spring: when young man's fancy turns to thoughts of construction.

In my quest to live a little more sustainably I've been trying to adopt a do-it-yourself ethic. It's an idea that I admire and one that, to a great extent, I was raised with.

There's just one problem. When it comes to doing some things myself I really suck.

Now, you can't say that I'm incompetent. I am not an un-handy guy - my wife can attest to the fact that I have successfully repaired her car on more than one occasion, that I fixed all the ceilings in our house before we moved it, or that I repaired our roof in a wind storm with no incident.

On the other, if you asked her she would point out that every board I cut ends up being too short, that there is not a level surface in our house, and that pieces of the kitchen wall fall off from time to time.

A shame, because I always fancied myself having the potential to be a fine carpenter.

My handyman-wannabe heart rejoices, however, when I look at the list of things I need to accomplish over the next few months. Sometime between now and July I need to rebuild the corrals around my yard and construct at least five portable chicken huts. Sometime in the next couple of weeks I need to repair the circuit breakers in my house so that our deep-freeze works. Sometime before the fall I need to build a full-blown chicken coop.

As I sit here and make my list I tear up with joy. Think of all the wood I get to cut! All the right angles I get to construct! Paint to be applied and wires to be soldered - it warms the cockles of this farm boy's heart.

Fear not, dear reader - yours truly is used to the jeers of the doubters: per usual, I shall overcome.

So let the neighbours laugh at my un-level construction projects; let them scorn the sparks that fly from my electrical repairs.

I'm being self-sufficient, dammit.

Besides, my chickens and I think your arrow straight fence and skillful soldering don't look so hot either.

Regards from Alberta's brush plain.