I've made my first big change of scenery and have made it to the UK,
specifically Scotland. I plead for understanding and forgiveness for
not visiting all the Australian people that wanted me to stop by. I
just ran out of time and needed to finish my work and move to the next
part of the project. I deeply apologize; there was nothing I could do.

For most of the next week I'll be in Edinburgh taking measurements at
the Royal Museum. I will be staying at the Heriot-Watt University
during this first part of the trip. My UK cell phone number is
447924442285 for those that need to get hold of me. The museum
collection is large and the work will be very time consuming, so I
don't anticipate time for DNA sampling -- at this time. I will probably
have some time for short local visits, if any Scottish ferret owner
wishes me to do so.

When finished at the Royal Museum, I will fly down to London and
eventually meet up with a vet from the USA (June 8). Hopefully we
will be checking out stock and taking DNA samples of a large group of
ferrets. The vet and I will take the train back to Edinburgh around
June 12 (+/- 1 day) for more DNA work. After that, I hope to score a
visit to Nottingham with a person I was just hooked up with to check
out their ferrets. I will probably try to schedule other stops during
this time, working them in when allowed by time and ferret owners. On
June 18 the vet returns to the USA from London and I will fly to Paris
and take the rail to another large museum collection. That work should
take about a week, maybe a few days more.

Once all that is done, I have until July 20 to zip back and forth in
the UK and Europe to collect DNA via the rail. I plan to fly home from
Rome on that date, so you can see I hope to travel eastward first, then
southerly second. I can extend that date by two days if necessary, but
I would like not to do so.

I need help finding more ferrets for DNA sampling in France, Italy, and
in Spain. If you know of someone (or are someone), please drop me a
line and I will schedule time in your region and area. I am running out
of time and really need some help with this, folks. I can also use more
ferret samples in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. My goal is to get
at least 25 samples from each country so that future genetic arguments
can be answered. Every sample counts and I will stop for just a few
ferrets! I would be honored if asked to speak to clubs or small groups
before or after the DNA sampling. My goal is to travel a day, visit
and sample a day, and then travel to the next location and repeat the
sequence. I will spend a bit more time in Hungary than a single day. I
hope to have two days in Rome before I return home.

In the next week, I will be contacting all those UK and Europeans that
have already expressed an interest in this project. If I don't send an
email by Tuesday, assume your mail has been lost, my contact info was
lost in my hard drive failure, or your mail is mired in the mass
clogging my inbox -- just drop me another line. It would be helpful
and greatly appreciated.

Bob C [log in to unmask]

OR BETTER STILL: [log in to unmask] (my not-so-secret email address for
the project)

[Posted in FML 5988]