Good night dear one,

Lying on your back - and after your have dried out your ears, cause
you got tears in your ears from lying on your back in your bed crying
over you - take a few minutes and think about this:

1.) Why not just one line rather than two, three, but four readily
visible lines that anchor the whiskers on each side of the ferret's
upper muzzle - yes those four. One must ask why, just four whisker
ridges, neither less nor more? 'Tis said that everything exists for a
reason. So's there's gotta be a reason for four whisker ridges and not
three, five, or some other number. Look at other furred creatures and
count the number of whisker ridges on one side of their muzzles. I
have never seen more than four whisker ridges on any critter with fur.
Again...why just four? I hope this question bothers you so much that
you can't sleep, you cry, get tears in your ears from lying on your
back, in your bed, and can't hear anything.

2.) Ferrets can change the attitude of their whiskers relative to the
longitudinal axis (LA) of their head. For example, you may have noticed
that three major attitudes are displayed by a whiskered ferret: folded
rearward, perpendicular to the LA, and even pointed forward. You know
I'm going to ask you why...so what reason(s) exist for a ferret to
forward search, sideband search, and backup fold its "beard.?"
Personally with my ten year old, nine inch long, white beard, I cannot
flex, redirect or point any of my beard hairs like the ferret can. I
can, however, twirl/twist my beard from my chin, secure it like a
spiral tail with a small rubber band and attach one of my pet spiders
to my beard, primarily as an invitation to conversation with folks who
ask what kind of spider is in my beard? Answer: a nocturnal Nigerian
Nipple Nipper. A greatly feared spider by most Nigerian women 'Tis
enough to affect their hearing too.

3.) Since I'm having trouble remembering what I forgot to remember, I
should like to ask for your help on this very interesting question.
Just recently learned, and apparently promptly forgot to remember, that
one of the mustelids, don't remember which one, has on its paw pads of
all four feet, exclusive striations of skin that are so unique to the
individual that paw prints can be used to differentiate one specie
"muste" from another. Yep, you guessed it..."fingerprints" on your
mustelid. But which mustelid? Me thinks it's the marten or fisher,
not the domiciled. ferret. I'll look forward to your collective
intelligence in answering this question. In the meantime, I'll make
sure I sleep sitting up in bed. This way I won't have to answer my
Bride of 49 years with, "What?" when she asks me at lights out if I
want to go to sleep or what?

Edward Lipinski, as spokesman for Baron von Ferret in his Fokker D1.
Visualize ferret wearing goggles and flying an open cockpit triplane,
white scarf trailing behind....

[Posted in FML 6186]