Hayley, do be careful. Balloons do and have killed ferrets just as they
have killed children. They have a double whammy since if ingested they can
either suffocate or can cause blockages. Rubber and latex are also strong
hazards for the second reason.
Interesting to see his color preference, though. Orange is new one on me.
You have GOT to try rolling a tangerine or small orange and see what he
does. Some love to play with them, especially when the acid "bites back"
after they sink in teeth. Don't open it, though, because of the seeds;
wash it well beforehand, and be sure to remove any stem portion left.
Sounds like you may well have one with wide color vision. Love the color
sorting done with boht green and orange having their own piles. Our
'Chopper the Organic Helicopter used to only do that with blue. Years ago
Ruffle used to place things into straight lines when stashing them -- like
little soldiers. If they were small she'd arrange them into crosses, and
especially liked to do that with raisins.
To All: So, various people place different connotations on the word "hobby"
and a pile of other words that recently have been cited. So what? This,
like so many others, is an exceedingly malleable word with multiple
meanings, depending on the person using it as well as on the circumstances.
Pays to just accept that although to some people a given word may have
aspects which are negative, there are very many to whom it means nothing of
the kind. Hey, words can be tricky things; got to be careful to not read
things into them which aren't there. That's all. If people can understand
that one individual places negative connotations on any given word, then,
that person should simply extend the same understanding and know that not
everyone shares her or his interpretation, in fact, that many do not. It's
going to be true on either side that many do not, in fact, that some may
not agree with either, or may agree with both in the right situations.
It's not a big deal or at all particular hard to do -- from either side.
Hey, it's all just the subject "Critical Analysis" (which is a really
interesting topic of study).
I think that past things and some personal biases against certain
individuals are strongly shading some statements and the interpretations
being made on each side -- causing leading statements and misreading that
could have easily enough been avoided, so easily that some of it seems to
amount to actively "reading into" the wording. Drop it -- no matter WHAT
the word. Please! Those who throw rocks (such as "fad", "flakey", "ruse"
etc.) should not live in... Bickering is happening all around from just
a few on this exceedingly silly topic on semantic variations and it's
a distraction from what the list can achieve. (Sorry, but I really
point-blank think that not accepting variations when multiple word
interpretations are acceptable is just plain silly and totally avoidable
MOST times.) Perhaps it would have made more sense to just ask nicely at
first which of the possible meanings was meant in each case and on both
sides before running with it. ***** Can semantics arguments in general be
killed for at least awhile, Bill, and loaded words well avoided (i.e. not
just those involving the word "hobby")?***** Perhaps we can just assume
that some folks had a bad week -- rough time at work, fever, too little
sleep, or whatever possible cause, and drop it all? After all, Q: If a
tree falls in the woods and no one hears it is there a sound? A: Define
"sound".
LOVED Brandon's (Yoda's) wise, eminently logical, fair, and hilarious
comment:
>Of course, whatever people want to call it (hobby, obsession, masochistic
>compulsion...) is okay with me. As long as the ferrets are getting the
>love and care they need and deserve, I'm jus' fine with it.
[Posted in FML issue 3203]
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