Welcome to Lake Poop

The weather here has been seriously foul.  We have experienced almost the entire spectrum of precipitation over the past few days: snow, wet snow, freezing rain, cold rain, mist, ugh...

As such, it was not surprising upon entering the donkey and sheep barn this morning that my boots went "smoosh, smoosh" into the straw covering the floor.  So much for a clean, dry sleeping space.

The usual dirt and gravel floor had turned to a stinky, sludgy mess - a combination of mud and poop - super icky.

What started as a little puddle....

If I were a donkey, I would not want to sleep in that mess so once I got the boys down for nap, I hightailed it outside to muck out the muck.  Eight shovels in I began to wonder if I was making a mistake.  What started as smooshy sludge was, with each shovelful, quickly becoming a liquid poop lake.

....quickly turned into a poop lake.

I checked outside and sure enough the melting snow was pooling under the hay loft side of the barn and seeping under its wood floor into the animal side of the barn.  The result was an ankle deep puddle of snow melt and animal poop pooling in the half of the barn where the animals sleep.

After scooping out what I could, I then tried to make things better by spreading out a generous amount of clean, dry straw.  I am not sure if this will soak up some of the water but I sure hope so.

I also left the door to the empty hay loft open so perhaps a few of the animals will opt to sleep in there on the drier wood floor.

What a mucky mess.  Welcome to lake poop?  Thanks but no thanks.