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Yes, the title of this entry meant to evoke thoughts of This Old House, the long-running television program.
A few entries back I mentioned that Nancy had gone up to Boston to attend a 10th anniversary celebration
for CREA (Center for Reflection, Education and Action), a Catholic social justice
organization that (among other things) pushes corporations to adopt policies
promoting safe working conditions and sustainable living wages.as well
as responsible environmental policies. CREA is headquartered in Hartford,
CT, in a house that is within a year or so of being one hundred years old.
Sister Kathryn Wrinn (Sisters of Mercy) is the Associate Director of CREA.
Sr. Kathryn also happens to be Nancy's aunt. Nancy's sister Clara decided
to organize a family project to do some renovating of the CREA building.
The project was to renovate two rooms and a small hallway -- removing the
old plaster on the walls and ceilings, insulating the exterior walls, and
putting up new sheetrock on the walls and ceilings. (This coming weekend
will be the painting party.)
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| Karen removing old doorway molding. |
Tom sweeping up some of the debris. |
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| Nephew James taking down plaster from the ceiling. |
Clara scooping up the broken pieces of plaster. |
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| Karen and James putting the insulation in place. |
Walter is into the ceiling. |
If you are wondering about the floating dots in some of those pictures
-- that's due to dust particles reflecting the camera's flash. Ripping
down old plaster is a very, very dust-producing task. The air is fairly
clear in all of these pictures -- sometimes it was so dusty it was like
being in a heavy snowstorm. That's why we were all wearing dust masks on
Saturday.
Above -- Karen and Clara .
Right -- Karen and Tom
Fortunately two of the gang -- Paul and Jeff -- actually do this kind of
thing for a living, so they could show the rest of us what to do. |
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Captured! Sr.Kathryn carrying their curious cat who had climbed into the
walls through a hole in the lathing. Sr. Ruth (who has two master's degrees
and a Ph.D. and who testifies before Congress and regularly lobbies CEOs
and political leaders worldwide) had to lie on the floor and reach into
the wall and persuade the feckless feline to come out. |
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| Paul getting help from daughter Kate. |
Jeff taping the seams. |
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| jimsjournal
-- on the Web since September 26, 1996! |
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