My favorite pictures of my late ferret, Rikki, are of her bounding with
all her strength to catch a red ornament off of the xmas tree.  She was
tantalized by the ornaments and would spend hours leaping at them, then
doing war dances because she could usually only tap them with her
nose.  Getting that close only made her madder!
 
We'd sit and laugh and laugh at her because she was so determined!  And
when she leaped into the air, her muscles were so taught that her
little tail and back legs were like a stiff tripod.
 
When she finally got a "prize," she'd drag it off under the
couch and come back for more.
 
The tree wasn't big, but she never came close to knocking it over (she
only weighed about a pound, though).  We've also got one of those
heavy-duty tree stands and our 3.5 pound male ferret hasn't tipped a
tree yet.  If Olly ever tipped the tree, I'd wire it to the walls
before thinking about making it off-limits (good idea in earthquake
country anyway ;-).
 
I always look forward to xmas because I can watch Oliver play with
the ornaments on the tree!
 
[Posted in FML issue 0572]