Storage Report

I am happy to report that we have obtained our first storage shed! 

I responded to a listing on Craigslist for an 8' x 10' storage shed like the one pictured to the right.  We were the second ones to respond, so I was a little nervous I might not get it.  However, I received a text message during Godspell callbacks informing me that the first person had failed to show up and the shed was all mine if I wanted it.  I rushed home after call-backs, threw on some work clothes, grabbed our drills and a couple bottles of water, and ran out the door.  I drove all the way from Sunnyvale to the far side of Livermore, battling mixed feelings of nervousness and excitement.  I wasn't sure what condition the shed would actually turn out to be in, and I had no idea what to expect from the owners. 

When I arrived I was pleasantly greeted by a lovely young couple and their in-laws.  It turned out that the couple had recently moved there from Sunnyvale.  This couple was very nice, and they worked hard in the hot afternoon sun to help me get it disassembled, washed, and loaded into the minivan.

The dis-assembly process was certainly an adventure.  The shed looked great, but none of us knew much about it as it had belonged to the previous owner of the house.  As it turned out, it was infested with spiders.  The more we took it apart, the more spiders we found.  We found spider nests, spider webs, spider families, small spiders, medium spiders, and big spiders.  There were long-legged black spiders that were clearly web-weavers, and there was at least one family of big nasty black ones underneath a foundation rail that were probably black widows  Fortunately, most of the spiders were pretty slow and sleepy.  One of them even escaped the washing, loading, and unloading, and he was still just sitting in his home on one of the panels when I got home. 

The shed itself didn't come apart very easily.  I don't think it was really meant for that.  One interesting experience happened as we were trying to unscrew the unreachable middle section of the roof panels and it all just kind of caved in on itself.  Fortunately the shed only got a little banged up (nothing that can't be hammered straight), and we didn't get hurt.  Overall, it took us a few hours, but in the end we were successful.

It was a real pleasure meeting Don and Kate, and I really appreciate their help and their decision to sell us the shed for an extremely reasonable price.  Without people like this, Chrysalis would not exist, let alone be in the excellent position it is in.

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