I just got back LATE yesterday from Ferretstock 2001, and I wanted to
thank Ferretwise Shelter and everyone else concerned for a GREAT event!
 
Even Mother Nature did her absolute best to help out; the day was warm and
sunny, with a clear blue sky, and that beautiful crispness of early autumn
in New England.  It was a treat to finally meet some of the people from the
organizations I have "known" through the FML for so long: Ferret Services
of Freedom, MaFF, FACT, Gimmee Shelter, The Educated Ferret, FFUNY, etc.
I wish I'd had more time to walk around the tables and see EVERYTHING!
 
The Ferret Store was good enough to send some merchandise for the event,
too ..  there were many beautiful items for sale!!  (Hint to anyone who
loves stained glass: Stephanie Mudgett from Ferret Services of Freedom
makes GORGEOUS stained glass ferrets!!) I also got to "meet" the bear
being raffled in the Ferretwise raffle: he is handmade of mohair and SOOO
beautiful!  I love his little round wire-rimmed glasses, and his stuffed
ferret sidekick sports matching glasses as well.  The person who wins this
combo. will be VERY lucky!
 
From my vantage point at the soap and lip balm table, I had a great view
of the "shredded paper pool" where the ferrets were playing all day ...
too cute!  My boyfriend (not a "natural" ferret person ..  but getting
there! :->) was laughing himself silly watching the ferrets competing (or
failing to compete ...) in the various fun games.  He's long been asking
me why I haven't succeeded in training my ferrets to do anything "cute",
so I felt vindicated when four of the five ferrets in the "best tricks"
event found MUCH more interesting things to do than their assigned
"tricks"!  (The fifth ferret did a great rollover on command, and was
rewarded with a raisin).
 
The dessert auction raised a lot of money, and it was fun to watch the vets
doing their best to promote the cheesecakes that they had made and donated
to that auction.  Dino Drakiotes (of Ferretwise) also made some WONDERFUL
cakes for the auction ... he is a GREAT baker!
 
One of my favourite parts of the event came at the end of the day: the
silent auction, and red and blue ticket Chinese auctions.  I'm grateful
that I was outbid on some of the things I wanted in the silent auction,
or there would have been no room for me in the car on the way home.
(My boyfriend jokingly said to me, "So, will this be your first time
hitchhiking home from New Hampshire"? ;->)  I did, however, win a beautiful
embroidered ferret sweatshirt, a bath towel with ferret appliques, and a
"relaxation" basket of ferret products.  Woo hoo!
 
Oh, and I can't forget to mention that I met another one of the NJ Xmas
Rescues!  I have one of the "older" retired (involuntary retirement ..
hahahaha!) breeders from that rescue.  His name is "Sebastian Mitchell",
and he is about six or so.
 
Ronnie DiComo brought "Vivaldi", who is a much younger (maybe two or three
years?) retired breeder from the NJ Xmas Rescue.  He is SOOO beautiful!
I was also struck by his resemblance to my Sebastian, particularly when
I saw Vivaldi in profile!  I wonder if my ferret is the
father/grandfather/great-grandfather/uncle (or possibly more than one
of the above) of Ronnie's ferret?  When I got home last night, I told
Sebastian that he did good work!  ;-> (I also reminded Vivaldi to NOT
forget to send a Father's Day card again next year ..  haha!)
 
So, thanks to EVERYONE for such a fun weekend in New Hampshire!  Thanks
also for helping me to show my boyfriend (again) that ferrets are sweet
and lovable, and a lot of fun. :->  He was raving about them all the way
back home, and kept telling me how much he enjoyed it. :->
 
- Ela
[Posted in FML issue 3537]