April 23rd...Attempts made...

Today Norbu and I were both working (and will be the case tomorrow) at our jobs. Thus, it was a back up crew that stepped in today. No one on site had a camera, but the report was they had difficulty working out how to regulate the sand and pressure. Feeling they were wasting sand with minimal results, they decided to hold off for now. Thanks Pete and Philip for giving it a try!

Thus, Norbu and I will be back at it on Monday. We'll see where we're at then. We'll also be receiving 150 more bags of sand, to keep us busy for a while. :)

If there are any folks out there wanting to learn this process first hand, please feel free to join us! We promise not to abandon you to the task. Between Norbu and myself we have most days this week covered, so you'd have one of us to work with. We can use folks who just want to "spot" the hose man, keeping an eye on him or her to make sure they stay safe.

On another note, we also received the paint samples from Jerry Mulnix in California (finally). I'll show them to Norbu on Monday prior to forwarding them to Arizona (quite a trip these chips have taken eh?) where they can be reviewed by our Lama, Jetsunma, so she can choose which gold she wants for the Stupas. Once that happens, it'll still be 4 weeks or so before we can get paint, as we're working on a custom mix.

We're working on the Enlightenment Stupa right now though, which is white, so we can obtain paint for that one as soon as we are ready. That's why we've decided to focus on it, targeting May 23rd for painting. It is special day, and we hope to offer as many as can show up the opportunity put paint on a Stupa on one of the most auspcious days of the year! If you're interested in being there, we promise to provide everything you'll need to participate. All you have to do is show up! That all depends, of course, on our ability to get it ready for paint by then... : ) You can keep an eye out here to watch our progress...

This coming week will be revealing. We're hoping to get the steps at the top of the throne of the Enlightenment Stupa clear of paint by Friday. It could be difficult, but possible. Keep us in your prayers!