Ah, I can only do the slow moves now mostly, and no more of the cheerful hop ones. Age and asthma are catching up with my feet and lungs. Steve and I did have a great belly dance moment years ago with Hjalmar one day. Can't recall if he was watching me do hip-circles or organ-grinder, but Steve was holding him very vertically with his feet on one of Steve's hands and his hands on the other, and danged if that little boy ferret didn't suddenly begin to move his midsection in circles! He didn't like it, though, and never repeated it. There are a few folks here who dance, and ones who lift seriously, too, plus a few who do both, making everyone happy who saw Lenda Murray throw in few figure-8s to show flexibility at a Ms Olympia a few years back. Should have named Ashling Ferret "Lenda"; she is strong enough long enough! In 20 years we hadn't had the TV remote go missing then it did recently. Not only had 5 and 1/2 year old Ashling stolen it, but she had climbed Steve's clothing and carried the remote UP to hide it in the closet. Should have named Ling-Ling "Lenda"... Just should have. Ah, missed opportunities. ;-) Naw... Then again when she is evil (as in remote theft) her other nickname, "Asher-Dancer", fits so well. She has our triple pun ferret name: Ashling is an old Irish name which also revels her gray ash coloration, and easily has the nicknames Ling-Ling ("little girl" in Mandarin), and Asher-Dancer for the bad you know who from the romance-horror book genera. Sorry, I worded the mention of Crohns badly yesterday. How badly the disease expresses itself varies, depending on the individual and on the level of illness. In serious case, though, it does carry very real and serious risks as well as incapacitating pain, though that may take a very long time to express itself, and, yes, there are those who die of it so it has to be taken seriously and responded to by carefully following physician's directions. I was so focused on one thread of thought that I wasn't clear in relation to another. I should have used a stronger qualifier than "can" or should have emphasized "some" or both. We've all been there. Worded a few things badly; ah, ragweed headaches and asthma oxygen deprivation... Here is a clarification: >When it was hard to find ferret-knowledgeable vets we have all of them >necropsied and the vets would bring in other associated vets to learn >from. What I MEANT to say was: Back when it was hard to find ferret-knowledgeable vets we had all of them necropsied, and the vets would bring in other associated vets to learn from the necropsy so that those vets could also know ferrets better. >Now that more vets know ferrets more we ask, same as we do with >post pathology samples. MEANT: Nowadays more vets know ferrets, so these days we ask IF the vet feels that necropsy would be useful for a given case. During certain seasons I am more prone to be in need of re-writes. Thanks to allergy shots my ragweed trouble didn't begin this year when trace amounts appeared (and I hope for even better results next year) but they have started now with levels high in the moderate range here. We all have some personally limiting dangerous factors; for me anaphylactic reactions and asthma fit in there. Don't I read like I'm drunk when my asthma deprives me of efficient breathing? It so embarrassing sometimes. I slur with it, too, but the whistle, cough, gurgle, and sometimes breathlessness give it away if a person knows my voice. Hey, the shots are helping, so the direction is right. That means that the only remaining problem is having coughing fits if I laugh too hard when overhearing someone think that I am three sheets to the wind. -- Sukie FOR FERRET HEALTH INFO: http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth (to join: <[log in to unmask]> or do so on-site) Be sure to check out the easily searched and very inclusive FHL Archives at http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/ PLEASE, NOTE THAT THE FHL ***MOVED*** TO SMARTGROUPS A FEW MONTHS AGO! [Posted in FML issue 3887]