When I finally got the throne out (it was heavily caulked in place) I found this! A pile of ants! They had huddled together, I guess to ride out the winter under the throne...oh well, they'll have to find a new spot to sleep... 

Though my initial instinct was to clean the statue, I instead worked on the throne first. I knew that with temps being so low the paint would dry really slowly, and the statue can't stay outside the Stupa long. So I wanted to get the throne ready as quickly as possible.

Once the throne was painted I took Amitayus into the temple to wash him, and to work on that duct tape on the plexiglas... 

Here's a shot of Amitayus after a sponge bath. You can see the sun was getting low in the sky (he's sitting on the counter in the kitchen, by a window). 

I was joined late in the afternoon by Lisa, who thanks to the fact she now telecommutes 2 days out of her 5, can get out to help before our early winter sunset.

We encountered multiple challenges, the first of which was the ants so neatly balled together in the earlier photo had dispersed by the time we got back to put the throne back in. Thus, we spent a very long time relocating the little gals. As it turned out, we were out until well after dark. The throne must be caulked in place, as the interior slopes (you can see that here a little). Without the throne in place, Amitayus has nowhere to sit.

Well, it all seemed good, we had the throne painted, we even had some wax paper in case the paint hadn't dried adequately. We had caulk. We didn't have much sunlight or warmth though, and the darn caulk just wouldn't set up. That throne just kept sliding down that slope, threatening to fall out completely. We tried using a webbing strap to hold the plexi in place, which we had hoped would hold the throne in place, but it didn't work. To make a long story short, we spent about an hour in the dark trouble shooting, finally Lisa had the idea of using some sort of bean bag for Amitayus to sit on overnight (you cannot remove a statue from a Stupa without great mindfulness, and it certainly can't be left out overnight). Fortunately, while rifling through the gift store for options, I asked Ani Hesper if she had anything. It turns out she did! She offered a buckwheat neck thing for Amitayus to sit on! We wrapped it in some of the new brocade purchased yesterday to help make it more appropriate (this is a seat for the Buddha after all!) and rigged our webbing strap with some bungee cords and got things in a place where they could rest overnight. Whew! Almost thought I'd be out there all night with Amitayus holding that throne in place!

Tomorrow is Lha Bab Duchen, which is one of the four major auspicious days in the Tibetan Buddhist Calendar. We'll all be gathering for a day of prayer and practice, as well as some Stupa work. It is a great day to visit, if you get the chance! The temple, the Stupas, the land is all available to all those seeking some comfort in these difficult times. You don't need to be Buddhist, there are no requirements. The temple is open 24 hours a day, and the Stupas are available everry day (the Enlightenment Stupa is accessible 24 hours a day as well!). All the efforts you see on these pages are devoted to keeping these precious objects of refuge available too all who are suffering for as long as possible. So please do come visit them, they are here for you!

November 21st...Rainy day...

Here's the interior of the gau of the Enlightenment Stupa from back in August. You can see those amazing brocades shining and vibrant. They're now at the cleaners, and the interior space there has gotten quite wet once again. Thus, I'm working on developing a better system to keep Guru Rinpoche clean and dry between maintenance days. As you can see from yesterday's post, the gau out at the Stupa Park was constructed quite differently (each Stupa integrated new features learned from problems encountered with previous builds). I'll give more details in future posts, but for now suffice it to say there is work to be done!

It rained today so I spent the day getting the holes in the plexi for the Long Life Stupa enlarged and getting materials together for the gau...

It's blurry, sorry Mom, but I hate to use the flash...

After getting the acrylic drilled and finding our brocade source tucked away in an industrial park (I had never been there myself), I then began to think about how to get the brocade ready for the Long Life Stupa, and how to get the gau mounting system transitioned. I knew a place where I might get advice on both fronts...Mom and Dad! : ) My mother sews, and Dad has a garage full of tools.

Mom was willing to sew the brocade, but found my sketch and measurements inadequate (I'm no seamstress). She said it would be best in this situation to actually take the cloth, or a sheet, to the Stupa and place it up there and cut it there. The reason being the interior is curved all over, no straight edges to follow, so she said it would be difficult to get the material to fall right without many more measurements than I took. Easier just to go out and cut it there. She said she'd lend her sewing machine as well, though I'm not sure I have any idea how to thread it (tougher than you'd think!). But, first steps first...she recommended using some sort of "liquid thread" to hold the velcro onto the brocade, and gave me another bottle of stuff that should keep the cut edges from fraying. I'm thinking I'll need to have at least one seam though...but we'll see...

While my Mom went down to her sewing room to see what she could find to help, my Dad drew a diagram of the kind of bit to look for in order to route out a lip for the plexi on the Enlightenment Stupa. He has a router to lend us, but said we'd need a special bit to grind out the concrete. You can see I tap every available resource!  

These are the glues Mom gave me. No idea how they'll work...but what else is new! The one in the center will theoretically stop the brocade from fraying at the edges once cut.

So, what work gets done tomorrow depends totally on the weather. If it rains, I'll go out and hose down the Enlightenment Stupa for Wednesday (that white shows dirt!). If not, I'll work on this brocade business. I'll need to pick up a good pair of scissors (all mine are used for every manner of thing...). Help would be great (not crazy about climbing around the Long Life Stupa alone), but I'll manage regardless. So though I wasn't able to work "on the Stupa" today, progress was made. The acrylic piece is now ready to be placed, brocades are purchased and in our possession, and I have a plan for how to work this out (sort of). : )

If you have a chance, mark your calendars for Wednesday! It's a 10 Million Day, Lha Bab Duchen, where beneficial or virtuous activity is multiplied many times (so is non-virtue, by the way, so be careful..). It would be a fantastic day to visit the Stupas!

November 20th...Not Done Yet...

Though I posted this photo a few days ago, I'm posting it again to give you a frame of reference...(and a full view of a Stupa for the benefit that brings to you!). The following shots are of the gau, or vestibule of the central Stupa in this photo, where the main figure sits...

As promised I am posting photos from Friday today. This is Amitayus, sitting on the throne in the Long Life Stupa out at the Stupa Park (the central one). We've removed the old plexi in this shot, and you can see the gau is surprisingly clean, tidy and dry. I was shocked (happily). Amitayus is also in great shape, and though he lacks a brocade right now, we'll be working on that...

This is a shot of one of the mounting brackets for the plexi. It's a simple solution, but it works. In fact, when I examined the interior of the gau I was really impressed. First of all, there were NO bugs, and no moisture!

The way the plexi was set into the face rather than on top of the face of the gau seems to be one of the keys (hence the need for brackets such as this). You can see a small lip carved out of the gau opening to rest the plexi against, and the brackets hold it in place. With a good bead of caulk, no moisture gets in.

In our set up at the Enlightenment Stupa the face plate fits over the opening entirely, causing all water running down the face to get behind it. Not ideal, as we've seen.

A second essential component out here is they seem to have sealed the interior of the gau with some sort of rubber like coating, to prevent moisture from entering via the concrete.

Thus, my mind has already begun turning trying to figure out how to create a similar set up at the Enlightenment Stupa. It will be a lot of work (routing out the concrete, sealing the interior, and having the acrylic face plate cut down to the new size), however, it will have the best possible result.

This set up is much more durable over time, not only because it prevents that horrendous water infiltration from the outside (we'll continue to combat it until we are able to renovate the set up), but because these brackets could be easily replaced if (or should we say "when") they wear out. The bolt situation on the Enlightenment Stupa is already showing signs of difficulty (the bolts stick out from the concrete, hence, cannot be replaced). One is already stripped, and that's just an indication of our future out there. Of course, renovating the opening to this format will also then require cutting down the bolts sticking out from the concrete and finding a way to grind them down so we can cover them with repair material. Welcome to the world of Stupa work! One simple question leads to a whole series of time consuming steps!

Once we took down the old plexi, we headed over to Acrylic Works to see if they'd drill holes for us. David greeted us, and diligently set to work preparing the old piece to be a guide. It turns out our new acrylic shield was not perfectly cut, and with the need to fit it exactly in the opening, we needed to get it cut down. Fortunately, the guys at Acrylic Works were eager to help, but of course, it wasn't free. : ) They cut us a break though, and got the job done in one afternoon....but... 

Well, as usual, there was a problem. You can see David was careful to stick the two pieces together (the old plexi and the new) to route the new piece down to the exact size we needed. He faithfully drilled all 5 holes, but alas, the holes were too small for our screws. So, it may be a trip back once again to Acrylic Works in Rockville tomorrow!

We're working towards a goal of Wednesday for getting the gau ready. Prayers are welcome!

Of course, the Stupas are always beneficial, whether they're under renovation or not! So please do come visit them, either in Pooleville or here online. They exist only to bring peace, prosperity and benefit to beings. They don't care if you're Buddhist or not, or even if you like them or not, they offer their blessings ceaselessly, no strings attached...

November 19th...Catching up...

Well, I missed a few days of posting photos, once because I left the camera in the Stupa truck, and yesterday because of technical difficulties after installing a new firewall on my computer. So the photos you're seeing today are from Thursday (I work this weekend so figured I'd post yesterdays photos tomorrow). What you're looking at here are the 55 gallon barrels we use to get water to our work sites. We have 65 acres of minimally developed parkland where many of our Stupas are located, and no running water out there anywhere. So, we've had to get creative...

The Stupa Park, for those unfamiliar with this project, lacks electricity or water. Thus, the barrels full of water feed a sump pump, which requires the generator to run (the sump pump is electric). The sump pump then feeds the power washer, which is gasoline powered. All of this equipment must be brought to the site, which is accessible only by very athletic vehicles (4 wheel drive mandatory). Thus, our recently donated Stupa truck has been essential to getting this project completed! The whole operation took some time to figure out, and many heads working together, but now we have the system down to the point I can work it alone!

You may be wondering if the paint stripper we're using is yellow. The answer is "no", it's actually more orange. The yellow color is coming from the paint it's lifting from the slate. All that overspray from when we applied our tinted primer (yellow) with our sprayer. Our skill level wasn't very advanced, and it turns out we were using a totally inappropriate nozzle (the one we used for applying this stripper in fact! Not good for paint...). So we ended up with a lot of overspray, which I spent Thursday trying to clean up... 

Here's a shot of the stripper applied, you can see it absorbs into the paint. It worked well. As I power washed there was an obvious difference between those areas where I'd applied it and those I missed. Fortunately, I did cover most of the paint... 

This is the result of all the toil on Thursday (the day I power washed and forgot to bring the camera home). You can see much of the paint has been removed, but the weeds remain an issue. There are many loose ends to address as we continue to work towards completing the project. We've already begun looking at thermal coveralls and long johns, realizing that though we once may have viewed Stupa work as seasonal, necessity has forced us to perceive it otherwise. : )

Our next big goal is to get the gaus all ready by Wednesday, which is a 10 Million Day (Lha Bab Duchen). Once again, our goal represents a stretch, with many prayers that things somehow fall into place.

It is our sincere hope that all who see this blog, whether you know what a Stupa is or not, will take the time to come see them in person. We're located in Poolesville, Maryland, a short drive from Washington D.C., and there are Stupas available for you 24 hours a day. All we do here is to keep these powerful sources of blessing here in the world for as long as possible, so countless beings may bask in their ceaseless compassion. If they look just like concrete statues, come on out and spend some time with them. We're certain you'll feel differently by the time you leave...

November 19th...Resolving Technical Difficulties...

This is a photo from Thursday. I've been having trouble with my connection (new firewall needs training) so was unable to post yesterday. I should be at work as we speak, so will update this evening. For now, please do see how the Stupa Park looks! There is stripper applied in this photo (on the flagstone) which I later that day power washed off. Yesterday, Beth helped sweep up the debris left by this operation. I'll post a more complete review of the past few days later. For now, it looks like a sunny day, so please do visit these amazing structures!

November 17th...Joy....

Well, what can you say? I left my camera, with what few photos I took, in the truck today. So I'm posting this photo of the Amitabha Stupa in Arizona, which is currently undergoing it's own repairs!

I was exhausted by days end, and with the cold weather setting in, couldn't feel my feet, so I left in a bit of a hurry. The day was, however, worth every second of suffering. I was able to apply stripper and then power wash the flagstone around the Stupa Park. Unfortunately, our nemesis, the white paint from the hell realms continued to resist our efforts at removal, even from the ground. There was, however, a lot of paint spread around between all the coats, the spraying and the footprints. I can say the majority of it was removed today, but not all. So it goes with the Stupa project!

I may have thought I was done at that point, but who appeared? James! He came as early as he could for the class tonight, and came out to see if we could work on the plexi! So, though warm slippers and pizza were dancing in my head, we went out to Migyur Dorje to pick up a ladder and clambered up the Enlightenment Stupa. Thanks to James though, we were able to get the plexi down, grind out the slot where it sits so it will now fit flush, and remove the brocade for cleaning! We lost a few bolts and washers (it was dark at this point after all) and the caulk is a MESS. But, we're another step closer to getting that chamber properly sealed. I'll be back out tomorrow to assess the gaus of the Long Life Stupa and Ngagpa Yeshe Dorje, and I should have enough brain cells left by the end of the day to remember to bring the camera home. : )

As usual, I'll end by saying all you see on these pages is devoted towards keeping these precious structures in the world for the benefit of all. Everyone is welcome to visit them, pray to them, make offerings to them, you don't need to be Buddhist or even know what they are. They are here for you, offering ceaseless blessings. It is our hope you will visit them in person when you can (in Poolesville, Maryland or in Sedona, Arizona), and here online!

November 16th...Rain and challanges...

Well, it rained today, so I posted this photo from September.

My first day back since the mad rush on Sunday and all we could do was plan. Oh well. Lisa developed an excel spreadsheet (she was at work), while James and I talked out some ideas and hunted for tools to cut acrylic. Why do we need to cut acrylic?

Remember when we carefully placed our desiccant in the Stupa? Well, it turned out it was a waste. The faceplate did not sit flush against the Stupa, it bows out at the bottom pretty dramatically. I hadn't realized this at the time, but they had mentioned it was difficult to get it to fit. Thus, we have now seen rain enter that shelter, and condensation form, and the beautiful brocades become damp. Fortunately, it hasn't been that long. So we're ready to address it now!

It's been a tough thing, watching those gorgeous brocades begin their process of deterioration already. We've been focused on getting the painting done before the cold hit (it's hit now). A few weeks back James and I put a ladder up to the Enlightenment Stupa to sweep off the collecting leaves and discovered the faceplate was never flush against the Stupa! So, there's a reason the desiccant failed...In any case, we're not going to just leave it. The plan is to take down the plexi, get it cut (we'll truck it over to Piedmont Plastics where we had it made) and have them trim the bottom for us. We visited there today and discovered such a cut might be more than we can handle (acrylic melts with the friction, skill is needed to cut it).

The goal is to get the faceplate trimmed so it will seal, replace the caulking with weather stripping, to preserve the acrylic faceplate more, have the brocade cleaned and then replace the desiccant and try our experiment again. : ) We'll keep at it until we find a way to keep that precious vestibule clean!

We're working to keep these precious sources of blessings not only in the world, but inspiring, to all who encounter them. They are here in order to benefit all living beings that connect with them, either by accident or on purpose, whether your Buddhist or not, human or not, no matter. They're here for you!

November 13th...Last Warm Day???

This is a photo from Friday, when we finished priming the base. For those of you familiar with the Stupa Park, the base has been painted white since it was first built. We felt that overwhelmed the Stupa itself, and set about trying to find an alternative look. Today you can see what we came up with!