Hey All,
 
Had a real scare yesterday.  My wife, Charlotte, and I just moved into a new
apartment.  Our four carpet sharks are confined to the bedroom for a short
while as we attempt to proof our new digs.  We were testing the
lava-rocks-as-digging-deterrent for potted plants (Nuvak, our athletic male,
laughed maniacally, threw a couple of the rocks at my head, and quickly dug
through 6" of the stuff and got to the soil.  Something about the smell of
the soil that just gets under his skin and doesn't let him go.  When I
dragged him out, his nose was black and he had that "I'm the happiest ferret
in whole world" look on his face).  We left the room for a while to let them
work at it, and follow through with the experiment (I'm thinking we need
rocks that are a good deal heavier than the lava rocks).
 
As we came back into the bedroom, Charlotte let out a scream.  Our female
albino, Uinta, was outside of the screen on the concrete window ledge!
That window is 2.5 floors up, above a concrete walkway.  We were truly
frightened.  The weird thing was, there was no visible sign of how she had
gotten out there -- the screen was in place and intact.  I won't keep you
in suspense.  Charotte gingerly raised the screen, speaking softly (Uinta
comes when Charlotte calls her), grabbed her, brought her in, sat down on
the bed cradling the little fuzzball, and told her over and over again that
mommy didn't want her to go out there again.
 
In retrospect, I am glad it was Uinta. Of the four, she has the surest grip
(one of her many nicknames is "Velcro," has the lowest center of gravity
(nearly impossible to topple her), and is the most terrified of heights
(she can't even jump down from our low bed without first going through her
five minute pacing, leaning-over-and-pulling-back routine, which is quite
comical). So she is the one least likely to make a mistake out there.
 
The bottom of the screening itself is somehow loose from its channel,
resulting in easy, though invisible from a foot or more away, passage. We
don't know if she simply pushed her way through by force, or if it was
already loose and she just walked through. Maybe she or all of them had
already spent hours and hours out on that ledge -- oh, god. Needless to
say, that window is now closed to a sliver, no fun for anyone, given the
heat and humidity we've had in Chi-town (looks like the entire eastern 2/3
of the country, actually) this summer.
 
Can't have A/C when you're an environmentalist -- if one is talking the
talk, one must walk the walk; though this is pushing it. But I stray.
 
All is good and safe in the asylum, and all fuzzballs are, at least for
now, accounted for.
 
Honani, Nuvak, Soyoko, Uinta, Charlotte, Chuck
(oh, yes and the two temporary and NERVOUS house guests, Gerble 1 and
Gerble 2 "Please don't let those things loose, they look at us with hungry
eyes!")
 
Charles S. McCarthy                   "Vox clamantis in deserto" - E. Abbey
Northwestern University
Office of Summer Session and Special Programs
2115 North Campus Drive, Suite 162
Evanston, IL  60208-2660
ph (708)491-7404
fax (708)491-3660
[Posted in FML issue 1287]