The Ferrets at Heart Kentucky Derby celebration was a fantastic
gathering of friends. We ate Kentucky Fried Chicken, watched the days
horse races, and reviewed some of the photos from North Carolina of our
adventurous travelers spanning the last month. Just before the big race
of the day, we picked the winners of the eight prize packages of our
Spring Raffle.

Everyone participated in our traditional derby game. We each chose our
three favorite horses running in the main race. Whoever's three horses
collectively finished the best won a favor from the other party guests.
This game is played for each of the Triple Crown races, so we've got
two more parties yet to go! Alex won the Kentucky Derby race game, so
we all owe this intrepid six-year-old a favor. Good Job "Little Red!"

The winners of the Ferrets at Heart Spring Raffle were chosen at
random - literally. First, we made a chart of which ticket purchasers
received which ticket numbers. This was chronologically based on the
date when a PayPal donation was made or a check received in the mail.
Then, we took the number of tickets assigned to a particular prize
package and entered that number into http://www.random.org/ as the
"maximum value." Anna's six-year-old boy, Alex, pushed the enter button
on the keyboard to generate the answer. Adam, Anna's twelve-year-old
son, helped look up the person with that ticket number in the chart,
which was then verified for accuracy (especially since Anna won one of
the prizes). The numbers were drawn by the random number generator and
noted down without the chart of who owned what ticket numbers being in
view.

And the Winners are:

1. Cyndi Howmard of Middleburg, Florida won a signed stretched canvas
of "Red Butterfly Ferrets" by Jasmine Becket-Griffith.

2. Linda Hammel of Charlestown, Maryland won two sets of Bath and Body
Works products - "Charmed Life" and "Be Enchanted" - complete with
complementing jewelry. One of the jewelry sets came from Fuzzy Loving
Ferrets.

3. Katie Carr of Roeland Park, Kansas won a business portfolio, four
photo coasters, and bird house, which were donated by Cathy Mallette.
She will also receive 10 cat or ferret holiday cards from Golden Stone
Graphics and a matted 8" x 10" picture of her choice from Pat and Gary
Shaskin.

4. Marsha Stanek of Oregon, Wisconsin won a leopard picture frame and
military-style men's gift set donated by Cathy Mallette. She will also
receive animal print flannel sheets. Included in her prize package are
2 humorous donkey holiday cards and 14 various raccoon greeting cards
by Golden Stone Graphics.

5. Anna Smith of Huron, Ohio won a signed print of "A Ferret and His
Fairy" by Jasmine Becket-Griffith and 10 ferret holiday cards from
Golden Stone Graphics.

6. Louise Ohman of Sagamore Hills, Ohio, won a signed print of "Angel
with Ferrets" by Jasmine Becket-Griffith and 10 ferret holiday cards
from Golden Stone Graphics.

7. Janice Mansfield of San Francisco, California won 35 cat greeting
cards for all occasions from Golden Stone Graphics, along with a few
other small cat items.

8. Karen Bunnel of McDonough, Georgia won a collapsible luxury
pet carrier, Zupreem kibble, A hammock with toy from HalfRats and
CarpetSharks, and a variety of miscellaneous items for the pet ferret.
She also will receive a ferret tote bag, mouse pad, notebook, and
t-shirt from Ferrets with Soul.

Our heart-felt thanks and grateful appreciation goes out to all the
donors who gave us items for this raffle. Repeat offenders deserve
special mention: the talented artist Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Renee'
at Golden Stone Graphics with her delightful animal greeting cards,
and Ferrets with Soul and their ferret creations of all kinds.

Because of those of you who bought tickets for the Ferrets at Heart
Spring Raffle, we raised $360 to go towards our next vet visit. That
amount will purchase 4 Deslorelin implants to treat adrenal tumors!
Since we have heard a whisper that some new adrenal furkids will be
heading our way, we are dancing for joy over this sunshine in the
future of some blessed weasels! We hope to have our website updated
with all this information sometime this weekend.

Congratulating our winners,

Lori of Ferrets at Heart
http://ferretsatheart.com/

[Posted in FML 7423]