21.03.2021

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Sunday 21st 39-43F and breezy.  It is supposed to be bright sunshine. Though there was quite a bit of sunshine later.

I had better have a rest [from dome juggling] and work on the building. It is probably feeling left out.

The morning was spent extending the octagon's 2x6, veranda joists out to the perimeter frames. Then adding more cross braces above and below the joists.

The woodwork continued until late afternoon. It doesn't look like much but there was a lot of fiddling getting the joist extensions correct. Clamping upwards, sideways and then drilling and bolting.

Later I cut and fitted a row of cross braces further up. To help to stiffen the frames and to provide a guard rail to make me feel safer. It can feel a bit "hairy" balancing on the last vestiges of the veranda. The cross braces will also add another surface against which to lean a ladder. Handy for working on the top ring.

The lower frames can wait for their cross braces. It is far more useful to have easy access in and out of the frames at ground level. It is hard enough struggling with ladders without deliberately blocking my own way.

The old dome is shrinking as the new building grows in solidity and stature.

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