They are still removing trees in our village today so the ferrets are
upset again because of the noises. They hate the chipper, and dislike
the bobcats, backhoes and plows being used to get this done -- but
what they really, really, really can not stand are the saws.

I really thought they finished with that work close enough for the
ferrets to hear yesterday, but I was wrong so Pivot especially is
upset again. I will go play with her so hard that she crashes and
then can ignore it then get back to this. (hiatus)

Orville and Kessy have mostly adjusted as long as the saws are not
going. Those two get a little nervous for the chipper still if it is
close, though, but not at all like before.

Still with 156 trees down from Superstorm Sandy in our condo village
(with shy of 200 homes so that projects to perhaps 750 trees down in
the entire 1,000 home condo complex) it is obvious why the work is
going on so long. (The estimate I read for the number of trees down in
yards in our township itself is at least 10,000, and whole swaths of
the woods are down with us being able to clearly see a ridge to our
south for the first time in the 27 years we have been here.)

The other trick we are trying with nervous Pivot and the rest is that
we are taking the ferrets periodically to the basement in carry cages
when we are there, too. They stay in the cages, but are not alone.

The ferrets also need to get used to being in the basement due to noise
because roofs are going to have to be replaced here, and HOPEFULLY
after 27 years we will finally get rid of this old builders grade
carpeting (which was supposed to last 6 years) and finally go to the
tiles we picked out. We gave up on the idea of an apron of tile with
wood in the center for the LR and will go with all marble look tile and
also bullnose tiles along the walls at the base because they are the
most affordable and attractive solution for the money as well as being
easy to clean and not having the outgassing problems of current carpets
and fake tiles so also the healthiest. Contractors are making higher
money now because with all the construction need after Sandy there is
extra demand for them which means the flooring now may not be able to
be done till next year. We'll see what happens on that score. I really,
really, really want to finally not be embarrassed by the flooring any
longer so we plan to go ahead and use some of what I inherited from
Dad for that; I want to once again have guests over who are not used
to things being used to threadbare. The roofs here are having to be
replaced much sooner than budgeted and saved for by the association
because it was discovered that when the original and now defunct
builder which put in the replacement roofs -- after putting in the
wrong plywood originally -- failed to provide sufficient ventilation
and the current roofs now have to be redone properly and early with
approved modifications for ventilation, so that will be another $4,000
or $5,000 next year. Thank goodness the ferrets are healthy and young
enough that we are unlikely to have major bills for them this coming
year.

Anyway, we are working on getting the ferrets BOTH used to the sounds
of all the work going on and having them realize that the noises do not
spell disaster AND we are getting them used to being in the basement
in a large carry cage as an option during some of the work and to prep
them for later work, so the ferrets are learning some things they would
rather not have learned but need to learn and both are for their
benefit.

Hugs to Alexandra's family members who are among the rescue workers
volunteering at the hardest hit portions of the coast in both NJ and
NY. If people missed these resources below they are well done and be
reassured that our local area was not as badly hit as the ones in the
show which had the flooding as well as the unrelenting winds so we just
mostly had long term power loss and trees down (though sadly the storm
did much worse to some people locally), whereas some places at the
coast were leveled, some other places at the coast burned, at least
one area had to be evacuated and might need to be condemned due to a
flooded sewage processing plant burying those neighborhoods in raw
sewage, a number of places still standing in NJ and NY still lack
potable water and power three weeks after the storm, some whole towns
are still closed to all but emergency workers except for short term
trips for people to check what remains and get out what they can carry,
and more with some of that far worse:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/inside-the-megastorm.html
(airing on PBS Wed, the 21st, which should be the day of this digest)
https://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/opinion/8243/hybridization-sandy

Thank goodness for the members of the military, the national guard, and
the volunteers who are helping people in horrid straits get through
all this. FEMA has also been helping but the sum in the hundreds of
millions allocated by Congress is much less than the billions of
dollars in damage and FEMA needs some upgrades in how operations are
administered, and hopefully insurance bought by people will make up
enough of the difference to at least deal with economic losses since
nothing works for the other losses.

Yes, I am still feeling this a lot so thanks for letting me vent.
People here have all been helping each other but many of us are still
wound rather tightly. I think that some now think of Steve as much in
relation to him bringing around food to neighbors and workers as
anything else...

Sukie (not a vet) Ferrets make the world a game.

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

A nation is as free as the least within it.

[Posted in FML 7617]