Down to the Bedrock

On Monday August 11, 2008 Joe visited the land after a rain storm and in video 1 shows the extent of the excavation for the Vajra pavilion foundation down to the bedrock.Click here for a definition of bedrock. Although hard to discern in the video, the bedrock is an amazing 5-6 feet below the mandala gravel surface.

Video 1:



On Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Joe is back on the land with the excavator who is removing soil down to the bedrock where the cement foundation for the Vajra pavilion will be poured this summer.

Video 2:

A Demonstration of the Vajra Pavilion On Site

On Friday, August 8, 2008, the builders (Joe Zurylo, Jim Smith, John Foster, and Vern Harrington) demonstrated the size and scope of the proposed Vajra pavilion in a walkabout at the site of the building. In video 1, they indicate the location of the pier supports in relation to the center of the mandala as well as the distance of the retaining wall and ramp from the center.

In video 2, they continue their discussion of various aspects such as the location of the retaining wall and ramp, as well as the road enhancements to support the heavy equipment.


Video 1:



Video 2:

Excavation of the Vajra Pavilion Begins

Groundbreaking Preliminaries

Dzogchen Community members practicing sang rite before the heavy equipment arrives


Hi to everyone

Just a short note on what's happening as of today Tuesday, August 4. The heavy equipment has been moved to the lower parking lot. Gravel will be hauled in tomorrow morning to begin regrading of the road. Once the road is improved, the digging for the Vajra Hall will begin probably in a couple of days.


To prepare the ground, last week the vajra mandala was dismantled.

The turn in the road were the Stupa is located needs to be opened up so we can get concrete trucks and other equipment to the site.









This past Sun. we did some preliminary perc tests along the logging road leading to the knoll, we dug 4 test pits; 2 passed, 2 failed. For a definition of a perc test, click here. Here are a couple of videos of the process:








Perc Test Video, Part 2:





As soon as time permits we will schedule the real test and make it official at which point we will have 4 sites for septic. How we divide this into usage still needs to be determined. For sure, one should be a house for Rinpoche. Again when time permits, we will try another area for perc and see what happens as it would be nice to have at least 6 sites in total. I think that maybe by cold weather the design team can present the community with possibilities of what can happen in this area, then we can see what we wish to do within what is possible.

Joe