Question of the day:
 
Why is it that it seems that ferrets own more women than men?  Maybe they
are ashamed to admit that men make good pets.  Hmmmmmmm.
 
Chris Nielsen:
My wife and I used to make all of our own Christmas cards.  One of the
things we did was to buy large gum erasers, draw an image on them and then
carefully cut out the un-needed surface, leaving only the image raised.
These were great, and inexpensive, ink pad stamps.  All we used were Xacto
knives with sharp blades.
 
Karen E. Marsh-Lovvorn:
Your event is better known as the "de-cat-along' in our house.  Pretty much
the same event order with one extra ferret requirement: Our cat has figured
out that if he just stops and falls over on his side, he can sometimes 'get'
the offending ferret off his back.  Our de-cat-along includes the ferret
exercise, "cat-body-rolling".  (It is very similar to log-rolling.) If
peformed properly, the cat issues a disgusted yowl and the ferret
participant struts off chuckling and clicking mightily, daring the cat to
pounce from behind.
 
A comment on how I teach my little ones not to bite as kits:
As we know, it is very natural for little ones to want to mouth and bite.  I
will pick up the kit and look him/her in the eye and say "kisses".  The
little one will usually attempt to bite at which time I gently blow in their
face and repeat "kisses".  It is natural for almost all animal babies to
start licking madly when you puff or blow in their faces.  When the kit
starts to lick (ie: kiss) I praise the little one and repeat "kisses".
Within a couple of minutes, the kit will start 'kissing' when he/she hears
'kisses' and biting is a forgotten thing for the time being.  Over a longer
period of time..say 2 days or so, biting when being held will be a thing of
the past and you will have the opportunity to amaze your friends with how
easily your new owner has trained you to kiss!  (HEH) It worked with my
babies and it works everytime at the pet store when I hold a kit.  (I can't
go in without picking up one of the kits and carrying it around with me
while I am there..fortunately the owner knows me and tolerates my compulsive
behavior!  <GRIN>)
 
Lastly...One more event for the Ferret Olympics.  Water bobbing.  The venue
is the kitchen sink.  Stopper in place and 6 inches of water.  At the bottom
of the apparatus is a brightly colored 'whatsit'.  The event is the time it
takes the ferret to ferret out (sorry) the object and bring it to the
surface.  Points are awarded for overall time to object recovery, pre-water
entry posture, and the number of attempts before successful completion of
the event.  There is a degree of post event difficulty...all participants
usually celebrate mightily as they dry off in the towels..the weasel war
dance and low fours take at least 5 minutes and almost always influence the
judges' scores!
 
Oh boy...this is 'way too long!
 
Joe, with the kids on each shoulder!
[Posted in FML issue 1651]