My Gawd, I'm back!  Can hardly believe it myself.  The last two weeks were
horrid (well, excepting a few days with a friend); had to replace an
alternator, thread my way through forest fires (to avoid Ca-Ca
Fish-N-Gestapo agents), drive in a car literally filled to capacity with pet
porters and poopinators, and somehow get innocently caught up in some sort
of FML ECE thang.  Oh, yeah, I was almost a week late for classes.  No big
deal; the stress must have been in my mind.
 
Were to start, what to say?  First, due to the car problems, my time was
greatly effected, and I didn't get to say goodbye to some Oregon friends,
including Pat O'Neal (has forgotten more about genetics than I know), Sandy,
Elayne and Leonard, Percy and Georgia, and many more.  Sorry, but I will get
to see you sooner than you think if all goes well.
 
The trip?  Was fine if you like living in a compact car filled with ferret
poop.  Loved it.  Really loved stopping every couple of hours for water,
food and exercise breaks.  Was able to make hundreds of nasty comments about
the Ca-Ca Fish and Gestapo to thousands of out-of-state people, many of
which promised to write letters to the Ca-Ca Gov'nor.
 
Only had one small incident where Tanner (AKA: The Satanic Biter from Hell)
got out of her cage, and proceeded to bite both of Andrew's and my hands,
all the while I was driving at 65 MPH and trying to stay on the road, not
get any important parts bitten, and stop the car without being flattened by
a logging truck.  In Tanner's defence, she was kinda spooked by the
car/smells/environment, and was very nervous.  At least she looked nervous
just before clamping down on my elbow.  I think she was nervous.
 
As for my five new additions, and listen to this Oregonians, ALL 19 of my
ferrets LIVE TOGETHER.  Sandy, Crystal, Fraggle, Sam, and Trillium share a
common cage during the dark hours, but all 19 run free together.  Ha Ha,
told you it could be done!  You guys owe me dinner or something.  There is
still some very minor squeeking, but most of the dominance fighting is over.
Oh, the only one that still nips is Crystal, but only once today, and not
very hard.  By the way, her tail is now covered with long white hair, and
her back is getting thicker, although her butt is still bald.  Now if I
could convince them to all use the box....
 
Dropped 9 ferrets off in New Mexico, then took TJ/White Fang into Texas (See
next post by me).  I was late everywhere, and missed meeting Trish (dropped
TJ/White Fang off in an ECE-neutral environment).  Also missed most of my
Texas friends (Sorry).  Have to say that I really miss the little white
ghost.  Anyone want to lick my toes at 4 am?
 
Anyway, I've got lots of mail and FML to get caught up on.  Thanks for all
your support.
 
Bob and the 19 Ferretographers.
[Posted in FML issue 1673]