Ah the joys of ferrets. I feel a bump against my leg. I reach down trying to find what made the bump (I keep the lights off and candles on when I sit at the desk) and I feel this little furry thing arching its back into my hand. Ahhhh William. He always does that, arches his back to get me to pick him up. So I pick him up. I lay him on his back and rub his tummy. I smell something weird. OK, it smells well ahem like a man smell. Lol. I am puzzled, all my ferrets are neutered and Dem Fat Boys haven't smelled like that in a couple of years. I decide I am hallucinating. I continue rubbing fuzzy tummy. Then I start scratching his back. He is still upside down. He goes limp, both of my hands are under him scratching his back. He is arched upside down now, limp with joy. Then I started scratching his shoulders. William absolutely adores this. His eyes close half way, he starts licking any skin he can find, he licks the air, the hair on his tail starts to stand up. I decide to see how far I can take this, watching the tail the whole time. It starts at the base, with a slight fluffing. That spreads down to the tip of the tail as William desperately licks the air. I keep scratching. Now he is arching his head and shoulders up, leaning back into my hand for more pressure. I scratch harder, tail hair starts fluffing more, I scratch and scratch until all of the hair on William's tail is sticking straight out and the hair on his little butt starts puffing up. Alas, my poor weak hands give out. They can't take the hard scratching for very long. I stop scratching and watch William just kind of lay there in a daze. He is so happy and my blood pressure has dropped. Lol. But I still don't know what that smell is. Sigh. Maybe watching Phish on SNL did it to me, took me back into the 70s. Heehee. Mags -- life is just a big tambourine, the harder you beat it the better it seems Robert Plant [Posted in FML issue 3997]