Saturday with ferrets in cat carriers and three of my dogs all in the
back of my car we set off by 10;30 to Derbyshire, with Keith and Reese
two young hobs who are fully in season in one carrier and Ronan and Star
in the other one.
 
By the time we got to Derbyshire it was time to give the ferrets and dogs
a break so with three whole hobs and a whole jill walking side by side on
leads along with three dogs we had a quick trip round an outdoor market
to pick up some duck eggs for me, then it was back to the car with some
of the ferrets and dogs, then it was off to a pet shop to look for some
collars for the rest of the Motley Crew as I call my ferrets and some
ferret size dog treats for all the animals.
 
After taking my recycling plastic bottles to the plastic bottle bank it
was off to pick up an old mate with one of her dogs and ferrets, we all
set out for Buxton to meet up with another old mate of mine who is more
into rabbits and while we were there we were showen his new ferret
quarters as ive only been dogging him into geting some for ten years,
then we were once again introduced to all of his animals and the ferrets
were let lose to introduce them self to one another without the slightest
problem, which I thought was quite good as it was the first outing for
Keith and Resse.
 
We said our good byes and headed for Manchester.
 
After getting lost a number of times we did end up on the road we
required, but as usual for me we were going in the wrong direction, so
after a quick check on the numbers on the door I found that I was not
that far out in fact the address was just the other side of the lights.
 
Once again we were at another house were pets were welcome and ferrets
ruled the roost.
 
Eric was not as I had imagined him from the Internet to be but Ruth was
fairly close to what I had imagined and as Ruth said we were all in the
same sort of hippie generation.  While at Eric and Ruth's place we meet
some more ferret owners Dave and partner Yvette with Margaret Yvette's
mum.
 
I think we meet all of Eric's and Ruth's ferrets some of the ferrets we
meet were Damien and Rosey, with others that I can not recall the names
of at this time.
 
Eric, Ruth, Margaret, Dave and Yvette got to meet Keith and Reese my two
young hobs who are still living together and are due to be vastectomiesd
as and when I have next visit my vet, as these two are quite happy living
together they will remain together as I have decided to keep both rather
than pass them on to some one else.
 
It got a bit hectic at times trying to look at our friends ferrets and
show them ours, anyway everyone got see all the ferrets on both parts and
it was great to be able to talk to people who treat ferrets as ferrets
and not as substitute kids or prize possessions that will be discarded
once they no longer win on the show bench.
 
It was interesting to find out what new comes like Margaret, Dave and
Yvette thought about ferrets and I got the impression from Margaret that
if I was looking for a home for Keith she would have been up for giving
him a home, so I told her that if I get another polecat come my way I
would keep it for her.
 
After five hours of supping coffee and talking ferrets we had to leave,
but before we left we made quite sure to offer our services if there was
any events being put on in the area by them and they were up for giving
us some space we would turn up with ferrets, dogs, rats and rabbits,
maybe even a cat or two to show the public that some of us keep more
species of animals that can harmoniously cohabit in our homes and we
can keep more than just ferrets.
[Posted in FML issue 4467]