Hi kids,
 
Just thought I would drop y'all a line.  I, too, feel it is important a
fuzzy should have a good name, like in T.S.  Eliot's Book fo Practical
Cats.  The problem is, I try so hard to come up with good ones that I
wait a long time, too!  Queen Mab was easy to name, since we had been
watching the miniseries "Merlin" on VHS that week, and my husband (then
fiance) was nearly obsessed with it for some reason.  It IS incredibly
well done for a made-for-tv special... Dustbin, on the other hand, as
you can probably tell, took a little longer.
 
We got him from a breeder.  Ferrets are so sneaky -- I had my heart set
on a champagne/panda from the litter I had watched grow up from "worm"
size.  We sat down on the floor to play, and this little albino, one of
four others, marched right up to me and decided I was his.  That was it.
What else was I going to do?  We took him home, and he was sad because
him mom and litter were gone, but seemed to accept one of my "temporary"
cats (all the cats in any neighborhood I live in decide that if they need
food they come to me, and I feed them, get them shots, and if I can't
keep them, find an someone who really needs a cat...) as a substitute.
We agonized over what to name him.  I told my husband "We have to name
him or he'll be 'baby ferret' for the rest of his life!!!!"  We still
couldn't decide.
 
Finally, I was telling my brother abotu this when he was over at my
house.  My brother has a unique turn of phrase sometimes.  He's given
to blurting out combinations of syllables just to hear them.  For a
week or so, it was "BOAST", and then "HappilyBaaaag"... you get the
idea.  Oh yes, he's a grown man (24), and no, as far as we know his
mental/neurological capacities are unimpaired.  Sort of.  So he looks
at my albino baby bouncing around the black tube and bursts out with
"DUSTBIIIIIN".  And it just sort of stuck.  If anyone wants to borrow
my Brother for ferret-naming purposes, I will happily pay the shipping
costs.
 
As to the Croca-ferret hunter, your little Willow was probably preparing
to film a new series for Animal planet and just got confused about her
role in it.  Doesn't it creep you out to know those things are in your
basement?  An alligator crawled up in my backyard when I lived on the
bayou, and it was pretty scary.  They make creepy noises.... Anyway, I'm
glad ferret-head is safe and sound.
 
To the concerned ferret owner:  I sure know where MY ferrets are every
second... except when I go to check on them and they have discovered
some ingenious new way to get somewhere I KNEW they couldn't get to...
The only clue I ever have is that tingling "ferret-sense" that all is
not as is should be. It seems as if a lot of ferrety households are
that way!
 
love and ferrety kisses,
christine
 
with Queen Mab and Dustbin
[Posted in FML issue 4176]