Dear Sandee:
 
First off I would like to say that I haven't been posting or even lurking
much.....this past year has been a very rough year for me and my
family..... my husband and a co-worker were wrongfully dismissed from
their jobs last year this time......it took them a while through their
union to get their jobs back but they finally did after six months, at
the same time he got laid off I was just going for my last treatment.....
I was doing treatments for six months......well I only work part-time at
a video store so I only make between $200-$400 a month......well we sure
found out in a hurry what it's like not to be able to have things you
need and decide to a get some gas in the vehicle this week or buy a
few groceries or pick up some groceries next week, etc. and with my
husband's situation and considering it took so long to resolve this it
financially ruined us so we had to claim bankruptcy and now we are on a
strict budget by our trustee and have to send in monthly reports for
the next six months and pay him $400 a month also for his fee......well
anyway, luckily I had some pension money invested which came from the
company I worked for 15 years but they closed back in 1995 anyway, I
inquired through our government to see if I could get this money pulled
because I was told by the invester that it could not be touched until I
was 65 yrs.  old......they said since you are going through what they
call "Financial Hardship" that yes I could, so they sent me the forms I
filled them out sent them back and within three weeks I got the cheque in
the mail, so I sent a bit of money to each of our creditors to get them
off our backs for at least a month......then I took all of our fuzzies to
the vets in two separate trips and made sure they had their yearly shots
and a complete physical.....well thank God I had this money or I don't
know what we would have done because it turns out our albino Prince had
cancer the doctor saw a lump and she did surgery on him and removed it
all and he is fine, he also has lupron shots once every 3 to 4 months
because he also has adrenal and she felt doing the lupron shots would be
better for him and everyone else got a clean bill of health including our
dog.
 
Well, before we knew it the money was gone, there wasn't very much
pension money anyway and 1-1/2 months later our Pepper got sick and we
were in bankruptcy and had no money by then and this just killed us to no
end.....she lost the use of her hind legs but would use her front legs
and drag herself around....she was peeing and pooping just fine and I
would grind up her ferret food and feed it to her everyday and give her
water.....she seemed to be doing so well and this past Thursday morning
she pasted away.....it just breaks my heart and I know it's been three
days since her passing but I just don't come on the computer like I use
to with everything that's happend this past year I just have enough in
me to go to work and try to get things done around the house......I'm
sorry for making this a long post but I've been even more depressed since
Pepper's passing and I guess I just need to vent.....
 
I am writing this to you dear Sandee with tears but could you please look
out for our sweet little girl and tell her that we are all so sorry and
miss her terribly..... also Sandee, could you please have Maxine, Maxi
and Fritz greet her when she arrives if she hasn't already and make sure
that she gets introduced to Booger.....we didn't have Pepper when Booger
passed away over two years ago.  Pepper was deaf, chubby and a very sweet
little girl.....oh, she will be bringing dad's remote which she loved to
hide when no one was looking, her pink & yellow stuffed chicken and mom's
old eyeglass case which she loved to steal also.  Pepper came to us when
she was 4 months old.....the pet store gave her to us because they had
an incident in the store just a few days before we arrived to town.....
apparently there was a boy at the store with his father and he was asked
repeatedly to read the sign and not poke his finger in the cage.....well,
I guess he didn't stop and my guess is that he must have poked Pepper
from behind, she didn't see him or hear him because she was deaf, he
startled her and she turned around and nipped him (no blood was drawn) so
I guess the boy's mother raised a big stink, called the store screaming
at the manager and called the health inspector so needless to say the
inspector was so scared from Pepper that he never saw her because they
had put her in a separate cage to have her quarantined and put her in
the room where they go to clean out the cages and because the women made
Pepper out to be this horrible vicious ferret that the inspector was
scared, never went in the room to see Pepper so he never knew what she
looked like.....anyway, we showed up a few days later in Thunder Bay for
medical appointments, they told us what happened and the girls at the
store said that she was a he and we actually found out after we got home
that Pepper was a she and that she was deaf.....so I called the store to
let them know and for some reason they didn't know that she was deaf.
So now this is why we think she got poked by the boy from behind, got
startled because she couldn't hear and turned around and nipped him.
What the store did after we took Pepper home is take another ferret who
was gentle and put him in Pepper's place and the inspector would be none
the wiser.  Sandee just please let her know how much we love her and let
Booger, Maxine, Maxi and Fritz know how much we love and miss them
too....I know I haven't been writing to you to check up on them but I do
think about them every single day.....they will always have a special
place in my heart.
 
Sending lots of love & kisses
Love from Mom, Dad, Michael, Whiskey(dog)
Brothers & sisters: Snowball, Prince, Buddy, Shark, Lady, Bear, Star,
Princess, Max & Angel
[Posted in FML issue 4641]