By Teresa Lyons
Bulletin Staff Writer
The second work weekend got off to a cool and dry start with Ian's and my arrival Friday night. After a couple hours of strenuous stretching exercises to prepare for the weekend (i.e. setting up Ian's hammock and lounging in it), we were joined by Mike and Carla, who groped their way into camp and helped with mental stretches in discussions about this year's Adventure as the evening closed in front of the campfire.
It was a dark and stormy night... Well, a grey and rainy Saturday at least. We huddled in the dry cabin and bravely tested the new grill with a french toast breakfast. Jo Ellen, Magali (Jo Ellen's 'sister' from Costa Rica), and Erik arrived just as we were wondering what to do with the last piece of french toast. Erik scarfed it down and quickly set to working off the calories by whacking weeds before realizing that the wet grass made the persistent drizzle feel like a downpour. His subsequent hypothermia made him so delirious that he took on the job of scouting out a spot for a rope swing and was soon swinging from a tree on a rotted old piece of rope. Mike, Carla and I took the driest job - glazing the cabin's windows until we ground to a halt due to lack of caulk. Jo Ellen and Magali, the inseparable Spanish-speaking pair, cleared space near the gate for parking cars and planted the new info board firmly in the ground.
Soon Carol arrived from New Haven with steak, buffalo wings, bagels and wine for dinner. She took over my post at glazing while Ian and I went into town to get some working supplies. After the tarp was put up over the deck, lunch was spent drying (and burning, by one pyromaniac camper) socks, shoes and work gloves by a fire and wishing that the pb&j sandwiches were a hot dish.
Amazingly, everyone dragged themselves away from the fire after lunch. The afternoon was highlighted with cries of "Yeah! The last tube of caulk is used up!" and the Amazon Tin Squad (Jo Ellen, Magali, Carol, and I) hauling a tin ex-shutter from behind the cabin to reincarnate it as a tin roof over Ian's brainchild, the woodpile in the corner of the barn foundation. A path was cleared around the pond, leaving many æsthetically pleasing ferns on the shore. New fashionable black plastic was walled around the latrine, which also has a new addition of a Dr. Bronner's hand cleaner (a pot of soapy water hanging from a tree). The barn foundation was pruned to limit pokey things for MSF campers. Erik sprinkled the meadow and some of the campers with grass seed. Ian cut a piece of plywood to cover a hole in the porch around the cabin, unselfishly consecrating the area by wrenching his ankle so that all future campers may safely pass. The shallows of the pond were raked relatively free of rocks in hopes that Chris Holm will not be able to attempt suicide by gashing his foot in the pond again this year (the foot-gashing has become his annual tradition). And a tin eve was put on the sign board, though I can't figure out if it's to keep the sign dry (better luck next time!) or to help reduce the glare from the sun on things to be posted there (sun? wishful thinking!).
At the end of the day, the workers made another enormous sacrifice by boldly testing the steak Carol had brought (which was a possible prototype for this years MSFeast beast), which had been carefully marinated earlier. The buffalo wings were a delicious addition to the fare. Carla and Mike broke camp after dinner, in hopes of drying out before Carla had to sing in the church choir the next morning.
When Ian went into town Saturday, he asked a local why the White River was so low. He was told that it has been a very dry summer. Due to the fact that it has rained the three times Ian has been to Vermont this year (and that it always rains at MSF), it seemed only natural to blame the weather on him. However, it turns out that this weekend's culprits were Mike and Carla. Sunday was a beautiful day. The mood in camp was punctuated with the fact that the tarp over the deck was taken down in defiance of Precipitation Man and clothing was hung out to dry (though Jo Ellen's shoes refused to dry - PMan had left his mark). The ground was firm and soft enough to plant some more rocks along the path to the cabin. The air was dry enough to allow painting of the signboard and touching up of a few other things. Ian made an iron brace between two trees near the pond from which he hopes to hang a porch swing at MSF. The steam teepee from last year was dismantled due to its propensity for attracting a certain pyromaniac camper (yes, the same one that chars his socks!) and the wood stove was hauled into the cabin for storage until someone else gets a burning inspiration. The pond was delightful enough in the sun for everyone to swim and wash off the weekend's grime and for the raft to be launched.
After a lunch of cheese, bagels, grapes, chips and the last teaspoon of peanut butter, Jo Ellen left with Magali and Erik, saying that she wanted to be get home early enough to "get some things done." Ian, Carol and I hung around a while longer, taking a hike up to the top of the hill, where we feasted on plump red raspberries and made a lovely bonsai wildflower bouquet. We hung out for a while on the hammock before packing up camp. Ian had brought his CB walkie-talkies and was looking for an opportunity to put them to use, so we made plans for dinner with Carol over the CB on our way to Lebanon - the traditional Wendy's trip.
Thanks to all of this trip's workers: Mike and Carla Guenette, Jo Ellen Saunders, Magali, Erik Nottleson, Carol Barrette, me and Ian! We're sorry to have missed Gavin Dowell and Steve Munier, who had to work (REAL work), and any of you others that were dying for a trip to Vermont but just couldn't make it. See you all at MSF!

[7/21/91 - An impromptu third work trip was made this weekend by Ian & Gavin Dowell, Carol Barrette, and Karen Johnson. They scraped, primed, and painted the deck as well as replacing another rotten floor board, finished the info board, stabilized the collapsing tree-house, and re-rigged the MegaTarp frame so it no longer interferes with volleyball and so the MegaTarp can be raised by one person in a matter of minutes. Oh, and Carol says that you shouldn't wear socks when you're out in the sun or you'll get funny tan lines. - IAD] m