When GESTALT goes loopy...

Taking a break from examining the sections of my Book of the Labyrinth and what it has to say about RITUAL during Captivity, I thought I would share yesterday’s project out in the labyrinth that did not go at all the way I thought it would.

Background: there is an area right next to the fire pit, tucked away behind the bamboo grove, that is quite lovely.

It is in fact the gentlemen’s loo, where if there are no ladies present the gentlemen are free to relieve themselves without going inside. (Yes, I keep fresh straw on the ground, just like Shakespeare. We are not savages.)

You cannot see it in the photo, but the little brackets holding the clay pots have always been inadequate. They’re too short, and so the clay pots often sit at an angle, which screws with the melting of the candles, and they’re often knocked to the ground by clumsy squirrels. It’s quite the problem.

As you can see, the design was a bit jury-rigged in the first place. It’s been bugging me for a while, and this weekend I decided to fix it. Behold my plan:

Simplicity itself: 1x6, with a large hole drilled in it for the clay pot to sit in, triangular pieces of wood to serve as brackets, affixed to a 1x6 upright. The clay pot is level, and no squirrel can tip it over. I had fears it might be too visibly clunky, but on the whole I liked it.

Off I go to the Home Depot, where I decide on pressure-treated planking — which is not 1x6 but is 5/4 x 6, i.e., 1.25” thick. Not a problem, although it ups the “too clunky” worry. I buy an 8-foot board and head home.

(I had had the idea that if I found commercially available clay pot brackets, I would go for those, but the Home Depot had none.)

I drag out the table saw and the drill press. (I have no permanent shop area.) I measure the tops out on the board and mark the center of the circle cutout. I figure it will be easier to drill the holes then cut apart the tops rather than try to hold onto a 6” piece of lumber.

The 5/4x6 marked and ready to drill.

The drill press in readiness.

This is when, having started my ABORTIVE ATTEMPT, the GESTALT process kicks in. What’s missing/what’s there that shouldn’t be? Presto: rather than cut up triangular bits and then have to drill guide holes and screw them into the top and the upright, why don’t I just use L-brackets!

You may ask, if you are of an inquiring mind, why I didn’t just use the L-brackets already in the loo? I didn’t even think of that; larger L-brackets was what popped into my head — plus I needed six of them — and so off I go to the Home Depot again, returning with the L-brackets, bolts to attach the tops to the brackets, and some locking washers.

Yes, the plan was getting more complicated. This is the way GESTALT/SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION usually works.

And then, when I tkae a large L-bracket over to the loo to check for fit, etc., that’s when it dawns on me: just replace the smaller L-brackets with the larger ones.

Doh.

What promised to be an hour-and-a-half of cutting, driiling, and fudging all the mistakes ended up being a 15-minute piece of cake: remove the old bracket, measure a bit, put up the new one.

Still not perfectly level, but close. We’ll see how the squirrels like it. And if it doesn’t make me happy, Home Depot makes larger brackets. Or I can go back and drill the holes in the boards, buy more brackets, and just attach the brackets directly to the fence. GESTALT! SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION!