I have been catching up on my FML, enjoying sharing thoughts and emotions surounding the "short & fuzzy"! 2 Issues came to mind: 1) A friend who I've met through work, has 6 fuzzies (Yes! I'm completely jealous! I continue to seek a little girl for my Bud, Jake!). She told me about a new toy. She went to the local 'good-will' and found 2 large blankets. She said the blankets have a 'close weave' so the ferts have a hard time clawing through them. What she did was to sew the 2 blankets together, so that there are a whole bunch of 'maze-like' paths through the blankets! Her 'frenzy' has a great time diving into the blankets, and crawling through. And each time they enter a different part of the blanket, it's a 'new' path!! I told her to patent the thing ... OOPS! I hope I didn't just give it away! :o) 2) Modern Ferret ... . I fell in love with Mary & Eric's publication from the first time I saw it ... it is as Playful and Instructive as each 'Ferret' I have had the Joy to Meet! To see that some folks are critical of the 'production schedule' of Modern Ferret shocked me. But I do not choose to concentrate on such things! I wish to offer a thought, maybe a sugestion, or possibly a plan. I can not imagine how much work, or how much of themselves Mary & Eric channel into MF. But I am confident 'it' is considerable. So how might our 'Business' help 'their Business'? I don't mean strictly finanically, but how might this community help M & E to fulfill the contribution they have to offer to other 'Fert-folk'? Maybe I should first contact M & E about this idea, but I thought I'd throw it out here for all to take a 'sniff' at! It is possible for the computer-literate among us to assist M & E to turn MF into a 'Zine', ya know, an 'on-line' publication? I personally would invest in hardware with the purpose of providing these creative folk the means to produce their art. If I would receive a 'pay-back', it would be that monthy I would find a 'welcomed' e-mail in my box ... Notification that the latest issue of 'MODERN FERRET' was mine to download! :o) I guess I'm trying to suggest that we enact (in human terms) one of the wonderful traits we often see in our 'buds' ... To get together with the purpose of total enjoyment and fun ... Maybe we'll make a few 'messes', but in the end we'll be in a big pile of fur in a hammock!! O.K.! Enough of the Ferret metaphors! What I'm suggesting is that Mary & Eric have the creativity, the format and the content, but what is 'lacking' (ERIC - I aploigize. Sometimes language fails in its application), what is missing is the means for the Art to get to the Audience. I can imagine M & E coming up with the content, and passing it onto to the modern equivalent of the printing staff ... the 'Modern Ferret Internet Staff'. The mechanics of adding type, pictures, etc is done, then the final copy is sent out to it's subscribers. Of course this would involve staff ... folks to do the graphics, the subsciptions, the formating, etc ... But just today, I observed true 'ferti-tude' ... To persist toward a goal when others fall at the side of the path ... ! A few weeks ago, Jake found his way into the 'Great-Beyond' ... 'the world past the 'ferret-fence'! Today, he found what he thought was a breach in the Fence. Nothing I could do ... no toys ... no food .... nothing could distract him from his chosen path! We love this quality in our fuzzy friends. Isn't the reason we love Ferrets is that we see ourselves in them?!? just a thought ... or 2 :o) Garry [Posted in FML issue 3149]