Hello all. I ve been MIA for awhile. I started a new job and through the holidays life has been hectic. I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season. We were blessed with a nice quiet holiday. I wanted to give everyone an update on Merry, my little sable girl with lymphoma. She was diagnosed in June 02 and had surgery to have a mass removed from her intestine. Merry is currently having chemo and has been doing well, even eating on her own and playing with the others. Unfortunately we ve had a small set back. Merry lost an ounce, isn t very active and has stopped eating her kibble as of a week ago. I am hand feeding her again and that seems to make her happy I just hope she s not in a lot of pain. I can always tell if she s not feeling good, but how do you know if they are experiencing pain? Does anyone know how to gage whether or not she s hurting? A note on the ferret photography I find I get the best pictures when I first let my three ferts out of the cage. They are usually so into what they are doing that they don t notice me sneaking up and clicking away. When you have your camera ready, wait until your fert is immersed in his/her wrestling match, or digging the carpet, etc. Once they are in the same place for a nanosecond, take your pictures. Don t try to wait for the perfect shot, most of the time they move before the click anyway. I ve got some wild action shots of Zira and Pippin locked in battle. They usually don t even notice I m there. I have a digital camera so it s easy enough to just delete the bad pictures and start over. Another thing I ve tried is ferret napping an unsuspecting sleeping fert and putting them all in a pile on the couch. As they start waking up and stretching, I m snapping pictures like crazy. I get some really cute ones that way. Good luck! If anyone needs a professional model, Merry is a total ham and w ill pose for the camera all day (if you can keep her nose out of the lens)!!! It s good to back on the list. I m looking forward to the next card exchange I ve got something cool planned! Trish ~ Merry, Pippin & Zira [Posted in FML issue 4022]