Dear Ferret Folks-

I have received lots of if not helpful, quite *amusing* suggestions
about how to protect my tomato seedlings from that....dirtnoser, Puma,
Princess Toebiter. My absolute favorite comes from Vikki, who puts
*her* seedlings inside a closed ferret cage.

I LOVE IT!! I'd pay to see the look of consternation on that....
dirtnoser's face.

Unfortunately, I cannot use Anne from Chicago's advice (posted today)
as I *have* no windowsills! I have nothing but awning windows, the kind
that is hinged at the top and cranks outward to allow rain to drip off.
These are the same kind of windows most traditional campers and motor
homes have. I love them, but in my home they come without sills. They
just have moldings around them flush to the wall.

But Ann, you are terribly, terribly misguided. You write:

>Poor, poor, POOR under appreciated Puma. Here she is, hard at work,
>going through each and every one of those 70 or so seedlings to make
>each is perfect. Destroying everyone that does not make the grade. A
>ferret geneticist, if you were, making sure only the best survive.
>
>And what does she get as far as rewards for all her hard work? Slander
>and slurs.

That sap-thirsty cheap mink wannabe is no geneticist. No. She believes
in wholesale slaughter, she does not discriminate. Of nearly 80 tomato
seedlings, there are now 56. Don't think Gregor Mendel, think Attila
the Hun.

56.

But I do have some hope for the tomatoes, and the tiny eggplants and
peppers that are raising their little double leaves in their potting
soil flats. Hope, for the Black-Eyed Susans, the Blackberry Lillies,
the Campanulas and Lupines who to date are only seeds, waiting to lift
themselves up into the sun. The temporary plastic barrier that I have
erected between end-table and seed table (the lid of my nephew's big
plastic toy box) has been effective so far, if only because it makes a
heck of a bang when Puma knocks it onto the hardwood floor.

That happened today (for the first time) and what did the little
monster do? She chased me into the computer room and went for my feet.
Again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Then she dooked.

Dirtnoser.

Alexandra in MA

[Posted in FML 5918]