Here we have yet another surprise. We had planned to fix a bad patching job (indicated here by the white box) but the plaster began to crumble and once it gets started, sometimes it doesn't want to stop. So this turned into a much bigger job than we had anticipated. However, in this crazy adventure, every gray cloud has a silver lining. When the plaster came down we discovered two joists that had been damaged in some kind of fire (possibly electrical?). There had also been some water damage, so the supporting boards were warped and/or just not level. So Jeff re-inforced and leveled it and he and my Dad are going to hang drywall tomorrow.