This morning I took Max the dog out for a walk.  When I came back in, I
picked Norman up and gave him a hug.  He made this very bizarre noise,
unlike anything I had ever heard from a ferret.  The closest thing I
could compare it to was shaking a container of beads.  I couldn't even
tell what part of his body it came from-- was it his mouth, was his
stomach growling extra loud, had he been taken over by aliens?  I thought
there must be something terribly wrong with him, so I gently put him down
and decided to keep an eye on him.  Then I went into the kitchen and
opened the refrigerator.  As I leaned against the door, I heard the weird
sound again--it was coming from *me*!  Had *I* been taken over by aliens?
I looked down to see a large cicada attached to my sweatshirt.  I presume
he had hopped on while we were outside for a walk.  I extricated the bug
(who was clearly annoyed and buzzing loudly at this point) from my shirt
and showed it to both Norm and Ralph.  Neither was terribly interested as
they were both very busy exploring the kitchen counter.  As I let the
cicada fly out the door, I realized that if we ever have a plague of
locusts, the ferrets won't be much help.
 
PS--Just in case you've never seen a cicada, they are the very large
and somewhat prehistoric looking bugs that "sing" in the trees when
it's very hot; they're about 1-1/2" long x 1/2" wide with clear wings
and large eyes.  Altho' somewhat formidable looking, they're quite
harmless and don't bite.
[Posted in FML issue 1299]