Hello all!!
 
The vast majority of you will not remember me, so I will reintroduce
myself.  I was a subscriber from 1996-2003.  I moved and did not have
internet access for a while, so I 'disappeared' from the FML.  I've been
meaning to come back for almost two months now, but just didn't get to
it...you know how it is.
 
Anyway, I'm Jaclyn Vanderhoef, currently live in southeastern PA and if
you had my email address around, it used to be [log in to unmask]  When
I was here, I had several ferrets over the years: Kif, Trevor, Fred,
Mr. Pepper, Bomber, Merlin, Amelia.  Fred and Mr. Pepper were from Chere
McCoy's shelter, Bomber was from an Orlando shelter and Merlin/Amelia
were from Mason Lowrey in Martinsville, IN.  I've lived all over, what
can I say?  We also have a Brittany Spaniel and a cat.  We foster all
sorts of animals over time, from birds to lizards to dogs to ???.
Currently, we have a stray cat with five kittens.  Thankfully, they are
all spoken for with great homes at only 3 weeks of age.
 
These days, I still have Fred, Bomber, Merlin and Amelia.  What prompted
me, suddenly, to get back to the FML?  I couldn't stand not sharing what
happened to me!!
 
Bomber escaped from our house on Monday night.  Through the breaking of
many links of a 'safety chain' he made it outside, we assumed, after
literally tearing apart the house several times over.  Well, we live in
the utter boonies, surrounded by creeks, ponds, impenetrably thick woods
filled with foxes, coyotes, hawks, snapping turtles, you name it.  We
(my husband, Shanon, too) were distraught.  We searched for the whole
night.  We searched through the early morning.
 
I HAD to go to work Tuesday.  Shanon stayed home and searched house.  He
searched outside by car, by foot, by bicycle, by canoe, by binoculars
from the rooftop.  He looked for poop, for footprints, for any sign of a
ferret.  From work, I emailed a woman with a search dog often used for
lost pets, begging for help.  Shanon scattered the remaining few pounds
of ferret food in the yard.  I came home from work with more food and
scattered 15 lbs of Totally Ferret around the yard area, hoping to keep
him in the area, if he was still there.  We scattered ferret poop through
the yard and put bedding by all the doors.  We trekked to all four of the
neighbors and shared our situation, so they would be on the lookout.  We
ripped the house apart again.  We searched until we just had to sleep.
It was a horrible night.
 
Wednesday, we both had to go to work.  It was a miserable day, the stress
and worry of what tragedy might befall Bomber kept me from accomplishing
anything.  Wednesday evening, we went home and started searching again.
Finally, I had to eat.  The stress had killed my appetite but I was sick,
I was so hungry.  So, I went in to scavenge something simple.  Shanon
went to the car to get lunch's leftovers.  I went to the bathroom to
check on some stray kittens that we are raising when I heard the door
slam and Shanon flying through the house, tripping left and right over
things.  He slid into the doorway and stood there, beaming, with Bomber
in his arms.
 
Our nearest neighbors, who live a little more than halfway down our 1/4
mile long driveway, had found him in their yard.  We don't know what
adventures he had while he was gone, but we are utterly thankful that he
is home safely.  He seems to be fine and we are keeping a close eye on
him.  Tonight is the test: Put him out in the ferret area and see what
he did to escape.  The upstairs area has been ferret proof for 6 months.
We still don't know what changed.
 
By the way, the woman with the search dog never did write or call me.
Lovely, eh?
 
Anyway, hello to you and your fuzzies!  It will be nice to be back!!
 
--Jaclyn
[Posted in FML issue 4541]