Hello again everyone,
First off I would like to thank everyone who responded to my historical
questions.  I tried to e-mail everyone personally, but some came back as
undeliverable mail.  Sorry if you didn't get your thank you, but I did try.
There does seem to be some disagreement about the ancestor of domestic
ferrets as some of you wrote that it was the European polecat while others
claimed it was a North African polecat.  There were more people who said
European polecat, but I assume they are both pretty similar anyway.
 
Now for my CFS!  My SO and I just put up our X-Mass tree (no chemicals in
the water and it was a fir).  Well, Jitterbug was not really interested,
except to take a sip or two out of the tree stand, but Monkey had a blast!
She dunked her entire face in the water and then decided she would take a
little swim.  I couldn't believe it, but she voluntarily got completely in
the pan and stayed there splashing around until she was soaked!  (This from
the biggest complainer at bath time).  I was worried about decorating the
tree so I only put on one ornament as a test and watched closely.  It was a
glass (really plastic I think) icicle (sp?) and Monkey immediately pounced
on it.  She grabbec it with her little hands causing the bough it was
hanging on to bend slightly and then spring away, tossing the ornament in
the air (still attached to the branch though) and causing Monkey to engage
in a war dancing frenzy.  She was fascinated and repeated the procedure
countless times.  Then she discovered she didn't even need the icicle
because the lower branches would all spring up if she attached them too.  I
was rolling on the floor laughing!
 
Now about CLIMBING - Monkey then decides to climb up the entire 7 foot tree,
all the way to the top!!!  She was having the best time - she's less than a
year so it was her first x-mass tree.  After climbing/sliding/falling down
the tree (all at the same time by the way) she discovered the presents under
the tree.  Jitterbug, meanwhile, left her very own "present" under the tree.
Monkey decides that all the presents are hers and trys to unwrap some and
just haul off all the others to her hidey hole.  I kept bringing them back,
but I'm not sure how I'm going to decorate the tree given her inclination to
climb.  I suggested not decorating the tree, but my SO put his foot down and
proclaimed that the ferrets did NOT make the decisions in this household.
Ha Ha Ha ... who is he kidding?  So I am going to try to tie the ornaments
on really tight.
 
Meanwhile, many trips to the hardware store later, chicken wire and screws
seemed to be the best solution to the stove problem.  I used a kind of
chickenwire with tiny holes (about 1 centimeter by 1 centimeter) which may
be what everyone reffered to as hardware cloth.  I had to use screws with
heads bigger than the openings so it would be firmly secured.  But success
at last is mine.  (Monkey says "You may have won this time, but I'll be
back!)
 
On an unrelated note, Jitterbug is scratching but has no fleas.  I think I
saw someone else post the same problem.  What did you do to help the dry
skin?  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.  And Jitterbug's coat is
also not very soft.  She eats the same food,IAMs, as Monkey (who has the
softest coat I've ever seen on a ferret), but Jitter's coat seems so much
more scraggley.  Is this just because she is older, or is there something I
can do about it?
 
     Thanks, Love and Dooks to all,
 
     Rebecca, Jitterbug and Monkey
[Posted in FML issue 1786]