Hi.
 
After I wrote my other message, we took all the fuzzies out in the
semi-ferret proofed backyard.   I filled my left pocket with unpopped
balloons (12 inch, but 10 inch is better).
 
Now, they've all been out and each tried his paws at balloon popping, and
I could hear Tarzee chortling up above.  Not a balloon popper among them!
Though Petey is in training, and especially eager if ...
 
Oh, there's Lucy trying to pull a big pink one in the clear tunnel behind
the couch now!!!!!  She'll make a liar of me!
 
Well, Petey likes the balloon placed on plants, cause he likes to jump
straight up and land on my plants :(!!!!  Plant breaker!  But finally he
popped a balloon right above Tarzee's spot!  :) He was running at them and
leaping on them, but nothing like Tarzee, who would pursue them
relentlessly until the end (though he couldn't toward the end of chemo, in
his last few days, and he didn't like that).  Tarzee would chase and leap
and fly right on them!  He was fast.
 
I couldn't blow noises at him, though, cause he'd forget and go straight
for the balloon.  When he was real skinny and had just started prednisone,
and wasn't quite himself, he got my thumb by mistake (after that I had to
be careful, but he didn't mean anything; he thought it was a balloon).
Now, six weeks later, I have still have what looks like a large dark bug on
my thumbnail, with a crack above, and a raised bump growing out below...
hope it's always deformed :), or reformed.
 
Tonight, too, Minnie came out of Janos' shop with a big piece of sawdust
hanging from her snout and little ones from her eye whiskers - letting me
know she knew I missed Tarzee's funny antics!  (He regularly found things
to adorn his face with to make me laugh).
 
Some of them did enjoy getting balloon-powered with rear raspberries.  And
another fun thing before the balloons are tied is to make all sorts of cool
noises (one sounds just like ferrets talking; another a turkey, another...);
some liked this, as long as I was careful to hold them and introduce them
slowly so they weren't scared.  The woosssses!  I could imagine Tarzee
rolling over in his grave!
 
Sigh... hope Tarzee didn't mind me playing balloon with the other guys.
Anyone elses fuzzies like balloon games?
 
Now the sun is setting in the west (pink above perfect blue cutout of the
Olympics) on my first Tarzeeless day, and I so feel his loss, and so feel
all he gave me.  The others are finally bearing fruit for his legacy of
balloon popping - who would have thought they'd like balloons?!  (They'll
learn fetch and other tricks, too.) One of Tarzee's popped balloons lies
in a blown glass vase on my dresser, reminding me of his great, wondrous
spirit.
 
Though Tarzee lost some of his endurance in his last five months, he was
still a great player and popper, comedian, wrestling teacher, and healer.
He stayed my Tarzan up to his last day...
 
Thank you all for sharing him!  And, mostly, thanks to the fuzzies.
 
Lynn
[Posted in FML issue 2407]