Driveway camping ** WITH PICTURES **

[VACAMPER]

Awesome house!

 

[jrandtysmom]

I love your house!!! It's beautiful, congrats!

 

[Shannone1]

Thank you all....it IS a beautiful house and I can't wait to start living it in again.


Update on bats- there was no activity last night anywhere EXCEPT the master bathroom (same place we spotted droppings yesteday afternoon). We had closed that door so we know now that the bat must be trapped up above the beam in there. So we are NOT going to be sleeping in the house again tonight. We are really hoping we find it dead by tomorrow morning and we can be done with it. Tonight will be it's 4th night without food and they can only live 5 days max without food. The door is closed tight so it can't get anywhere else. If we find the bat tomorrow and there are still no signs anywhere else...then we will move back in tomorrow night

 

[Shannone1]

We took a 4 week out west trip last summer ( you can see the whole trip at the link in my sig) and it was amazing! I can't believe we didn't kill each other, the only problem we had was my 16 year old brother wanting to sleep and sleep and sleep! But we had no major fights

We did the Mt Rushmore trip last summer. I loved your pictures...made me feel like I was right back there again. Looks like we hit the same major attractions. What campground did you go with ?? We stayed at Rafter J in Hill City which was very nice.

 

[loveDmouse]

I wouldn't want them in my house but they are great to have outside the house. They eat lots of buggies!
Glad they are doing what they can to not kill them. Hopefully there will be few casulties.


Shannone- your house is beautiful! Sorry things are a little (ok maybe a lot) batty there right now.

 

[Just Beachy]

Shannone,
Hope your bat problem is over and you can move back into your house. It is absolutely gorgeous!!!! DH and I always said we wanted a log home someday. We have all different companies' floor plan books and videos. Once you are back in and home from camping, enjoy that gorgeous home!

 

[K Killabrew]

Shanone, Good luck with the Bats. Your house is unreal.

 

[AlyLynn]

Your house is amazing. When I showed my husband the pictures, he said "that's my dream house". Congratulations on your move, and my sympathy to you on your bat problem. Several years ago we noticed fruit bats outside (where they belong) by our pool, and I wanted to move--SERIOUSLY. I'm terrified of them. Hopefully you'll be in your beautiful home soon!

 

[djblu883]

yup...

I'm not saying to make them pets LOL. I just hope they aren't killing them. As far as the feces, pigeon poo carries toxins too, but as long as you aren't rolling in piles of the stuff naked, I am pretty sure you would be ok.

One of my favorite "dirty jobs" episodes was the one where he went into brakken cave and saw the MILLIONS of bats. The guano was at least a couple of feet deep, the only thing they were worried about was the ammonia and the flesh eating beetles. I think the disease that you are thinking of is histoplasmosis and is very rarely anything more than just a small case of the flu.
H. capsulatum is found throughout the world and is endemic in certain areas of the United States, particularly in states bordering the Ohio River valley and the lower Mississippi River. (Positive histoplasmin skin tests occur in as many as 80% of the people living in areas where H. capsulatum is common, such as the eastern and central United States.) H. capsulatum grows in soil and material contaminated with bird or bat droppings (guano). The fungus has been found in poultry house litter, caves, areas harboring bats, and in bird roosts (particularly those of starlings). The fungus is thermally dimorphic. In the environment it grows as a brownish mycelium, whereas at body temperature (37°C in humans) it morphs into a yeast. The inoculum is represented principally by microconidia that, once inhaled into the alveolar spaces, germinate and then transform into budding yeast cells. Histoplasmosis is not contagious, but is contracted by inhalation of the spores from disturbed soil or guano.

 

[medic9016]

That's a nice house. I have never seen a bat cave like that. Good luck with the unwanted critters.

 

[LONE-STAR]

I'd love to have a GC, but we had a GC mishap at MILs on saturday. My nephew was driving around my DD9 and he took a turn too suddenly and threw her out! She has scrapes all up her legs, her elbows, a bruised butt and a whole in her head (a little one)! She's going to make it, but I'm not sure she wants to ride again anytime soon!

Hope your DD is ok. Just remember Golf Carts don't hurt people people hurt people. (wow that was lame)(my saying)(I really do hope your kid is ok)

 

[djblu883]

Beautiful home!!!! Hope you will enjoy it for years to come varmit free!!!!

 

[Shannone1]

Thanks again everyone. I'll post some interior pictures later in the week when we are back inside.

 

[seabee]

Good luck Shannone. I hope you guys are back in tomorrow night!

 

[momoffive]

Beautiful Home Shannon, We too love the look and feel of a log home and have gone so far as to make some rough drafts should we ever buy our own land and build. I'll remember the bats and preplan though. Hoping you're indoors real soon, if only for a night or 2 before you leave again.
Loretta

 

[PolynesianPixie]

Hope your DD is ok. Just remember Golf Carts don't hurt people people hurt people. (wow that was lame)(my saying)(I really do hope your kid is ok)

Thank you! She really is fine....just milking it!

 

[Anne's Family]

Sooooooooo.... any bat poop today?

(OK, that's just not a question anyone would normally ask on any given day. Gotta love it.)

 

[tungpo1]

Thats one heck of a house very, very nice!!!!!!! as for the bats just have a little pan fry those are some tasty buggers LOL

 

[Shannone1]

Hope your DD is ok. Just remember Golf Carts don't hurt people people hurt people. (wow that was lame)(my saying)(I really do hope your kid is ok)

This is so true. I ran over my puppy once with my golf cart !! He was only a few months old and I was taking him for a ride. I was going REALLY SLOW thank goodness. He just jumped right off the cart and I clipped his head with the front tire. I was in the field a couple of acres behind our house. I grabbed the puppy (there was no blood just grass all over his head) and I started screaming for Chad and running for the house.

We jumped in the car and rushed off to the vet without even calling first. They are great and got him in right away. Turns out he was fine. There was some grass matted into his fur around his eyes, but no cuts or anything. It looked much worse than it really was. The milked it for a couple of days and got to sleep on my bed.

 

[Shannone1]

Sooooooooo.... any bat poop today?

(OK, that's just not a question anyone would normally ask on any given day. Gotta love it.)

Tuesday update-

About 10:00 last night we starting smelling the black tank in the motorhome. The tank was full (it lasted a week since we had the inside bathrooms during the day) and we had planned on taking it this afternoon to dump. But the smell was strong and so we decided to pull in the slides and go set up camp at our nearby membership campground. So we threw a few things in the car and by 11:00pm were all set up on a campsite with the tanks drained, kids in bed and Chad and I playing cards. The kids have been having fun at the beach/pool today while Chad is working. We'll be heading back home again late this afternoon.

As for the bat poop...there were two new droppings in our bathtub this morning....no where else !! So we are moving back into the house tonight, but Chad and I will NOT be using our bathroom until we find that one last bat. The bat people said if it doesn't turn up dead by tomorrow ( 5 days without food) then he will come out and check the beam again just to make sure it didn't find another way in & out. If he doesn't see any possible openings he will put up some glue traps to trap the bat and then come and fetch him once he is caught.

So in the last 6 days we have only seen 5 bat droppings spread out over a three day period and ALL in the master bathroom and nowhere else Once we get the motorhome back over to the house tonight I am going to strip the beds and get all the bedding washed and reloaded for our next trip at the end of the week.