There's no greater joy that Stinky-ratface gets than when he goes
for a walk!  I moved to Florida from Arizona (where nothing will grow)
last May, and Stinky came with me, on the plane in the cargo hold (I was
paranoid for the 8 hours, not to mention I had to switch planes in
Dallas!).  I took Stinky for a walk here one day, ran into a man in a
wheelchair who said, "Hey, I ran over one of those once" (erf!) and ever
since then, he's had fleas.  I will take everyone's advice on getting rid
of the fleas, but in the meantime, he doesn't get to go out and play.  I
feel so bad for him, but I don't want him getting any more fleas (which
will make him feel worse).  The good news is that I'll be returning to AZ
next summer (and this time he's going on the plane WITH me -- does anyone
know which airlines allow this?) so he can enjoy the outside world as
much as he wants!
     Last year I lived in a dorm on ASU (AZ State) campus, and the dorm
was tiny even for me (something like 10 x 10), so Stinky got to go for
walks every day until he was exhausted and practically dead from all the
excitement.  I've heard of stories of people who will sling their fuzzies
around their necks or ride their shoulder, but Stinky will have none of
that!  He doesn't care how far away from the ground he is, no siree,
he'll jump off my shoulder and run like the wind!  As far as he leash
will allow him anyways.  It was really fun
walking him around campus because a lot of people didn't know what he
was.  There is nothing harder in the world than trying to explain to a
group of foreign exchange students who don't know English very well what
a "ferret" is.  I came up a group of Spanish girls once just oooing and
ahhhing over him, but there was just no translation for ferret.  "Is it a
rat?"  "No, it's a ferret."  "What is a ferret?"  "Well, it's related to
minks..."  "Oh, a mink?  Like fur coat?"  Somewhere out there is a group
of women who think some Americans walk minks instead of wearing them. :)
And let me tell you, Stinky is a real attention grabber and a great way
to meet a lot of guys (over 30,000+ people at ASU).  Nobody can resist a
fuzzy!  He does get scared of large groups of people though, and start
crawling into my arms and kind of cuddle/hide there, and shake real bad.
But once I let my friend watch him while I went to get a drink in the
student union, and when I came back out, he (stinky, not my friend
hehehe) had crawled into a woman's pockets on her dress and fallen asleep
there!  I was kind of jealous too.  :)  Happy New Year to everyone and
their fuzzies.
 
 
Marilyn (German/Vietnamese, Unsophisticated Simian)
Stinky (Albino, King of Cattle Killing)
[Posted in FML issue 1060]