassured her that everything was going to be fine while Marlene tended to the wound. Amy was the perfect patient.

Marlene put three stitches in the cut. Here is a finished view...

The stitches are out now. The wound is almost totally healed over. Amy is back to running through the woods on her morning walks.

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It was twenty years ago that I bought a selection of sutures to have on hand... just in case. I had been thinking I should have them, and Y2K was on the way, so that was the incentive to actually get them. 

Besides that, I was a Boy Scout and "Be Prepared" is the Boy Scout motto. It's a fine motto. It has pretty much been the motto of rural Americans for more than 200 years. It just makes sense.

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You can buy sutures on Amazon or Ebay. They aren't that expensive. The ones pictured above are the ones I have left. They are not all the same. I don't know what the best "general purpose" suture needle and thread would be for a prepared homestead. Can someone who knows more about this give a recommendation?

For how-to suture instructions... YouTube, of course.

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I have a friend named Dave. He once told me that when he was a kid, and he got a bad cut, his father would sew it back together. He did it with all the kids in the family. His father was a carpenter. Dave told me they couldn't afford to go to a doctor.

I asked Dave where he got the sutures. He said his father just used a regular needle and thread.  You have to be really skookum to give and take stitches like that!

But, the point is, it can be done.

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I'm wondering if anyone reading this might have a story of giving or taking amateur stitches?

The Newest Kimball

Babies are something special, and when they are your own, they are extra special. Today Marlene and I met our new grandbaby (pictured above). She is 3 days old. Here is a picture of her the first day she was born...

You'll notice that she has a serious look on her face. There is a little bit of a furrowed brow. Here's the look today...

I told my son that furrowed brow is probably an inherited trait from me. My brow is often furrowed. My family knows the look. 

Oaklyn is our second grandchild, and our first girl. Marlene and I raised three sons. Having a little girl in the family is something new for us.

The birth of this grandchild is not the emotional experience that the birth of my own children was. The responsibility for those little babies weighed heavy on me. I think my brow started to furrow when my children were born. The furrows got deeper and more intense as each new child came along. 

This is my son with his new daughter...

Oaklyn's mother doesn't want her picture taken. Having a baby was quite the ordeal. But she is doing just fine and is on the mend.

Grandparents love to show pictures of their grandchildren, especially when they're just born. Yes, babies really are something special.

Illinois Becky's Inspiring Minibed Garden

Becky's Minibed Garden in 2018

It was late in 2016 when, after decades of trying so many other gardening methods, I developed a new system for gardening. At first, I called it Minibeds-on-Plastic. I now call it Minibed Gardening.

At first glance, Minibed gardening doesn't look like anything all that unique. The casual observer would only see plastic mulch and some small beds. So, what's the big deal?

Well, the big deal is in how the beds are laid out and managed. I call it high-culture. High culture is all about focused attention on the health of the soil, and providing optimum conditions for plants to thrive. There's a lot more to it than meets the eye.

For the past two years I have had a Minibed experimental garden. I have put my initial ideas into practice. I've seen them prove to be sound, productive, and profoundly satisfying.

But what is even more satisfying to me is seeing others take the Minibed gardening idea and put it to good use. Such is the case with the garden in the photo above. Becky M. lives in northern Illinois, about an hour southwest of Chicago (zone 5). She sent me that beautiful photo above with the following comment...

"I bought your garden book and the first update and last year I converted my garden to minibeds.  Wow.  I had a few bumps along the road and I learned from them but for the most part, my 45 mini-beds were a huge success.  I'm 66 with bad knees and the weeding my traditional row garden required almost made me give up gardening completely.  I'm so glad I got your book and took the plunge!"

Becky's Minibed garden puts my garden to shame. Here are a couple more pictures from her first year of Minibed gardening (you can click on the pictures to see enlarged views)...

Here are some "before" photos of the same garden in the spring, after getting the plastic and Minibed frames in place...

And here's a final photo from Becky...

 Now, if all of that doesn't inspire you to get gardening this spring, I don't know what will. 

The way I look at it, gardening is one of the most positive and productive things you can do in a world full of such craziness and uncertainty. 

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With your Minibed gardening success and satisfaction in mind I have recently (just yesterday) finished putting together a new Minibed gardening resource...

The Minibed Gardening Trilogy is a collection of my yearly Minibed gardening reports (2017-2019). It has 130 pages and 250 photos. It explains the history, the theory, and the best practices of my Minibed gardening system. 

This new resource is formatted as a pdf download. The price is $17.95. But I have put it on sale until March 16 for only $12.95. Click Here to order.

If you want to learn more about the Minibed gardening system before purchasing the Trilogy, Click Here to go to the Minibed Gardening web site.

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NOTE: If you have purchased the previous yearly reports from me, you already have the first two thirds of this trilogy, and you should have received and e-mail with information about purchasing just the 30-page 2019 Minibed Gardening update (priced at $2.95). If you did not get the e-mail, contact me at  herrick@planetwhizbang.com and I'll send you the details.

George WashingtonChristian Agrarian(His Most Referenced Biblical Passage)

This bust of George Washington was made at Mount Vernon in 1785 by Jean-Antione Houdon. It is widely regarded as the most accurate likeness ever made of Washington. He was 53 years old when this was made.

I have long admired George Washington. Anyone who takes the time to delve into the story of his life and his character can not help but admire him. Washington's character was profoundly Christian. 

Every so often I'll do a Google search and peruse some Geo. Washington trivia. Today I happened upon This Page at the Mount Vernon web site, and I learned something new about Washington...

"No biblical passage is referenced more frequently in Washington's voluminous papers than the ancient Hebrew blessing and prophetic vision of the New Jerusalem in which every man sits safely "under his vine and under his fig tree." Washington invoked this image nearly four dozen times during the last half of his life. The image of reposing under one's own vine and fig tree vividly captures the agrarian ideals of simplicity, contentment, domestic tranquility, and self-sufficiency; it is also a metaphor for not only freedom from want and fear but also the right to private property and hospitality."

Wow. Washington was a Christian-agrarian. Look at those ideals... Simplicity. Contentment. Domestic tranquility. Self sufficiency. Private property (productive land). 

Here are the Bible verses from which Washington drew his most frequent biblical references...

"But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it." (Micah 4:4)

"And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon." (1 Kings 4:25)


“In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 3:10)

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Eleven years ago I went to Mount Vernon with two of my sons. It was probably the best vacation I've ever been on. I wrote about it at that time...

Visiting Mount Vernon

Washington The Farmer (Part 1)

Washington The Farmer (Part 2)

One Small Example Of Solopreneur Manufacturing

The beauty of the internet is that you can dream up simple, useful, niche-market products, make them in your home workshop, and sell them to the world. I've been doing just that for several years.

But home manufacturing isn't necessarily easy. There is a lot of work involved in making things. It's work that people may not realize is going into the product. The loop stakes I make to go with my Whizbang Bucket Irrigation Kits are just one example. In the video above I show you some of the behind-the-scenes work involved in making this little item.

The wire holding and cutting fixture you see in the video is something I made 6 years ago. It has been in storage underneath my workshop. I had to scrape some snow and ice off it after bringing it inside. The old cutter came from a yard sale (the price was right).  Rustic as it is, the contraption is a real time saver.

Now, for some amazing contrast, check out This CNC Wire Bending Machine.

How Did Dave RamseyGet My Brain?

I'm pretty certain I've blogged about Dave Ramsey in the past. And I'm pretty sure just about everyone in America must know who he is by now. Most of you reading this have probably listened to Dave's radio show, or maybe even taken his "Financial Peace University" class (I paid for all three of my sons to take the class). Nevertheless, I can't help but bring the above interview to your attention, and highly recommend it.

What Dave says in this video about things like debt, delayed gratification, going to college, wealth inequality (no class envy allowed), capitalism, the responsibility of government, and personal charity are all in perfect accord with my belief system. They are things I would say if I could so giftedly communicate with the spoken word like Dave.

Dave defines wisdom as "the art of living life well." As far as money goes, he says that, "If you read Proverbs over and over you'll have a master's Degree in finance."

His mission is to help people be debt-free, and build wealth so they can be "outrageously generous."

An example of outrageous generosity he provides is giving a pregnant waitress in a greasy spoon diner a $300 tip. It's a compelling scenario, especially if you know people like that—people who are among the working and struggling poor. People who would be truly blessed to receive such generosity.

Dave says, "People who give are always grateful people, they're more humble, and they're more selfless, and they're highly attractive people. They're who you want your kids to be when they grow up."

Speaking of growing up, the interviewer asks Dave about his upbringing and Christian faith. To fully understand Dave's answer, you need to know that he made 4 million dollars in real estate when he was 26 years old. Then he lost it all. Here's his answer...

"I didn't grow up in church. I was a hell raising, beer drinking, hillbilly. I was a crazy man. I met God as an adult. I actually met God on the way up, when I was making that money, and when we were losing everything, I got to know Him on the way down."

The last part of that comment really spoke to me. I can relate...

I've never made a lot of money in my life, but I managed to actually save some money doing carpentry work in my early years. I felt pretty good about myself. And then I lost it all in the late 1990s pursuing a bad business idea. 

It was a difficult time for me. I was depressed. But I got to know God really well on the way down, and especially when I hit the bottom. That experience totally changed my life. But I digress.

Did you know the typical millionaire pays off their home in 10.2 years? I learned that listening to the interview. 

Lessons From MonopolyAnd Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

Charles Darrow's Original Handmade Monopoly Game

I am working these days at building up my inventory of Grape Trellis Fittings, Bucket Irrigation Kits and Whizbang T-Post Trellis Span Y-holders. None of these products makes me a lot of money, but every little bit helps, and spring is coming.

The 24' x 24' addition I built on my house last year is a perfect studio to work in. For now, it's one big room with lots of natural light. I have a work bench in there. It's a downright pleasant space.

I also have a propane heater in that room, which is something completely new for us. The heater  automatically maintains a steady comfortable temperature. For the past 34 years we have had heat only when we started and maintained a fire in our wood stove— 24 hours a day in the winter. From that perspective, automatic heat is an amazing luxury. I fear that I'm getting soft in my old age.

I like to watch YouTube videos and Amazon Prime documentaries on my iPhone while working. One documentary I watched was Under The Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story.

Part of the Monopoly story is that Charles Darrow was out of work and invented Monopoly during the Great Depression as a way of making some much needed money. But he actually modified a game that had been invented by someone else decades earlier. 

According to the documentary, Darrow began by making each game himself. His goal was to make one a day and sell it for $4, which he evidently did. The photo at the top of this blog post shows one of Charles Darrow's original handmade Monopoly games. You can see the whole board (it was circular) and read what it sold for at auction at This Link.

Darrow tried to sell his new game idea to Parker Brothers but they weren't interested. Then, once he started getting the game into some stores, and word about the game spread, Parker Brothers contacted Darrow. 

Darrow was more confident about his idea by then and, instead of selling the idea outright,  he wanted a royalty agreement with Parker Brothers. That was a smart move. Darrow's heirs continue to receive money from that agreement.

I feel a kinship with Charles Darrow. Making the games by hand and hawking them for $4 each sounds like something I would do. 

Besides that, I actually invented a new game back in the early 1980s one winter when I was laid off for a few weeks from my carpentry job. And I tried to sell to Parker Brothers. And they sent me a letter in reply letting me know that they were not interested. I still have the rejection letter.

My game consisted of two "kingdoms" of playing pieces that clashed in battle. Only one survived. I called it Kingsley. The name came from Karen Kingsley, a friend of my wife and I when we went to Alfred State College. 

After watching that Monopoly movie, I feel like I should dig out my original Kingsley board (a literal board), dust off the instructions, and see if it's still as exciting as I once thought it was. I would love to have a lucrative royalty legacy that my children and grandchildren could benefit from. Wouldn't we all!

Then there is the documentary, Candyman: The David Klein Story, which I've actually watched twice. David Kline is the man who invented Jelly Belly jelly beans back in 1976.

Jelly Belly is a great American success story. But Klein did not have the business acumen that Charles Darrow had. 

In 1980 Klein was pressured to sell his trademark to the company he had contracted with to make the Jelly Belly candy. 

Without even consulting an attorney, Klein signed a contract to sell his rights to the trademark for 4.8 million dollars. Half of the money went to his partner (the partner is another strange aspect of the story). Each man received $10,000 a month for 20 years.

If Klein had negotiated a royalty agreement with the buyer he would have made hundreds of millions, and his heirs would have benefitted for generations.

As it is, the money David Klein did receive is all gone. He spent it trying to duplicate his Jelly Belly success with one novelty candy product after another. It's a sad story, but it makes for a good documentary.