CNSTRCTN Vol. XII, #3 Exciting Stuff Here

Memories, like birds-fleeting.  One must grasp and hold in heart's hand.

Blogger apologizes for forgetting to post last week.  After all, nothing was happening (graduation preceded by cleaning day, preceded by --memory lags behind (oxymoron?).  Anyway, within the next couple of days, blogger will post another to show you another big area of renovation within these walls (what's left of them--no, no; blogger didn't mean that!)

Anyway, this is some of the big stuff since 5/23.  Up on

the 3rd. floor roof, right outside the penthouse, blogger got a few shots to show the progress on the elevator shaft.  First: the doorway from the  shaft to the third floor.  Next: the finishing touches to the top of the shaft.  This is cause for...excitement!  No, the person exit the elevator does not have to make a big leap to the building proper.  A hallway is coming that will go through to the main hall.  This hallway will take up part of 307, and on the second floor, the hallway will take part of 207.

A frequent observer of these procedures notices that at the end of the masons' work they pour--what? concrete or mortar?? into the holes at the tops of the concrete blocks.

  
 Caught in the act.

Now we will move out to the faculty parking lot to see
what's going on there: voila--another one of the mysterious operations (n.b. a welder!)  Whatever are they working on?  It got even more mysterious for blogger as a top was covered with corrugated sheets.  Hmm. This can't be a platform.  Well, no, unless...



 Well, what do you know?  It is a platform of sorts--for a final lid.  That's not the best word, but it sort of fits...sort of.  Blogger is sure there's a good architectural word for it, and maybe she should just think harder.            

And below you are looking with blogger out of one of the bedroom window.  This is a guest room window, and by the time we wish to use that room for a guest, the whole operation on the elevator tower will be completed.  As it is, with the workers coming in at 6:00,  the resident occupiers of the rooms on that side of the building know their drapes closed if they wish to sleep past 6 a.m.!  The men do come up the elevator and cross the roof to the elevator shaft site.

Another item of interest may be what the chapel looks like at present from the doorway into the first mezzanine from the not-yet-completed walkway from the elevator hallway.  One must peek before getting shooed by a workman.

In a few days, as blogger indicated above, she will post again.  Be on the lookout for a Vol. XII, #4.

And so will end the merry month of May.

                                                                     

CNSTRCTN Vol. XII, #2 "Lights (sun), camera (iPad), action!"

Memories, like birds--fleeting.  They must be grasped and held in heart's hands.

Where to begin with a very active week?  Let's start with
the kitchen.  It is one of the areas that will be renovated in the
summer, and, in fact, is already under the knife, so to
speak.  The pieces of heavy cooking equipment, i.e. stoves,
are already gone to...Knights of Columbus for their river-side
lodge.  The tables, chairs, and cabinets from the faculty
dining room have also found a new home there.  K of C is
very grateful.  So here's what the kitchen looked like in
midweek when one stove was already gone.  The other photos
here were taken on the same day or one day later.    
You may notice that the sinks are gone, too.  Destination not known to blogger.  The old walk-in was replaced about three or so years ago and the old one has been used for dry storage.  The photo with tables, chairs, and cabinets still in the room, although not in place, gives you an idea of what the room looked like in its prime.  The photo next to it was the salad corner.  Cabinets are gone now.

Now to move to the other end of the building and what has
been developing there.  The focus has been on the elevator
tower and is nearing completion.  Blogger can look out her
bedroom window and see to the side, the concrete saw on
its perch just a few steps up from the level the men are working
on.  It seems that many blocks must be cut in half.  But the noise
that is part of the opening "ceremony" each day is the banging
on the (this is blogger's guess) trough that holds the mortar
from the day before so that fresh mortar can be put in it.  The
sound at 6:15 a.m. is an ungracious alarm for any one trying to
get a few extra winks.  (This photo was taken earlier last week and so does not show how much higher the tower is now.
Probably it will go as high as the roof that this photo was taken from.) The forklift (the orange extension on the left in the photo) has just delivered more blocks or more extenders to raise the scaffolding higher.
                                                               
What does all this look like on the inside?  A few photos tell the story, the first one looking through the former vestibule and the next one is in a closet on the 3 1/2 level.

                                                             
The last photo shows the delivery of the second of two air conditioners for the new library (CLC).  Won't that be nice on a day like today!
That's the story of last week, recorded as this week's story is being rolled out hour by hour.  Stay tuned for the further adventures of (your choice of titles).
Auf wiedersehen.         
                                                             

CONSTRCTN XII, #1 Short Story

Memories like birds--fleeting.  They must be grasped and held in heart's hands.

 Some drilling, some hammering, some laying of concrete blocks, i.e., some noisy--usually mysterious to us on the inside or above--some noiseless which we may be able to observe outside--not so mysterious and therefore more satisfying.   The first photo is a peek to the outside from Mr. Schlosser's computer-stuff closet.  This happened on Saturday of last week and so didn't bother anybody.  We're up on the third mezzanine here.   The hole was boarded over by the end of the day.        
       

In this second and third photos, blogger was looking down from the roof at the scaffolding that is being used to build the elevator tower.  It must go at least two floors higher than it is now in order to reach 3 1/2 level--Mr. Schlosser's closet.  Anything above that, blogger thinks, will be for the elevator workings.
The elevator-stops on the second and third floor will, as has been explained in an earlier blog, require classroom space for the passage to the main hall on the respective floors.  That means the classrooms will be shorter by maybe seven feet (guessing).
The kitchen will be invaded this week by the workmen and maybe blogger can get a photo of a kitchen empty of counter and under-counter items.  Once work is really begun with removing the hard surface stuff-counters, stoves and hoods, sinks, etc., the area will be off-limits to blogger (darn!).

That's all, folks.  Blogger assures you that these few photos don't give the whole picture, but what's a blogger to do?  An oft' repeated lament from her, she is sure--sorry.
Enough then.  Maybe next week can be more revealing for us all.  Hope burns eternal...
Au revoir.

CNSTRCTN Vol. XI, #2 On the Wings of Imagination.

Memories, like birds--fleeting.  They must be grasped and held in heart's hands

A better idea of small windows in the sanctuary comes with this photo.  Note the number and that what you are seeing is only the right side of the sanctuary area.  The other side has the same number but not in a symmetrical pattern.  (Asymmetry keeps us on our visual toes, but may not satisfy those who like all their
ducks in an orderly row, or don't like visual surprises.  Understood.)



Moving inside the old chapel space, the viewer gets a hint of where the new entrance to the chapel from the outside, will be.  Seeing the honeycomb wall on the right of this photo helps to locate the area in the back of the old chapel.  The door across the presumed entrance hallway is a new door--never there before.  It is roughly where the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was.  Notice the top of the photo; you've seen that ceiling before, you may recall, in photos of the room-like structure inside the chapel, and to the right of the future entrance from the hallway.  (Keep your imaginations in good shape, remember.)  Blogger won't leave you totally in suspension, however.  Therefore...


Behold the room-like structure with the two mystery doors (not really) on the upper level.The door on the right wall will come from the elevator area (yes, it will stop on the 1 1/2 level),
while the door on the left will open up in the hallway on that level.  This may be an area you have never been on, but it IS there and holds various administrative offices and a large meeting
room.  If you can do some mental dancing around here, you may be able to get a good notion of the floor plan of this area.  The new part of the chapel, by the way, extends out to the right off this photo and toward the soccer field.


You're doing well.  Now to substantiate the mental images you've been working hard on...
What you're seeing in this photo is the scaffolding for the construction of the elevator tower.  In-between the scaffolding and the chapel wall will be the path to the outside entrance to the
chapel hall, a nice accommodation for people coming for a
religious function or a quicker access to the offices in the east
hallway.  Also you note that scaffolding extends laterally toward you, which means that it is in front of classroom windows, therefore classroom space.  The plot thickens.  But that is for another day.

It's pretty obvious that much thought has been given to all this.  Blogger continues to be utterly amazed at the mastery of detail and ingenuity of the builders.  We trust we will remain in awe of the same.  Au revoir.

CNSTRCTN Vol. XI, # 1 Workers Spring into Action, in the Snow

Memories like birds, fleeting.  They must be grasped and held in heart's hands.

We will start this second week of April noting that, during this past week with the students on holiday, the workmen were able to accomplish much.  These photos won't tell the whole story because of blogger's restricted access.  We'll begin with an outside look into the work yard with a heartening thought, blogger is supposing:
to wit, aren't you glad your yard doesn't look like this?  It's the little things in life...




At the other end of the yard full of stuff which you're glad you don't have to deal with, there is more progress in the offing.  The scaffolding is near the newest addition of masonry going toward the soccer field.  It won't go farther, blogger is thinking, because there is still so much going and coming of large pieces of equipment needed inside the extended part of the chapel.  That new section of wall whispers of hope.



Now to the inside with a few interesting elements of progress and one lingering reminder of what used to be.  We'll look at that first. What you see in this photo (enlarge it for better effect) is a cut-away of the old wall that used to be outside the president's office.  Sturdy piece of construction.  It occupies the middle of the photo and is, as you can see, layers wide.





       This photo is placed here just to show that there is still some serious work to be done in the CLC




As new doors are opened, old ones are closed permanently.  In this case it is the former outside door of the faculty room.




And just to emphasize that the faculty members will still be able to leave the building conveniently, here is the new door opening to replace the one just closed off.  Don't they think of everything!
We move now into the end of the big week of Easter celebration to the less spectacular, but still celebratory, Easter season.  May your Easter season bring daily reminders of the blessings of God's incarnation.  How so?  Today is the feast of the Annunciation, postponed because Mar. 25, the real day (--nine months before Christmas) landed on Palm Sunday.  So there you have it.  It's a very nice way to start celebrating the Easter season.                                                  Stay tuned.

CNSTRCTN Vol. X, #4 Full-Steam Ahead Almost

Memories, like birds--fleeting.  One must grasp and hold in heart's hands.

The construction crews were here in force on Holy Thursday, the first day of the students'
spring break.  One worker made mention to blogger that now they could make noise!  She rejoiced with him.

In the photo you see one of the few room divisions beginning to emerge at the east end of the CLC.  Perhaps they are intended to accommodate small groups of students working together on the same project--certainly not a new venture, but now more convenient and out of the hallways.

Looking at the large area of the CLC you can see that a new doorway has been broken through from the faculty room.  Since the door closest to the new windows used to be the outside door, a new outside entry is being worked on where the last faculty room window next to the original outside door was. (If you got lost in this last sentence, blogger bumped her nose three times.)



What you see to the right is a development developing (yes) on the second mezzanine level, aka known as the library level (old).  The beam by this time is up crossing the room pretty much where the photo suggests, i.e. straight up.  Recall that that area will end up being three classrooms (blogger thinks it's three, but maybe it's two.  We are all learning as this adventure unfolds, and especially if we don't have easy access to the plans.)



Now to the other end of the construction site, things have been
moving right along in the last few days of March.  More concrete blocks have been delivered near and in the new chapel extension, ready for the end of rain/snow.  Things at this stage of progress always look so messy, but ah, to think ahead...





                                                                           
 Nearby is the site of the future outside entrance to the chapel and the elevator hallway.  The general area of the elevator hallway becomes a little clearer in the photo since you can see the removal of a section of windows.  There's pretty much work left to be done in this whole area, even on the inside, as you can imagine.  That whole window unit used to be in the last classroom at the end of Hilton Hall (the main hall on the first floor.  Is that name for the hallway new to you?)  Before we end March's story, and looking at this last photo, note the elevator shaft-well in front of the windows-that-used-to-be.
Leaving well enough alone at this juncture, blogger will let you go and rest up for another exciting adventure of CNSTRCTN, as we launch into April and Vol. XI.  Happy first week of April as it resonates with the Easter miracle.

CNSTRCTN Vol. X, #3, Look West, Good Readers

There she goes again.  Look west from where?  From the fantastic chapel extension area, Good Readers!  That puts us back into the new library (CLC).  While there were some almost indiscernible developments in the chapel area, most activity seemed to be taking place in the West.    To wit: the divisions within the CLC space;
                1)                                             2.                                    
 
  3.

In photo 1.  Blogger really doesn't know what the enclosure is going to contain.  What she did not notice however was what appears to be a window on the left side.  In photo 2. again blogger doesn't know what's going on here, but this does show the outside window, original in brick, that is currently in the faculty room and will be removed.  On the other side, precautions have been taken to prevent the fac. room from looking like a few other rooms after some demolition took place.  In photo 3., blogger will go out on a limb and guess that it will contain HVAC stuff.  As you can see it is very near one of the skylights (upper center and right).  Blogger does pretty much after-hours "crawling" to get these photos.

Now for what did happen in the chapel area:
This very substantial looking framework will be in
the reflection area in the back of the chapel.  The ladder on
the right is in the way of our seeing the double door entrance
off of the vestibule (old word) or lobby, as it says on the plans.
Blogger is not at all sure of what is going on above the framework, but thinks the whole reflection area which goes to the far wall (not visible here) may have a dropped ceiling.  We shall see; but blogger will let you know as soon as she does (or maybe vice-versa, who knows?).

That's all she knows this Monday of Holy Week.  If possible, blogger will be able to get some "new views" after Wednesday which is the last school day before Easter, and when the workers will come back to do some of the noisy stuff they can't do when school is in session.  She hopes to do some lively (i.e. men working) shots for you.

Also she hopes that all of you stalwart readers have a very blessed Triduum and Easter.  God bless.