Hello all - Well, as you doubtless heard or know because you live there,
North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland were closed.  Governors of all three
declared State of Emergency and called out the National Guard who got to
drive around in their Hum-Vees transporting essential people and to have a
lot of fun driving in the snow.  If you were not picked up by the National
Guard then you are not essential.
 
By the time I finished posting the other night, my husband reported the
drive-way was clear, and that my car was clean and warmed up.  I inspected
the driveway (now a sheet of ice) and took note that it was dark outside.
I told him that now the driveway was icy, it was dark and the temperature
was dropping.  I asked him if he would go to the store for me.  Now, have
you ever seen lightening bolts shoot out of the top of a man's head?  I
tell you, it is really, really scary.  I hastily retired from the field.
 
He did go to the store for me yesterday morning and in addition to
ingredients for kit mush, picked up other snow emergency items like hot
chocolate and People's magazine (in case the cable went).  By early
afternoon, I was feeling snowed in.  Darby (formerly Pookabeau that I
decided was a stupid name) a young hob just in rut was out for play time
and annoying the girls.  So I said "Hey, little buddy - wanna play in the
snow?" So out we went.  Bobette, AKA Bo-be Baby, my hand raised ferret,
hitched a ride inside my jacket.  She thinks she is part of me anyway.
 
Now the snow in our back yard measured variously from 12 to 20 inches.
Darby weighs around 5 pounds and really needed to be cooled off, so I
dropped him in an area that looked like about 18 inches deep.  He shot
about 6 feet straight up in the air.  Every long hair on his body was
bristled - he looked like a demented cat.  What goes up, comes down and
when he did - he disappeared into the snow again.  Laughing I bent to fish
him out.  He wasn't there!  And I could not tell from the deep snow in
which direction he went.  No snow was caving in.  The only evidence I had
that he was nearby was a muffled
"duhdududuh-snort-duhdududu-snort-snuffle."  So I did what any ferret Mom
would do, I dove in to save my baby!  In just a minute or so, he had
tunneled about four feet.  Man, do these guys like to dig.  Should have
let him do the driveway.
 
Anyway, I did fish him out and he was very excited.  Snow is cool.  He had
also snorted a good deal of snow.  He wanted to go right back outside.
However, Bo-be and I did not.  I was covered with snow and Bo-be baby had
gotten some snow on her little self too and she was shivering.  It was cold
and she did not like it.  She spent the rest of the day giving me little
pinch nips whenever she thought about it.
 
When I dried off Darby, I took note that something was missing from his
nether region.  Gone, completely gone.  This worried me because I was
afraid they might get stuck.  However, sometime later when I checked, these
two little shriveled things had made an appearance.  Today, they are back
to normal.  But I did have a small hope that it would knock him out of
season for a while.  Oh, well.  Cheers, Meg
[Posted in FML issue 2943]