Wow, I don't think I have found time to read the beloved FML in months,
sigh!  But the semester has ended and the students are gone, no classes,
just lots of rewrites to lab manuals and roughly a 100 years of old
equipment to sort through!  Anyone need an ammeter from 1904?  The wood
cases are quite nice.
 
On the depressing side, I must report that Buttercup has passed on to the
Happy (Mole?) Hunting Ground.  It was very odd as she was fine in the
morning and we found her in the cage at night -- not a single sign of
anything being wrong.  At least is was quick for her.  She was are last pet
store ferret, now we have all adoptees from the rescue here.  They have
taken their first trips outside with spring and love it.  We run them on a
lead and I wish I could figure out a way to let them go down the mole
tunnel, our yard looks like an off-road Sears tire trial track.
 
As to allergies, I suspect it is something environmental (maybe even
natural).  I am dying this year from the trees and whatever else is
pollinating the air and giving my car a patina.  It has been an
exceptionally bad year just north of you (Philly) and probably down in
Georgia too with the mild winter.  I find my skin is somewhat sensitive to
the ferrets (but not the cats) and I can get a minor rash from them.  This
might give you a way to check, though I am not sure the two reactions
(histamine vs skin) are at all related.  Good luck, I'm off to take some
Benadryl!
 
--Mike, Erica, Ian
--Fezzik, Alexis, William, Rebecca
--RIP  Pandora, Inigo, Buttercup
--assorted cats, birds and soon labrador
[Posted in FML issue 1205]