To Mo' Bob : It was good to see your post - I miss when you don't write in.
I'm sorry to hear your father is doing poorly.  I hope thing go easy for
him.  Please give my fond regards to Elizabeth, your brilliant daughter.  I
hope she continues to feel better.  Meaning no disrespect for a serious
illness, my husband and I can't help hoping that walking pneumonia doesn't
lead to the boogie woogie flu.  :)
 
To the person who posted about their ferret putting on lots of weight and
lollygagging about : our Jerill became ENORMOUS this fall, and while he
seemed healthy, he was slowing down quite a bit for a not-yet one year old.
He was the last of his litter, languishing alone in the pet store aquarium
when we found him, and has always been the quiet one.  Tom is about the same
age, and neither put on lots of weight nor slowed down.  Enter Gabriel, (5
months old) a.k.a.  The Blur.  Jerill runs and plays more than ever before.
He is still huge, but he dances more often, and runs more, usually in
pursuit of Gabriel.  Tom always initiated the scuffling with Jerill, but now
Jerill will attack both Tom and Gabriel.  So the answer may well be :
another ferret!  (You needed an excuse...)
 
We have several games and activities to report.  Our house is configured
such that you can make a circle from one end of the kitchen, into the dining
room, the living room and back in the other kitchen door.  When the three
boys get going around and around and around like a thundering herd, we call
it "Ben Hur".  With the advent of cold weather, and the clever discovery
that washing the bedding keeps the 'eau de ferret' under control better than
actually washing their musky little selves, the boys had not seen the inside
of the bathtub in months.  Just in the last week, they have developed a
fascination with the bathtub, and an overwhelming desire to be put in there
with the faucet dripping so they can drink.  Now they need 'tub time' twice
a day.  I can't wait to put them in the wading pool this summer!
 
A minor medical question : can / should you use a styptic pencil on the
toenail of a ferret that you clipped too closely (and it bled)?  I try to be
SO careful, but this morning I snipped Gabriel's nail off too short.  It
stopped bleeding pretty quickly, and he doesn't seem to be uncomfortable,
but of course I feel terrible.  I promised him a REALLY big bite of me, if
that would help.  Any advice or suggestions on how to treat that sort of
injury would be greatly appreciated.
 
Snuffles and kisses,
 Susan (go ahead and bite me, I deserve it)
 Stuart (the favorite :  he feeds the Linatone while I clip)
 Jerill (Tub, tub, gotta get in the tub!)
 Tom (But Mom, tub water tastes better!)
 Gabriel (Is there a personal injury lawyer in the house?) (no)
[Posted in FML issue 1827]