Day 1 dawns dark, rainy, and bone-chillingly cold. We do need our rain gear and fortunately experienced rendezvous-ers knew enough to bring it.

In a repeat of last year's project at Lexington's McKethan Park, participants arrived throughout the previous evening from points along the East Coast for a long four days of work, community spirit, camping, and return to dorm food. There are some 35 VMI cadets. About a third of them are returning alums from last year's joint VMI-Guild trebuchet project. There's also a Gang of Ten from the Massachusetts College of Art, including graduate students in photography and sculpture coaxed to participate by Rick and Laura Brown, who teach a woodworking course at the college. "This is an optional workshop that we talked our students into," says Laura. "The school got us a van and sent us all down for some community service." To get us all moving, Col. Wayne Neel announces the morning's start with the traditional bagpipes.

Even before the bagpipes, Susan awakens to a cry: "My tent is flooded." Her son, Rowan, calls his dad, Joel, for a dry pair of shoes and leaves his swamp for hot chocolate.

The accommodations

The water puddle

Chow from the mess arrives: eggs, sausage (appreciated by everyone except Shadow, the dog, who leaves hers behind), and biscuits to hold the gravy.

The official business begins. Joel McCarty, Guild President, describes the day's plans and introduces the work groups. Work of the day is layout in two formats: scribe (headed up by instructor Dave Dauerty) and square rule. In other parts of the shelter and under tents (since the rain continues to pour down), layout begins on king posts with John Miller, rafters with Donna Williams, purlins with Mark Brandt and Peter Bull, and plates with Laura Brown.

Why are these people smiling? Laura Brown, Rick Brown and Joel McCarty all suited up for the weather.

Ed Levin, who designed the gazebo, asks about the safety lecture. Joel responds, "Can they hurt themselves with a square and a pencil?" The meeting adjourns and the cadets and Guild volunteers join a group. Ed retires to a corner with laptop to finish the design for the scarf joints, and Donna Williams (below) begins the layout with framers Bob Smith, John Dagil, and VMI Cadet Andy Smith.

By mid-afternoon, the rain and the quiet cease as chain mortisers, circular saws, band saws, and electric chain saws are powered up. The blue hills off in the distance reappear from the morning haze. Most of the layout is done except for the scarfed plates and the scribe group who are scribing the tie beams to the posts. Three cadets doing layout dispatch another cadet to ask Joel for a "board stretcher." Joel kindly reveals that the cadet has been had, as the cadet watches his comrades doubled over in laughter.

Peter Bull (left) and Mark Brandt instruct their VMI helpers on safe cutting.
Another cadet carefully measures.

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