This is for you ferret lovers in Germany.  In the summer of 1995, my husband
spent six weeks in Ogelshausen, Germany.  One night, he noticed a couple of
ferret-like critters bouncing around a barn and dooking.  He thought they
must be polecats, because they were huge and running loose outside.  Were
they polecats?  They checked him out rather boldly, then cavorted away.
 
A funny aside...Brent's German was very basic at the time.  He was having a
"conversation" with the a family there and they asked if he had any pets.
He thought for a minute and told them he had a "grosse weasel." (Big weasel)
They were confused, because a weasel is a nasty creature, until the father
of the family became inspired and found the correct word in a dictionary --
"frettchen."
 
-Catherine
 
(I made two beautiful apple pies last night.  I finished at 11 pm and left
them on the stove to cool overnight.  In the morning, bits of crust had been
stolen and there were crumbs everywhere.  I interrogated the ferrets, but
they denied everything.  Apparently mice.  How can we have mice with three
ferrets running around the house?  They said something about like "It's not
in our contract," and yawned.  Alas, the pies are now inedible.)
[Posted in FML issue 1767]