3.18.2010

the roof over our heads

last night as we were falling asleep, i heard a noise. again...and again. a little thud. steve and i got up and slowly walked through the house until the noise led us to the fireplace. i figured haven must have been up and was kicking the wall-her room is right below the fireplace. i hurried down to find her fast asleep, the crib pulled away from the wall. it couldn't be her. so steve ran outside while i watched from inside. i heard him, "hello?" and then he ran across the yard. what the heck? there was a creature on our roof. bigger than a cat. steve started throwing rocks and it moved slowly, heavily. then i saw it's profile in the moonlight, a pointy little face and a huge bushy tail. it was definitely not a cat. probably a racoon. that bugger wasn't about to leave our roof and after calling police dispatch in search of animal control (who will pretty much only come out if you've got a cougar on the premises) we decided it would probably go away on it's own sometime in the night. it did. but it left us with this:
DSCN2639
that little monster tore through two layers of shingles, through the shake, and down to the boards. in two places. it's supposed to rain today. so, steve left school, sent this picture to his professor as proof of the emergency, and now he's on the roof banging away. 


here, here to home-ownership! 


edited to add: i've been researching raccoons and how to repel them and it looks like this was most likely the work of a pregnant raccoon looking for a place to nest and birth her litter of 3-5 babes. once they find a home (attics are a favorite), they are nearly impossible to get rid of, so it looks like we're lucky that she didn't manage to get through those boards and that steve got the holes sealed up quickly. she'll be devastated upon her return, hopefully she moves along. oh, and she pooped on our roof-it looks like the work of a human. nash has been saying "it's not hooman poop" since he overheard our conversation. 

11 comments:

Janelle said...

Glad the crazy thing didn't get in! Just think how quick it could have scratched it's way through the doors!

Laurie said...

OMG I'm glad you're all oK!

sarahbclark! said...

oh no! that is unbelievable!

Alifinale said...

Are you kidding me? That is insane. Way better story though than our annoying cricket that we can't find.

lisset said...

holy cow man. i'm glad it wasn't a more dangerous kind of intruder, but seriously- that's insane.

Cole said...

Maybe in all the comotion Steve just thought he was throwing rocks... it may have been hooman poop after all.

Emilie May said...

a bullet, now this... it's like your house is a portal to another world, trying to draw things inside. "walk into the light!"

Chocolates for Breakfast said...

are you kidding me?..."always an adventure with the andersons"*

*this is art's closing line everytime we go out with brad and debbi

Quinn, Allison, Rylee and Cailyn McNamara said...

omg that is insane!!!

Tara said...

OH MY GOSH. What???

Danny and Lauren's Blog said...

NUTS! That is totally wacky! So, so frustrating. I hope the repairs are quick, cheap, and lasting.