(anon please... thanks!)
 
The younger of our ferrets, Wednesday, has of late adopted one of my toys as
absolutely, undeniably, definitely her own.
 
A koosh. You know, one of those rubber pom-pom like bouncy things, often multi-
colored (pink and black, in this case). She loves it. Adores it. And it's hers.
She's possessive about it like she is about nothing else. When we moved and
unpacked recently, I took it out, remembering how she used to hide it, and
bounced it a few times before her nose. Recognition! She sniffed it, then
tugged it away from me and trotted directly to her nest and food area, lovingly
placing it and adjusting it in her preferred spot. Wow. It was endearing.
 
Wanting to show off "cute ferret tricks" to the friends who visited for our
housewarming party, we had the dryer-vent tubing, several feet worth, out for
her to crawl in and out of. The tube used to be three tubes taped together in
a  Y-maze formation, but one fell off and so it's 2 taped tubes with a bit of
a gap in the midsection. As she was tunneling around, I put the koosh next to
the opening. Sure enough, out poked a nose, and after a few ascertaining sniffs
the koosh disappeared by tugs backwards into the dryer vent (to much applause!)
 
My boyfriend, while ferret-proofing our bedroom, would periodically let Wed-
nesday out of her cage to test his work. After two hours of seeing her romp
without attempting to get into the boarded-up spaces, he thought the work might
be done. As a final test, he plopped the koosh in front of her to see where she
would take it. Of course she took it and made a beeline for a gap that he'd
missed. Wednesday is occasionally too smart for her own good!
 
Happy Autumn from Wednesday and Roddenberry's Mom (who will only have spora-
dic net access from now on... sniff...)
 
[Posted in FML issue 0324]