More wiring, more drama

When we got to the Delaney House today, we noticed a large U-Haul truck, backing in to the driveway of the white house directly across the street. This is the same house where the gang of guys were threatening each other yesterday, so we paid attention and noticed that the people who live in the house quickly began packing the truck with their possessions.  By 3 PM, the truck was loaded and the people in the house got in the truck, and into their cars, and drove off. The house is now empty.

Later, we ran into some neighbors, who told us the story:  Late last night, around midnight, the same gang of guys who had been there yesterday showed up, and they all started threatening each other.  At some point, someone started shooting.

Our next door neighbor, Dave, told us that he didn't think anyone was actually shooting at someone - they were more shooting to scare someone.  All the neighbors called 911, and the Berkeley PD showed up within minutes.  62nd Street was blocked off for the rest of the night, and the cops were at the house for hours.  By morning, everything was quiet again.

We don't know all that happened, but it's interesting that they moved out just hours after this all happened.  The neighbors seem mostly happy to see them go.

So while all the drama was going on, Tom and I were wiring again. We have installed new outlets in the front bedroom. The process is simple but time-consuming: first, we pull off the baseboards, and then drill down inside the walls into the basement.  We use the holes to run new romex to each place where we are putting an outlet.  Then we cut out an opening for each electrical box in the baseboard, and attach the new boxes.  After that, we pull the wire through the boxes, re-attach the baseboard, and then wire in the new outlets.  

We haven't done any work on the plaster yet, but we hope this week to start patching the cracks in the walls and getting the rooms ready for paint.  Next weekend, we'll finish wiring both the front bedroom and the living room, and once we paint, those rooms will be done, - except for refinishing the floors.

It was a quiet day, with Tom and I working together but mostly in our own jobs and our own thoughts, listening to "This American Life" and Harry Shearer.  Our neighbor on Parker Street, Carole, stopped by to see the progress and to offer her help, and Kathy Martinez called from Washington to tell me about the snow - but mostly, the house was calm and quiet.   And fortunately, not snowed in.

We still haven't gotten the bid on how much it will cost to move the houses.  Keep your fingers crossed that we can afford to do all this.  But somehow, it will all work out.  We'll just be seriously in debt - so what else is new?