... and then I had to go find some pallets ...

So, after my swallow-strafing adventure on Saturday, I went in search of wooden pallets.

Back in September, when the flood came, my shed got hit. I'm estimating it got about three inches of water, although I don't know for sure, because I evacuated and did not come back until the waters had receded.

I really didn't keep anything important in there, anyway, just a bunch of your typical shed crap, and nothing got ruined. Still, I thought it might be a good idea to put a couple of pallets in there, so I could at least get the crap up off the floor.

So after my swallow-strafing on Saturday, I went off in search of pallets. A local business had advertised on Craigslist that they had free pallets, but when I went there, they were out. I remembered seeing pallets in front of another local store, but they didn't have any on Saturday. But on my way back home, I saw a bunch of pallets to the side of a random store. Hmmm ... I pulled over, jumped out of the car and scoped out the pallets. Yep, they were pallets. Then I went into the store to ask if I could take a couple of them. And I immediately felt a little out of place, as the store was ...



... a paintball store. I found myself surrounded by thirteen-year-old boys, all of whom were taller than me, and most of whom were desperately trying to avoid making eye contact with this ... this ... mom-looking creature in their midst.

"Sure!" the guy behind the counter, who appeared to be about sixteen, said. "You can take a couple of pallets!" Gallantly, he even helped me load them into the back of the car. Maybe he gets a merit badge for helping an old lady load up her car - I hope so.

So! I had my pallets. I took 'em home, hauled 'em out back to the shed, and started clearing all of the crap out of the shed. Which is when I discovered what was living in there ...