Barbara,
    I loved your story about hiding the ferrets from your jerk maintenance
man.  I lived in a no pets apartment just b/4 moving in with Jonathan (my
new husband).  At one point, I was looking for a new place because I really
wanted to be with my cat, who is 16 years old.  I was already successfully
hiding the ferrets but I was pretty sure Don Gato would get caught.  I told
the landlady I was moving out, and why, not mentioning the ferrets b/c they
were with me ANYway.  Turns out she's an animal lover too!  She said she
would be by my apartment to check it out and if it looked like I was keeping
things up pretty well (not wrecking the place) I could just pay an
additional deposit and be allowed to sneak my cat in (I couldn't tell the
other tenants).  I went berzerk!  I was excited about the possibility of
keeping my cat, but if she went by she'd find out I already HAD three outlaw
ferrets!  I had litterboxes in most every corner...  food dishes, water
bowls, the WORKS!  I took an early lunch from work and raced home.  I hid
everything that had anything to do with pets.  I threw everything I couldn't
hide into the trunk of my car.  I stepped back and admired the beauty of my
work...  then I realized the FERRETS were still there.  Duuuuh.  I don't
have very understanding bosses and I had only five minutes to get back to
work so I put the little travel cage into the car and took them with me.
The bigger cage was in the trunk.  Luckily it was a chilly day (for Texas).
The kids were fine in the car.  Though at my break time I did sneak them
upstairs into my cubicle.  Ends up the landlady never went by.  She decided
just to trust me (heehee).  After that, I added three more ferrets and a
pregnant cat that had four kittens.  I fessed up after I moved out only b/c
she was asking if I knew what happened to that beautiful stray she had been
feeding.  Muahahahaha!
[Posted in FML issue 1355]