Finding higher ground...

After three days of listening to Christmas loudly voicing her opinion of the rising water level surrounding her chalet as she waded over to her food bowl, Gene and Abigail decided it was time to move her home to higher ground. After disassembling and removing her cedar A-frame living quarters, Gene hooked the kennel part of it to the Rhino's wench, then he and Abigail pushed while his daughter reversed across the yard. I helped by standing inside the alpaca cabana, taking pictures and musing aloud about how much easier it would be to do that if it wasn't raining so hard.

 

Christmas decided she wanted to live closer to every one else, so now her abode is just to the right of the alpaca cabana. She also opted for a tri-level, lofted living space, with the front of the chalet removed so there's more room for entertaining. Her new quarters has a patio area, then a step up onto an open concept living room/kitchen area. A ladder behind her breakfast nook leads up into her lofted bedroom. I also lined her new home with flakes from a hay bale, so it should stay nice and dry.

For the most part, Christmas is ecstatic with her new residence. Her only complaint is that unfortunately Shy has picked the area directly in front of it to use as his latrine. With as much rain as we've gotten, his latrine has turned into a different, more stinky sort of pond so Christmas basically traded her lake-front property in for an entirely different sort of waterfront experience.

Didn't think you needed to see
a picture of Lake Squidders.

I decided to try and relocate the latrine today, since I have to wade through it every time I go to let her in and out of her chalet. I had the brilliant idea of dumping a bucket of water on it, to try and see if I could get some of it to roll downhill. I had the equally brilliant idea of wearing my cropped workout pants and rubber waders with no socks while doing it. As soon as the water left the bucket, I realized my horrible, horrible mistake. Sadly, since my boots had sunk into the "mud", I couldn't back up in time to avoid the stinkiest, soupiest splashback in the history of the world. The only good part is that I was wearing Gene's boots.