Allergies: yep, we've seen the same pattern in multiple family members
when you include our extended family and have heard of it with others:
allergies to the musk of whole males and to adrenal males (whose hormones
can cause a simulation of being whole), with them being strongest in some
folks who are also allergic to cats.
 
Owl: A very long time ago now (at least 15 years, probably closer to 17
to 19) we were taking a walk while holding Haleakala and were mobbed by
a very large owl.  No matter what we would do the owl would return; even
hiding her didn't work -- at least by itself.  Finally, I shoved Hale
down the collar of my clothing and made bird chin lift swallowing
motions.  Apparently, that convinced the owl that I had eaten Hale and
it left.  BTW, they are really quiet on approach and it is a little
startling how large the big ones are close up (like pretty well literally
in your face) when their wings are extended, so be careful to keep a good
grip.
 
Wendy Winstead's book is very out-dated but still a fun read.  She
passed away of a very untimely malignancy many years ago now.  Talk
about fascinating people!  She is probably the person who first
popularized ferrets as a domestic companion animal in the U.S. decades
ago, was a physician, and was a very accomplished song writer.  The
celebrity photographs and names in there are not publicity stunts; they
are people she knew directly or through others because of her work who
then became friends or her's.  Some of them had ferrets from her, openly
or secretely.  We used to have one of her kits: Fritter looked greatly
like one of the ferrets she photographed a lot.  It's been a long time
now, but I think McGuinn was the ones who was an ancestor of Fritter's.
[Posted in FML issue 4460]