Thunder, Lightning, and a StupaOctober 18, 2005 -from the book A Life in Progress--Part OneThe
recent thunder and lightning in Twentynine Palms have been impressive.
We were in the house watching a movie last night and the lightning kept
flashing. Kai said it was like God taking pictures with a flash bulb.
But it didn't rain a lot until yesterday. I went outside to divert some
of the water away from the back yard. I dug some small canals and was
able to divert quite a lot of the water. When I first stepped out into
the rain just wearing my shorts it was like stepping into a cold
shower. But I soon got used to it and it was quite enjoyable, as a
shower can be.
I
got a lot of the water flowing towards the windmill area where my stupa
is. The stupa is essentially a pile of mud. But if you wanted to you
could say that it is made out of adobe, or more correctly, cob. But it
is mud, and that is what adobe is -- dried mud. I think that is what
the Israelites were making when they were slaves in Egypt -- sun-dried
brick, known in this part of the world as adobe. It has been a major
building material as long as humans have been around For what is more
basic than to pile up or dig in the dirt to arrange some shelter. Caves
are nice, of course, where they exist. But they only occur in certain
places. So people have made their own caves, of various types, in all
countries. Mud, sticks, and rocks -- these are the basic building
materials of man. We can also add sod, straw, and of course, concrete,
metals, and plastics.
The sticks can be in the form of logs or
lumber. Rocks can be merely stacked or mortared into place. Concrete
can be poured in place or formed first into blocks. Metal is first
smelted, then melted and extruded into sheets and other structural
members. Sod was used by homesteaders on the plains. Once baling
machines became common, straw bales were stacked up and used for homes.
This was done in Nebraska around 1900, and is coming back into popular
use today.
I was talking about the stupa. I started making it a
couple of months ago. I was thinking about the adobe chapel and how I
would like to make the walls thicker so that the rain won't erode them
so much, and so that they would be stronger to support a roof. I was
wondering if I could make a roof of adobe too. But then the walls would
have to be really thick so there would be no outward force trying to
push them out.
And how would I support the arched roof while I
was building it? I thought of various ways. But why not just use
mounded dirt as the support, and hollow it out afterwards. I decided to
experiment with this idea -- basically building a pile of adobe, then
when it hardens, hollowing it out.
I began the project near the
windmills, at the farthest reach of the garden hose. The hose does not
reach to the adobe chapel and when I built it I had to haul buckets of
water there by hand. But with the stupa I did not have to do that.
To
begin the stupa I started wetting the ground, then raking a layer of
dirt on top, and then wetting that layer. I kept doing that, layer
after layer. After a while I started shoveling dirt from a little
distance away. Then I had to rake it around a bit, mixing it in with
water from the hose. This is a similar process to how I made the adobe
floor for the cottage. The cottage floor however, has a thin layer of
concrete on top.
What is a Stupa?Don't
you know, stupid? Oh, sorry, just kidding. A stupa is usually a temple
of some kind, usually kind of tall. I think they are usually made out
of mud and hollowed out inside. They are commonly found in India and
other far eastern countries. In my mind a stupa is just what I am
making -- a pile of mud, hollowed out on the inside. Pretty easy to
understand, and pretty easy to figure out how to make. All you do is
pile up mud. Of course a lot of work is involved.
After I made
a pile about a foot or so high I started doing some calculations.
I won't go into the details here but, though you can make a small
mudpile fairly quickly, to make a pile large enough to hollow out and
have useful space inside, it would take a long time -- weeks or months
of mud shoveling. I think I got a bit discouraged by my calculations.
Also I didn't feel I could afford the water at that time, since we pay
to have our water hauled in except when I laboriously haul it in myself.
So
I stopped work on the stupa, after making a small burrow inside of the
mudpile I had already made. The few people who have seen it are
intrigued by the pile. Probably they wonder if it is the home of a
small animal. The stupa was maybe two feet high. Until
today!.
Free MudNow
I had been thinking about that stupa for the last few days. I got the
idea that maybe I should throw a little mud on it once in awhile, and
it would gradually grow. As long as you do something every day,
progress is assured.
So
as I began to divert water streams in the direction of the stupa,
rather accidentally, I realized that I would have a ready source of
mud. And within a few minutes I was throwing mud onto the stupa, from
the small mudhole formed by my previous excavation. The hole was
filling up with water faster than I could shovel out the mud. Then the
rain stopped and I spend maybe an hour shoveling out the remaining mud,
enlarging the hole as I did so. The water was up to my calves and I
felt as though I were having a mud bath. It was really a lot of fun and
I was wishing that somehow I could share the experience with all my
friends.
The stupa grew taller. I formed it into a peak just for
fun. I had been thinking of doing this. I had been thinking of making
large mud sculptures, similar to making sandcastles on the beach. Mud
is much better than sand because there is clay and sand mixed together,
and when it dries it becomes quite hard, hard enough that it has been
used for structures in many lands for thousands of years.
I was
piling up so much mud that, being still wet and runny, it would no
longer support its own weight. So I couldn't go much higher. But then I
ran out of mud anyway, so came back to the cottage.
The Stupa GrowsAfter
a while the rain started pouring down again. I went outside and did a
little trenching, then got right back to work on the stupa. The mudhole
was a lot bigger now, since I had been excavating it, and it held a lot
more water. So I had more mud than I could use. The mudhole grew and
grew. It started to seem like a small moat or swimming pool. I
excavated the stupa a little more inside, and took some photos. Kai
came out and kept me company, doing some walking in place while I was
digging. At first Kai thought the mudhole looked like a toxic waste
dump, but I explained that it was just mud. After awhile we started to
compare the mud in the hole to hot chocolate with cream floating on
top.
There is something very satisfying about building a
stupa. It is really just playing in the mud. It definitely felt like
playing though I was doing hard shoveling work. Each shovel of mud is
hard to lift up due to suction created underneath it as you pry it up
from the bottom of the pond. I have started calling it a pond now since
it is growing in size.
A Village WellThe
mudhole started to remind me of a village well in India. As the
weather dries out and months go by without rain, the water in the well
gets lower and lower, until perhaps
eventually it is completely dry. Then hopefully the rains come. As the
water in the well is getting lower and lower the well is being dug out
more, to follow the water table as it gradually drops. This is probably
how a lot of the wells were dug.
You see, the wells that I am
thinking of, probably better called watering holes, are not deep and
narrow but are wide and shallow. To get water from them you walk down
into them, right to where the water is, and you dip your pitcher into
the water and carry it back up the bank of the well. There is a path
traversing the bank to the bottom of the well. So, probably over
centuries, the well gets dug deeper and wider and the village becomes
more durable, more prosperous due to a good water supply. And at the
same time, the mud has to be put somewhere so it is made into houses
and other structures.
Build When It RainsI
have now learned that mud-building takes place when it rains, when
there is lots of water and mud everywhere for free. It makes no sense
to haul water and spend all that time mixing your adobe, when you can
simply shovel mud from your mudhole, pond, well, or whatever you want
to call it.
I
have hopes that my mudhole will endure for a few days. There is quite a
lot of water in it now, though with the last big rain a few hours ago,
it got somewhat filled in with mud from upstream.
So I will
use the mud in it while it lasts, then wait for the next rain. We have
been getting rain every two or three months, so that is not so long to
wait. And as the hole gets deeper and wider, who knows, maybe sometime
I will achieve a water supply that lasts for a part of the year.
The Other PondThe
other pond I dug last year was lined with plastic. It had a few
problems. Dogs or coyotes got into it and punctured the plastic. The
water drained out quickly. I was able to repair the punctures easily
with a glue gun.
A couple of rodents drowned in the pond.
Evidently they couldn't climb up the slippery sides. Kai did not like
to see that happen to the little animals, so I allowed that pond to dry
out.
The New PondBut
this new pond has no plastic liner. The critters that fall in
accidentally, should have no trouble climbing out. I think that as the
pond gets established, clay will begin to line the bottom and prevent
water draining out so easily. I have high hopes for this pond.
And
the stupa, well, it is taking on a whole new life. I have piled mud up
faster than my calculations indicated, because I did not have to mix
it, but merely shovel it.
Tansporting MudI
have been wondering how to transport mud from pond to stupa. In India
they likely carry it in baskets on their heads. Maybe whole families
get involved. I reckon I could do it that way. But I am thinking in
terms of a wheelbarrow running on planks. Or a trolley on rails. Or a
chain conveyer with little buckets of mud. I have thought about
automating the building system, using a conveyer and water supply that
automatically mixes the mud and transports it to the top of the stupa.
So
far the mudhole has been close enough that I have been able to throw
the mud right up to the top of the stupa from my position standing in
the middle of the mudhole. Some shovels of mud I have carried.
The
stupa may eventually require a spiral pathway going up and around the
outside. This will allow for easy transport of mud for building and
repair.
Anyway it is a very fun project and I hope I can share
the fun with other people sometime. I guess this is the kind of thing I
like to do for recreation. But I am also in a constant search for
inexpensive and simple building methods. I would say that the stupa
method is the very cheapest I have found so far. It is completely free.
One needs to acquire a shovel or a bucket or something but that is
about it. Just wait for the rains to come and spend a few days building.