Hello FML --

I am still in California, but the ferrets are in the pet hotel
associated with the Frankfurt airport. I hear that the personnel there
find them delightful. Apparently when Dana, the US person in charge of
my animal shipment, asked about them, the response was a happy "Oh!
The FERRETS!" I'll here more about that tomorrow when I talk with her.

I am here in Calif because of a broken trailer hitch. I now leave on
Jan 1. The ferts might eat a lot of Meow Mix till I get there, but last
night I sent Saba three recipies for Bob C's chicken gravy -- blender,
meat grinder, and pressure cooker. I bet Tsige will start making it
right away. The three friends I will be living with are Ababa, Tsige,
and Saba.

The ferrets will arrive on the night of 12/24, which will be the
morning of 12/24 for me.

As it turns out, it's a good thing I didn't get to leave for SF
last night. I have a bronchitis that my medicos fear coulld turn to
pneumonia. It will be so good to clear it up before travelling. Not
to mention the horror my fellow passengers would have felt, locked
in an aircraft with me. I would have had to cringe all the way.

The day after I last wrote, I drove all the animals, except for my two
big dogs, to a kennel that housed them all for two nights. There I met
Sue, a very nice central-Calif Animal-World person, and we conferred
about the ferrets. She asked about pine and cedar shavings as bedding
for them. So I explained about that. She was surprised, since she knew
pet stores used it. I gave her my little rant about profits vs animal
safety. We also worked on the ferrets' food and water arrangements.

So I am very pleased with Animal World. Sue didn't know much about
ferrets and had shipped none for a decade or more due to the CA ban on
ferrets. But she did thoroughly review with me all of the issues re
shipping them. Everything went fine in the SF airport and on the flight
to Frankfurt, and it seems to be a great situation at the pet hotel.

[Posted in FML 5830]