After hearing about heat warnings thru Sunday and the temp hitting 116 at Anza yesterday (Friday), I was ready for another day like several weeks ago. Fortunately, that didn't happen while I was there. I arrived early to get as much done before it got really hot although it already felt like it was in the low 90s. The warm room seems to be pretty well insulated because the temp inside couldn't have been above 75 when I arrived. I got set up with my 4 gallons of paint to complete the day's objective: finish the first coat on the half of the room that I didn't complete last week and apply a second coat to the entire room. I looked around for our little pet lizard - just a local resident about 7 inches long that wouldn't leave when we started to clean the place up. Usually it is on the walls but I didn't see it anywhere. I started up the heavy duty fan we have and then I found where he was. We'll have to find another local lizard.
I was painting by 8:30 AM. Completing the first coat went pretty smoothly and took less than an hour. I drank my pint of water every 20 minutes. Pretty soon the room was as hot as outside since the fan was running to help dry the paint quicker. The second coat went on much easier and quicker than the first. I was done by Noon! I left at that time with the temp climbing past 102 and hitting 112 later in the afternoon. Fortunately, it looks like no additional coats will be necessary although I do have to paint the inch or so of wall down by the floor. The next indoor painting will be when we build the divider to make two separate rooms but that may not occur until after the roof is on.
Second coat looks good. The ceiling panels that need replacing can also be seen.
Looking toward the front door and the electrical panel.
John worked at home today. Last week he took home some small pieces of steel to fabricate the short set of stairs we need going to the observing room.
Instead of four very steep temporary stairs, we will build a permanent steel stair way. The first step will actually be a landing at the observatory door. That will allow us to build three steps instead of four in the same space. The treads will be a nice 11 inches wide instead of the 5 inches shown here.
More steel will need to be purchased but this was a great start and an unexpected cost saving.
I was painting by 8:30 AM. Completing the first coat went pretty smoothly and took less than an hour. I drank my pint of water every 20 minutes. Pretty soon the room was as hot as outside since the fan was running to help dry the paint quicker. The second coat went on much easier and quicker than the first. I was done by Noon! I left at that time with the temp climbing past 102 and hitting 112 later in the afternoon. Fortunately, it looks like no additional coats will be necessary although I do have to paint the inch or so of wall down by the floor. The next indoor painting will be when we build the divider to make two separate rooms but that may not occur until after the roof is on.
Second coat looks good. The ceiling panels that need replacing can also be seen. Looking toward the front door and the electrical panel.John worked at home today. Last week he took home some small pieces of steel to fabricate the short set of stairs we need going to the observing room.
Instead of four very steep temporary stairs, we will build a permanent steel stair way. The first step will actually be a landing at the observatory door. That will allow us to build three steps instead of four in the same space. The treads will be a nice 11 inches wide instead of the 5 inches shown here.Here are some additional things we have done or need to complete in the next several weeks. Here are the completed steel we recovered from the debris pile.
More steel will need to be purchased but this was a great start and an unexpected cost saving. 
This is one of four heavy braces that helped support the old rail structure. Four of these braces will be removed in the coming weeks.
The south wall is clean from the power washing .The dark marks are the experimental grout filling that John used. It looks successful and John will fill in the remaining eroded areas that can be seen over the next week or so. Hopefully I will power paint the exterior in the next two weeks.
The blue ridge in the distance is Palomar Mountain, about 12 miles away. Just beyond and below the ridge line is Palomar Observatory.
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