It's been a very long day. Up at 5:00am...at work by 6:30...off at 3:15. Busy day...fast work on a fast production line. It's my birthday so we go out to eat. We arrive back home at about 8:15 in the evening. It's dark, but looming in the darkness is the monster cage! We know my friend has been here with the ferrets! She had planned on having them here in the house around 11:00am.They were tearing up her house (she let them run willy-nilly...no cage...no boundries). I am getting the cage as a b-day gift from hubby...but it comes with 3 ferrets I got (but gave to friend) from a wonderful lady in Cincinatti, OH...(Hi Susan...;D). I enter a dark house and turn on the light in the entry way. I step into the tv room towards the kitchen and step on a piece of candy. Hmmm....candy?? Why is candy on the floor...LOTS of malted milk balls and a couple of mini-twix bars from the Easter baskets. "Ruh roh!" says I. I go immediately to the carrier..."Ruh roh!" NO FERRETS! Me and 15 year old daughter go into ferret hunt mode. We know the places ferrets like to hide. Cabinets have obviously been violated! Newspapers dragged through the house. Corners dotted with the call of nature...!! The first place I look is a second story drawer where the others like to sleep. NO FERRETS! I take a guess and gently close the bottom drawer and get resistence. "AH HA!" says I! I pull the drawer out to have two cute-as-hell faces peering at me from the dark. Ozzy and Aaron have found the main hidey, and in it they stashed candy bars, socks and newspapers. How they got the newspaper in there is a mystery. They had to pull it up and into the drawer, past the envelopes, boxes of checks and stamps, over the back of the drawer and into the alcove of the drawer space. As I carry them out, Goose is still on the loose. Me and Amber start to think of any other places he can be...and there are several. But as we're being overcome by cuteness with Aaron and Ozzy, waddling along comes Goose from somewhere he alone knows. Well I know while those three were AWOL, my kids were probably going NUTS wanting to meet these strangers in the dark. So out my kids came...Roo, Bandit and Oddball. They have had a BLAST! Everyone had a nose up someone else's butt. Ozzy LOVES shooting the tube...and Oddball now has someone to play in the tubes with him. Has Ozzy ever wagged his tail? He sure did in the tube...:) Erin played in the tubes, too...and so did Goose. He even layed sideways and pulled himself along. They all get along great. It seems they all took turns playing with each other. Erin, Ozzy and Goose even played with me and Amber. Even Goose! He tired out pretty quickly though and Amber found him curled up in the same place I first found Ozzy and Erin. Everyone's sleeping in the cage after a full hour of play time. Aaron and Ozzy are now sleeping in one hammock on the second floor, Oddball and Goose are sleeping on the crinkle thing on the third floor and Roo and Bandit on the fourth floor. Arron and Ozzy are a bit thin. I can see backbone and hip bone. Goose is a moose. They all needed toenails trimmed, ears will get cleaned later. All need shots...will do that tomorrow since it's still discount rabies vaccination month. So in go 3 dogs, 3 ferrets and one cat. Gonna give the poor little car a workout. 6 ferrets...oh boy... Veronica ,, /_^.)///////////,,,,, \\\_#_#_#_//_#_#_#_#_#_#_#_#_#_#_&_&_ _// _\\ Henry County Humane Society http://www.phchs.petfinder.org [Posted in FML issue 4129]