Hello everyone.  Things have been busy here at Harmony House settling
into our new New England home.  One of the benefits is that because the
"Ferret Craze" has died down there are a abundance of marked down ferret
products to be found.  I traveled here with 50lbs of food then located
another 25lb bag for real cheep.  I spent a good part of the afternoon
mixing all 75lbs then making up my own 10lb bags of kibble using a food
saver to create vacuum packed bags which should last me through the
winter.  I also made up four 2lb bags for the "Just in case" over night
stay.
 
Well as everyone knows we lost our dear kitty friend Mefur early last
week to the local coyotes.  The last thing we needed was to lost another
furry friend.  But that is almost what happened.
 
Right now while the weather is mild my six pack is being housed outside
in the fresh air where they get plenty of stimulation for the smells and
sounds around them.  Normally when I clean their cage I have my son
standing by because my large black GSD (German Shepherd Dog) likes to
push on the play pen so he can get to the fur kids.  Unlike my older
female GSD he has not yet accepted them as family.  Well as the story
goes on, my son was working on his homework and because my big boy was
inside I decided to tackle the cage on my own.  My six pack has a
wonderful time where I have the double play pen set up.  There are rocks
in the center and dead leaves as well as grass and dirt.  While I was
scooping I felt something bump my leg.  It was Sherlock my silver DEW.  I
immediately scooped him up and ran over to the pen which was only a few
feet away.  When I took a head count I was missing Pan my panda blaze
boy.  I called for my son who came rushing out.  I instructed him to keep
an eye on the remaining five while I went over the banking towards the
pond to see if I could find Pan.  Now there is a good 30 ft of swamp area
just before you get to the pond.  I tried to listen to see if I could
hear him in the leaves but no luck.  I even took all three dogs with me
to see if we could track him by playing the favorite game of "Find the
Baby" but it was no good.
 
I returned to the house and finished cleaning the cage and put the others
up.  Unlike the other five I knew a squeaky toy wouldn't work because he
is deaf.  I would make a trip down to the pond every couple hours.  My
father head a dog barking close to where I had figured Puck had gone.  I
tracked down the dog but she had nothing with her.  My worse fear was
that Puck would be either taken by one of the local foxes or drowned if
he came across one of our resident beavers.
 
The next morning when I took the dogs out I again made a trip to the pond
to see if there was anything but again nothing.  I figured that I had to
suck it up and acknowledged that Mother Nature had again fed her children
at my expense.  I then went to go check on my remaining five.  I cover
the cage at night with a old blanket so my guys can have a den but during
the day I will uncover it in the morning for a few hours to air out.
What a surprise when I took the blanket off for there was Puck curled up
asleep on top of the cage under the blanket.  He was caked with mud and
stunk like swamp muck but I hugged him anyway.
 
Puck had not only found his own way home but had also tried to get to his
brothers.  from now on when changing the cage I have my son with me or I
set the pen up on a concrete slab so they can't dig out.
 
Harmony House is happy once again.
[Posted in FML issue 5010]