Last night I climbed onto the roof with a flashlight and a drill. It was dark and wet and I had to do something.

A few days ago, we were enjoying the warm morning sun in our solarium when we were startled by the sudden appearance of a raccoon on the roof. There is a small crawl space between the solarium roof and the balcony above us, and this is where we decided she must be living. We named her Bandit.

That night there was a commotion coming from our kitchen ceiling, and that’s when we discovered that Bandit was not alone. There was a whole family of raccoons living in that area of our house. Somehow they’d gotten onto the solarium roof — already a feat in itself — and then into the crawl space, into the house, and through the walls to above our sink, which is where their den is. The distance that they covered inside the walls is over 5 meters.

Yesterday my landlords came by and blocked off the crawl space that the raccoons were using to get inside. I mentioned that there was a whole family living there and that the babies were probably still inside. My landlords assured me that there were no babies; it was just two adult raccoons, and they were gone now.

And then that night, we heard the chittering of the babies in the walls, exactly where I’d indicated to my landlords. Bandit was back on the solarium, scratching at the blocked entrance, struggling to get to her family. And that’s why, right after she left, I was out on to the roof.

I called my landlords again this morning and told them why I took down the boards. There were definitely babies in there. They agreed with me that we’ll have to wait until they’re big enough to come out on their own, and at that point we will block it off from them. But for now, it looks like we have a family of raccoons staying with us. Cute factor ten.