Creature in my ceiling

I woke at 6:30am to what I thought must be a continuation of some nightmare. I heard growling and hissing, the skittering of feet and the movement of modestly large bodies, and then some start type of squeal (not a squeak, but almost like a short bird call in its complexity). The two animals chased back and forth across my ceiling. I’d describe it more eloquently but I had no plans to be awake for another two and a half hours from now, so my brain’s not really in its highest-functioning mode right now.

Ken, who actually was waking up for work, came out and we tried together to see the animals on the top of the roof. At one point I saw a large feline animal run away to the other side of the roof, but the noises resumed very shortly after that, so either it made its way back, or it had a friend. I finally discovered that the noises weren’t coming from on top of my roof, but instead in the crawlspace between the roof and the lower ceiling of the carport that’s attached directed to my ceiling. I can’t tell for certain whether or not the crawlspace extends to above my ceiling, but it certainly sounds like it does.

Anyway, leather couches aren’t very conducive to sleep when it’s 40 degrees outside, so I doubt I’ll find myself moving into the main house. So, I guess it’s wakeup time for me. I’ll see what it’s like for all you earlybirds.