It's a Box!

Thanks for joining us in this edition of Avuncular Activities.

"Avuncular" (a·vun·cu·lar adjective 1.of or relating to an uncle) has, overnight, become our favorite word and thusly radically altered our lives.  We are both wearing collared sweaters, donning spectacles (even if they are 3D movie glasses with the lenses popped out), growing mustaches (Delilah's is looking promising), and writing with mechanical pencils.

In our transition to becoming uncles we have naturally begun to make boxes.  Big boxes, small boxes, locked boxes, fox boxes, penalty boxes, jack-in-the-boxes.  And in our box-making frenzy the question popped into our heads. . .Who invented The Box?  This edition of Avuncular Activities is dedicated to the history of the box.

It all started years ago with four dudes: Rafael, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo. These dudes were some upstanding dudes and always helped out in the community.  From teaching skateboarding to the town toddlers, to rescuing

Timmy out of the well, they were always helping out where they could.  One day, on their way to help a promising young pupil learn how to kick-flip, they passed by Dave the Pizza-er (one who makes Pizza).
"Kowabunga, Dave!"  They yelled.
But when Dave did not respond with the customary "What's good my green friends?"  they knew something was very wrong.
     "What's up, Dave? You look like a skateboard's run you down."
     "Oh, well, I made all these pizzas for the Timmy's-no-longer-down-in-a-well party because he's no longer down in that well."
    "Right on, Amigo!" said Donatello.
    "Totally radical, man," said Rafael.
    "Super," said Michaelangelo.  And Leonardo, always the cool one,  just gave Dave a slight nod and a half-wink, as he crossed his legs and lounged against the wall.
     Dave was not reassured by the Dudes' encouragement or even Leonardo's half-wink.
    "Yes it's all great guys but I have no way of bringing all those pizzas to the party!" He sunk down onto a stack of pizza cardboard.

The Dudes were baffled by this conundrum and scrunched up their faces into their best thinking poses.  They scratched their heads and stroked their smooth turtley chins. Finally, Donatello bursted out.
    "I got it!"
    "You figured out how to bring the pizzas to the party?"
    "No, I finally found the M&M I lost last week. It was in my back pocket this whole time." He  munched on the M&M.
He was thoroughly congratulated with a few exclamations of "Awesome dude", "Mega cool bro" and the customary "Kowabunga du..."  But Rafael could not finish his exclamation.  The others stared at him but he was already bounding across the room to the stack of cardboard. He went to work in a fury of measuring, folding, and cutting.  In no time at all he stood back.
     "Viola!"
     The others went through the list: "Radical!" "Kowabunga!" "Right on!" and "Killer!".
     "What is it?" asked Dave.
     "I call it: a box."
     Rafael grabbed a pizza pie and slid it in.

The Dudes were astounded. Minutes later with the pizzas nestled into boxes (though there were considerably fewer slices than when they started), the Dudes rolled towards town on their skateboards, pizza stacked high above their heads.

Thanks for joining us on this educational edition of Avuncular Activities.

Here's a picture of one such box we constructed using 1/4" luan plywood, wood glue, and a whole lot of clamps. It will fit 2 small and 4 personal pizzas.

-Dan