Precarious sanding

The Hubs and I betook ourselves off to The Lake to accomplish that most onerous of tasks:  sanding the living room ceiling.  UGH.

How - you may ask - does one sand a "cathedral" ceiling over a clear second story?   Well, if that "one" is me, the answer is:   I don't.    Well, I did... but just the small areas reachable with my feet on terra firma.   If that "one" is Bob, then
1.)  Construct a temporary floor by layering boards over the exposed floor joists.
2.)  Rig up lights and such.
3.)  Use a step-stool-laddery thing and a sanding pole.
4.)  Administer smelling salts to your timid wee wuss of a wife.
5.)  Blink the dust from your eyes.  A lot.   Because, as I discovered, when wearing a dust mask, you can't also wear safety glasses; they fog up.

To wit:

This last shot is standing in the master bedroom looking out through the pocket doors to the front of the house.  You can see where the edge of the makeshift floor is -- that's the edge of the balcony.  We're still trying to decide on the style of railings we want.  Part of us wants a nice rustic log railing, but that is a lot more work to design and construct....    so we're still vacillating.

Ideas? Links to awesome examples of log railings?  Personal experience in the area of railing design?  Please share!