Dear Ferret Folks-

It's not just a cliche.

This evening, I could not find Ping is He. Well, that is not unusual.
Puma comes easily to a squeakie, but Ping is prone to that death-sleep
thing, and sometimes spends the night loose in the house. I don't
really mind. I squeaked and squeaked and squeaked until my husband
snarled from the bedroom "I'm trying to sleep, here!" And I decided
that this would be one of the nights that Ping spent out.

He was out, all right. I don't know how, but he got outside. I didn't
know until I was tucked into my warm bed with a book, and this HORRIBLE
noise came from our chicken coop in the back yard! The one with our
four teen-aged Barred-Rock chickens, three hens and a rooster. We got
them when they were just little fuzzy fellows a few weeks ago. Now they
are half grown and show their distinctive black and white tweedy
pattern.

Oh, the noise was wretched! Here is a Youtube video someone took of his
Barred-Rock complaining. Imagine this noise times four, in the middle
of the night! (HOW did Ping get out? When my husband went for wood?
That's my guess.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ytxeQlHhhE&feature=related

(Sorry, BIG. This new e-mail program doesn't want to tell me how to
embed a link. I will work on the problem.) [You did fine. BIG]

I stepped into my nearest pair of shoes and grabbed a flash-light. I
ran out into the night in my night gown, heading for the coop. I could
see Ping in the doorway very clearly, the coop has a little lamp to
keep the teen-aged chickens warm in the night. He saw me coming and
his whole body said "Oh, *hit, she caught me!"

Oh, yeah. Busted, buddy.

I scooped Ping up and by then my husband was right behind me. I handed
the guilty party to my husband and he was returned to his cage, and to
his companion, Puma.

It was not easy to convince the teen-aged chickens to return to their
coop. Nope. And I could hardly blame them. MAN! What a noise. "There's
a weasel in our hen house! There's a weasel in our hen house!"

My life is very full. Imagine all of this from the Barred-Rock's point
of view.

Alexandra in MA

[Posted in FML 5972]