Right Angle Challenged

Posted by Robert Dailey Jun 8, 2008

I can’t help it…I’m an incorrigible do-it-yourselfer. I wouldn’t recognize a right angle if it came up and bit me, if right angles actually bite.

A case in point: when I was about nine, I wanted a pet rabbit. I can’t remember exactly why I wanted or needed a rabbit. I do remember telling telling my dad that rabbit manure was great for his garden. He already knew, I'm sure, that the amount of fertilizer created by one rabbit (even a very productive one) would be limited for my father’s extensive vegetable garden. My dad said I could have one, if I could build a rabbit hutch.

I went to work. First, I sketched it. Well, sort of sketched it. The drawing was more in my head than on paper.

Two days later, it was finished. I thought it looked pretty good, although it had a little trouble standing upright. I nailed a small extension onto the short leg which gave it a lot more stability.

“How did you measure the angles, son?"

“Just figured them out in my head, Dad,” I said proudly.

Two days later, I got my rabbit.

Year later, rummaging around in the barn, I came across some two by fours nailed together and wrapped in chicken wire. My rabbit hutch. There wasn’t a right angle anywhere on the contraption.

Decades later, and I’m afraid I haven’t learned much more about carpentry. I think that’s why I love gardening…I can hide so many horrible mistakes...and I don’t have to do right angles.