While I contemplated having an "accidental" email purge, I think I made real
headway in the more than 300 messages residing in my box.  Still have a lot,
and will get to them quicker than a duck takes to water.
 
I slept about 3 hours during the weekend getting ahead at work so I can take
the next weekend off to go to Georgia and take some pictures.  Then I can
concentrate on ST. L. and that Cuji person.  If everything works right, I
will see my Mom for Thanksgiving and take care of my CaCa connection.  In
the meantime, I have a headache as big as Texas and twice as ugly, probably
related to the bloomimg plantain near my place, so I'm looking forward to
getting out of allergy heaven for a while.
 
I'm madder than a cow at an auction for a rescue this last week.  Last
Thursday I was called to pick up a little girl ferret, take your time, that
sort of thing.  When I arrived I realized the ferret was one spit away from
dying.  She had several serious skid marks on her body, some cuts, and an
obvious broken leg.  After x-rays at the vets, we discovered both legs were
broken, as well as her left hip.  We gave her maybe a 10% chance of
surviving, so held of the leg pinning until we were sure she could survive
the anesthetic.  If I wasn't at work or school, I was with her, and we
pulled her through the weekend.  On Monday, my vet took her in to pin her
femur.  She died during the surgery.
 
It was as obvious as a bean in a pot she had either jumped out or had been
tossed out of a moving car.  Her legs were not crushed, but displayed the
type of fracture common in falling, and in combination with the skid marks
and cuts on her side and back, left little room for doubt.  In any case, no
one has reported a lost ferret.  Its been a bummer.
 
I think I'm sending my vet on his next vacation from all my visits, and I
get to see him again tomorrow.  Sandy and Foster are doing grand, but I
noticed last weekend that Simon was losing hair from his lower back, and has
been having this wierd cough-heave thing when he eats.  His abdomen doen't
appear painful, he is pooping and eating fine, and he has no other symtom.
The cough-heave thing is exactly that; a coughing sound with something like
the dry heaves.  I'm going to have him checked for a bowel obstruction or an
ulcer, even though he has no other real symptoms.  Probably a blood test as
well, just to make sure about the hair thing.
 
You've probably noticed I've been using more country-isms than a dog has
fleas, and rightly so.  I was emailed a list of over 500 of the things, and
laughed right through my evolution class.  One of the best megs of mail I
ever got.  My favorite was "He loves his wife as much as a Texan loves his
dawg or an Okie his sister." Hey, I didn't *say* it; I just laughed.  Now,
if I changed wife to ferret and put it on a t-shirt....naw, I'd probably
walk into an Aggie convention by mistake.
 
Bob C and 20 MO Raisin Weasels
[Posted in FML issue 2081]