Hello all.
 
Upon comming back to school and catching up on my mail, I decided
that now would be a good time to make an official New Ferret
Announcement.  A few of you may remember that in November we lost
a ferret, Beepers.  She was an adorable, playful companion to Roo,
our other female.  Afterwards, Roo really missed her, as well as,
my fiancee and I.  So we set out to find a good shelter ferret to
rescue for christmas.  In Nancy Hartmans words:  "At least one shelter
ferret will have a merry christmas this year."  Unfortunately, only
one shelter we found had any ferrets available and when we arrived
(after a 2.5 hr drive) they were unwilling to adopt to us.  We were
heartbroken and in a moment weakness, broke down and bought a
convenience ferret.  At least we were able to talk them down on the
price a bit.  We found the little fur ball at a very clean and reputable
privately owned shop who knew how to treat/handle ferrets, unlike
most chain stores I have seen using cedar chips as bedding to reduce
odor.
 
The new little boy is a marshall farms kit.  He is mostly sable or
possibly panda.  Essentially, he has a white face and whiskers, a
1cm white strip running back over the top of his head to the shoulders,
white patches on the knees (you know, the rear elbows :), a white tail
tip, a yellowish-white bib, and white toes on all 4 feet/hands.  Also,
he has black circles around the outside of his eyes, giving him a slightly
crosseyed appearance.  We originally called him Mo, short for Mohawk
because of the stripe, but decided that it sounded too much like 'No'.
We didn't want to give him some sort of identity complex :) So, after
a short series of names we decided on Sparky because he is constantly
in motion jumping around.  He loves to jump on, at, under, off of, or
away from just about everything he sees (and some things that aren't
even there).  He also thinks he can fly.  Seeing him jump off a bed
or chair and clearing about 4 feet horizontal distance with all his
legs/arms spread out and mouth open is just about the funniest thing
I have ever seen.  As an added bonus, Sparky gets along with Roo
better than Beepers ever did.
 
Well, I could probably spend a few more Kb describing their antics
over the past few weeks, but it will have to wait.  Thesis work calls.
 
 
Oh yeah! I wanted to thank everyone who wrote with advice or
encouragement after Beepers was lost, or who helped us locate
shelters.  A few individuals that come to mind at the moment
are Nancy H., Joan C., and Max.
 
Take care (of your ferrets)
Darel,   Susan,    Roo, & Sparky
(me)  (fiancee)  (ferrets)
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darel Benysh                 Industrial Engineering
[log in to unmask]          Purdue University
[log in to unmask]       West Lafayette, IN, USA
         (for cute quote type '/usr/games/fortune')
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
[Posted in FML issue 0395]