Happy Secretaries Day to all those "ferret" secretaries and ferret mom
secretaries (that's me :o)  I'm only 4 FML days behind (not to mention the
two weeks that I haven't read yet from about a month ago that are still
sitting in my e-mail at home)...  I haven't posted in awhile, just been
reading trying to play catch up.  I can't resist about the ferret names,
so here's my kids:
 
Rowdy - Our very first MF from a pet store was named Rowdy because he
kept jumping out of my arms and wanted to run through the store.  (AKA
Rowdy-Rowdster, Rowdy-Rowd, little munchkin).  I just want to say that if
ferrets weren't in the pet stores to begin with I probably would never
have had the pleasure that I do now of being owned by ferrets!
 
Tundra - DEW that we adopted from a shelter.  He started out as a biter,
bit me on the nose, ouch!  (AKA Tunny, Tunny-Bear, T-Bear, Little Yellow
Muffin)  He's waiting at the bridge.
 
Chico - He was probably 12 weeks old and must have been returned to Pet Co.
He was hanging on the cage demanding to be let out.  Well after a pitcher
of margaritas and throwing caution to the wind about ECE we went back to
the pet store and got him.  Now I know why he was returned, a monster!  Ya
just can't help but love him because he has such a spirit!  He's a Path
Valley Farms, very solid, white bib, face looks like a mouse, hence Chico.
(AKA Chico-Bandito, Chico-Bandito, I- Yi-Yi, Chicola, little munchkin).
And yes we did go through the ECE, yuck!
 
Then ferret math hit hard, we adopted 8 more from another shelter to take
the place of Tunny-Bear.  (Hope we don't loose any more soon!) We hadn't
planned on adopting that many, just happened, yah right!  Most of the names
we kept because they were already older.
 
Harley - Was named "Baby" and yes he is a big baby, a MF dark sable.  (AKA
Harley-Man, Harley-Son, Harlson Jackson the III) He's a soft slinky, more
like a limp noodle, hang on to him 'cause he'll slide right out of your
arms!
 
Sadie - Was named "Little Girl" (AKA Sadie-Girl, Ms. Pudgetta,) She's light
sable and a bugger, first one to whip Chico in to shape.  She was a little
pudgy, but not anymore!  Loves them ankles, especially after "shower time"!
 
Daisy - Kept her name, MF dark sable.  (AKA Daisy-May, Daisy-Duke,
Daisy-May-Duke, Daisy-May-Doody-Dood-Doo).  Loves to drag the tube around.
Picture little ferret dragging long tube.
 
Summer - Light sable, was named Sumner (too hard to remember) so she became
Summer-Sue, Summer-Susy-Q.  Had a hard time at first distinguishing her and
Emily apart.
 
Emily - My little Emily became Little Emil-lem-al-leee, eee, eee, Little
Em, Aunty Em.  She has a story.  Her owner had to go overseas and was so
upset her mother took Emily to the shelter and she even cried.  Emily was
heartbroken and was not adoptable for a couple of years.  And thank
goodness when Trish brought over a bunch of ferrets to chose from she
brought My Little Em and I chose her.  (Picture about 20 unfamiliar ferrets
running around in your house causing havoc, pooping, me trying to clean up
behind, distinguish who we wanted to adopt, asking who was who... I bet a
video would have been hilarious!)
 
Wheeler - AKA Wheeler-Dealer-Man, Wheeler-Squeeler.  He's good for crowd
control in the cage with Chico.
 
Bootsie - This little silver munchkin is Bootsie-Smoochy.  Even thought
she's five, loves to play!
 
Fruit Loop - Better known as Fruity or Fruit, is the sweetest, 5/6 yrs.
He can't see or get around very well anymore.
 
Ferret Behavior/Integrating - My Chico was not happy about us adopting 8
ferrets into his household.  With Rowdy being 5, 3 surgeries, not sure how
long he was going to be with us, and just loosing T-Bear, we decided to get
Chico (er, us) some playmates.  Ha!  It's been 5 months and he's treating
some of them much better and not acting like he wants to kill them.  We
still have separate play times because I don't trust him with some of the
older ones.  It does take time!  The rest of them get along fine with each
other, the only exception being Wheeler who wants to pick on Rowdy and
Fruity, the weaker ones.  It's funny Wheeler and Chico have agreed to
disagree.  They pretty much meet each other face to face and then go their
opposite directions.  A lot different from Chico sneaking up behind the
others by surprise and grabbing them by the neck and shaking the poop out
of them...
 
Ferret Pouchies/Hamocks - I have been sewing them for my kids and donated
some to the shelter.  I've been thinking of doing this on the side, like
mail order.  Has anyone out there done this?  Can you purchase fabric
wholesale somewhere other than a fabric store?  Any info you can give me
on your experience would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks for reading!  Kiss all your little munchkins!  Prayers for the sick
ones and blessings for the ones waiting for all of us at the bridge.
There'll be a bunch waiting for us, ferrets, cats, and dogs, oh my!
 
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"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the old,
sympathetic with the struggling, and tolerant of the weak and
wrong...because sometime in your life you will have been all of these"
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[Posted in FML issue 2655]