I got a new job in the beginning of December and (GASP!) didn't read e-mail
for almost 30 DAYS!  No internet access on the 'puters there, and since it
is a auto-repair shop, I can't pretend to be working while reading the FML
:)
 
Matter of fact I had so much e-mail, most ferret-related, that my ISP pulled
it off the mail server and I had to FTP it in a giant text file!
 
I've missed you all very much.  Some folks I got to meet in person at the
AFA show in December, where our Little Iodine made the top 10 in one ring
(yeah, 10th).  That was GREAT!!!!
 
I thought to keep up with the theme of ferret introductions I'd introduce
mine, specially since more keep joining us...
 
Eris and Massey were the first two.  The cinnamon sisters, these little
Sprites go anywhere!  Eris is especially patient and rides in the
ferret-snuggly to Home Depot where she helps me select bags of stove
pellets w/o holes.  Even our cats use stove pellets as litter!  Eris and
Massey came to us in May of 97 from Treasured Ferrets.  Eris is
technically "my" ferret, and Massey is Rory's (my son's) ferret.
 
Little Iodine and Sluggo were the second two.  They arrived in July of 97.
Sluggo was supposed to be Harry's (my spouse) ferret.  One summer morning
Massey was asleep on Harry's chest on the floor of our mutual home office.
I was working and looked down at the two of them and said "honey, you need
your own ferret." Amazingly, Harry the cynic agreed.  Sluggo was supposed to
come home as a single ferret.  Pat Ball sent me home with him and Little
Iodine who was frisky and had quite an attitude at 14 weeks.  Io was
intended more as a companion for Sluggo, who while held, is a big
snuggle-puss, but plays very rough!  Iodine then became a little lover!
Harry was a little suprised about her arrival as I was supposed to just come
home from Maryland with one ferret.  But he was happy in the end!  Oh,
Sluggo is a big silvermitt boy, and took 2nd in Roan Speciality (yeah I'm
boasting but really proud) at the last AFA show.  Little Iodine is an albino
with a long pretty coat and is the silliest of the 6.
 
Sophie is our shelter ferret.  The four (Fab 4) were so happy and lead such
a perfect coddled ferret life with good food, great toys, a room, comfy
hammocks and lots of human servants I figured a shelter ferret should have
such a life too.  Sophie liked everything from first sight - except the
other ferrets.  Alicia from ferretwise had gotten her as a stray and was
pretty sure she was a single girl.  All I'm going to say is until Sophie
arrived, I'd never known that our scented ferrets could spray so many times
a day and still retain a potency that challenged my honeywell air filter!
And the poop wars.  My almost perfectly box trained fab 4 had started
pooping EVERYWHERE.  And everytime Sophie got into it with anyone she
fear-pooped everywhere.  Sophie arrived in the first week of November and
finally, 2 days ago, started to sleep in the pile.  She still has to learn
how to play with the rest, she runs at them screaming and isn't sure about
wrestling.  She does love to chase through tubes though.  Sophie is a
slender sable girl.  Rory called her Sophie Toothpick until she began to put
some weight on.  She is also a big lap ferret and sits with Rory when he is
couch potatoed in front of the tube for hours.
 
Then there were six... Helga came home with us from the AFA show on December
14th.  She is a lovely LARGE 7 month old girl (2.82 lbs!) 1/2 swedish, 1/4
english and a really crisply colored silver roan mitt!  So far we have yet
to really determine her personality, but she does seem sweet, though a bit
hyper.  She also just started kissing!
 
Thats them!
 
Ann
[Posted in FML issue 2168]