This is a picture of a custom made raccoon door. It’s also a picture of our roof.

If you have been a reader for a while, you know the saga of the raccoons. Several years ago we had some soffit work done, and then the roof developed a leak. Dear Husband took the new soffit back out so we could watch to find the leak. Unfortunately, it was during boating season, and he didn’t get back to it in a timely manner.
Raccoons found their way into the soffits. The following year they came back and excavated their way further through the soffits. DH waited until they were out one night and closed up the soffits and they had to find new homes.
Well, this spring, DH discovered that they had EATEN their way through the roof at the junction of the roof over the great room, and the roof over our bedroom.
We were just about to evict them, when we discovered that two of them had given birth. (sigh)
So, we let them remain until we were sure the babies could fend for themselves. The time has come. This week (I HOPE), DH will rise in the middle of the night and remove the custom door, and cover the entry. This fall, we hope to re-shingle the entire roof, and there will be metal flashing anywhere the raccoons might choose to gnaw.
The entire point of the door was to keep rain from coming in and ruining the drywall in two rooms. It wasn’t as much generosity as it was protecting what was there until we could evict the little beggars.
Here’s a closer view:

We’ve been lucky that this was a drought year. I hope we’re equally lucky in evicting our star boarders, and getting the gutters cleaned out!