A Plan (tool) for a Plan

The first thing a I need to create raised planters was a plan. And moreover I needed a tool to make that plan.

Google SketchUp seemed like the ideal choice, and I began in earnest at my nearest coffee shop. Google SketchUp is a cool app written in a cool language: Ruby.

However despite its coolness and despite my writing CADCAM programs in Fortran many years ago, I found changing the spec with SketchUp very difficult.

After a lot of swearing, my dear wife suggested a new tool for the job: It was radical! I biked down to Borders in Los Gatos and bought a geometry set! You know, the one with the protractor, a couple of set squares, a compass and a ruler. The joy of my life when I was 13.

I set about my task with gusto, drawing, erasing and redrawing the plan under my gardening directors eye. After 4 tries we had a plan that we agreed on and could set about implementing...