The Temple Gets Paint and a Railing

Last weekend I got a fine surprise when I came up to install the railings on the roof deck of the Temple. There was paint on the walls! Mark had put a coat of white primer on almost all of the exterior walls and the temple, with it's blue roof looked sort of like a little Norwegian chapel.

With the help of Mike and a short visit by Jana, we got the roof deck railings installed by mid-morning on Saturday. Now it feels a lot safer up on top. Thanks to Jana for helping me make all the railing frames and for designing and welding one of the panels. Thanks also to Leslee Oaks and Nita Hull-Carlson for designing panels.

The rest of the day was spent painting more of the walls. We painted until the paint ran out. Then we all went up on the roof deck for sunset. It seemed a lot bigger up there with the new railings. Instead of everyone huddling in the center trying to stay away from the scary edges, we all wanted to lean on the new railings. I counted 16 people up there at one point and there still was room for more.

The remainder of the weekend was spent doing other projects at Gateway Ranch in preparation for the 2013 Arizona Burning Man Decompression event. I remember back when we started the temple project I set a goal to have the temple at least functional by this event. It's been just a hair over one year since we broke ground. Although a year seems like a long time, we only worked on the temple one weekend each month and we skipped August completely.That's actually pretty fast work! Even though it is far from finished, it will be done enough to be useable.

Events in the temple are being scheduled for the Decompression. There will be two workshops where we will make assemblage art for the temple interior. We will be bending license plates to serve as exterior trim. Not sure exactly when that will happen but there are people excited about doing it. There will be a formal wine and cheese social at the temple Saturday evening, and a DJ is scheduled to spin at the temple, too. Not sure what all else will be going on but I know it will be fun.

What we really need next for the temple is someone who likes to work with wood to make window frames. We want to get the windows in so we can get the temple closed against the elements. We also need a door. If you would like to make window frames or even the front door, contact me.

All is proceeding beautifully and the temple is already being used some, even in its unfinished state. Can't ask for more than that!