Things are going really well with the fur-balls!  Already I have a funny
story to tell... and I fully expect to have many many more yet to come.
Thanks again to all who wrote me about the fuzzies telling me to give it a
little more time.  Glad I listened, because now I can understand the sharks
a little better.
 
Last night at about midnight, Tenaka (the neutered male.  can't remember the
proper term) started to make an ungodly noise, sounded a little like a
chittering howl.  I jumped out of bed and ran to the den where they are
kept.  Upon flinging open the den door and turning on the light, I saw
Tenaka sitting in the corner of the cage, looking at me as if I had
disturbed HIM.  Cayanne was on the third level of the cage, looking rather
unimpressed with the proceedings.  Thinking that maybe Cayanne had decided
to gnosh on Tenaka (again), I let the ferts out and took a look at his neck.
All seemed fine, so I let them run for a bit.
 
Tenaka shot over to the door and began digging a hole in the carpet, and by
the time I lunged across the room, he got a hole the size of a softball in
the darn thing.
   Tenaka 1, Carpet 0, Human 0
 
Naturally, I couldn't let that go unpunished, so back in the cage he went.
I played with Cayanne a minute, and SHE runs over to the door and rips up a
few more tufts.
   Tenaka 1, Cayanne 1, Carpet 0, Human 0
 
Thinking that I may as well deal with this now, I grabbed a bottle of No Go,
or something like that anyway, which the pet store SAID would repel ferrets.
I sprayed a large amount on the area, and let the ferts out.  Both ran over
and promptly began lapping the stuff up.
   Tenaka 2, Cayanne 2, Carpet 0, Human -1
 
Back in the cage went the ferts, and I washed the carpet area to get rid of
the stuff that they weren't supposed to like.  I dumped the stuff down the
kitchen sink and scrubbed the bottle out to make sure that there was no
trace left.  I took some ice cold water from my fridge and put it in the
bottle.  Time for a little aversion therapy for the ferts... right?  WRONG!
When I let the ferts out, they ran to the carpet hole and promptly began to
dig.  *SPRAY SPRAY SPRAY* went the spray bottle clasped evilly in my hand.
The ferrets shot away from the door, shook themselves off, and ran back.
*SPRAY* went the bottle.  *DOOK DOOK* went the ferrets.  Very quickly this
became a game, and I soon had a soggy carpet, and two very soggy but VERY
amused ferrets.  Dried the ferrets off, and back in the cage they went.
   Tenaka 3 Cayanne 3 Carpet 0 Human -2
 
A lightbulb went off over my head, and after both I and the ferrets had
gotten over the blindness from the light flash, I went back to the kitchen.
As it turned out, I had gotten a bottle of vinegar to clean my coffee pot
with.  With a tired but maniacal look in my eyes, I re-filled the spray
bottle with vinegar and hosed down that area by the carpet.  Out came the
ferts, and sure enough, back they went... but this time, they sneezed!  Even
the dreaded Weasle War Dance could not help them.... with much dooking and
sneezing, they ran all over the room, each time stopping to see if the stink
had gone away.  They grabbed one of the towels they use for bedding and
covered the vinegar with that, waited for a minute, then dragged the towel
away and tried again.  No go, the stink was still there.
    Tenaka 3 Cayanne 3 Carpet 1 Human -1
 
More details of this particular battle as time goes on... if the Vinegar
ends up failing, then I'm going for the.... GASP.... BITTER APPLE!
 
Dooks to all!
 
Tenaka " I wanna rematch with that carpet!"
Cayanne "YUM! That No Go smells and tases GREAT!"
Bryan "D'oh! LEAVE THE CARPET ALONE!"
[Posted in FML issue 1670]