The "Raccoon Lodge," as it has become known, began as a therapeutic project when Kevin Mason was undergoing cancer treatments earlier this year. "Ideally, I just thought after it's all done and all the construction is through one day I'd see a squirrel poking its head out the window or even a raccoon," said Mason, 75. Directly outside Mason's house once stood a 150-foot tall cypress tree with a massive 52-foot circumference. It came down a few years ago. All that was left was what Mason calls a "sad stump." An accomplished career carpenter, Mason built into the trunk a whimsical house for the creatures who once called the tree home. Like a page out of a Shel Silverstein children's book, the sad stump was making people happy again. "I've seen that time and time again where people drive by and they smile," said Mason. "It's a gift of love to my neighborhood and to my community." But the 24-foot-tall structure stands in the public right of way and poses a potential risk to people walking by. "The structure there is possibly a threat of falling down," said City Manager John Mauro. "Heaven forbid something happens where the structure falls, hurts somebody, or damages property." READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/racoon-lodge-port-townsend/281-096c7add-3c32-447a-aeb3-929a2ddd54c5