I wanted to say a few words about a famous ferret that passed away this past week. Those who have been on the FML for a few years will recognize the name, "Kouri" of Georgia, the West coast one. Kouri embodied everything that was "ferret". Many of us have enjoyed years of his owner, Georgia Wood, telling us of his adventures. So unique was this ferret, a club was begun in his name called "the Kouri Fan Klub". His owner, a little old eccentric lady (running like heck right now) ... err she'd rather be called quirky and bohemian ... told of funny stories about this ferret getting magazines, being enrolled in gardening clubs, winning honors in the NRA from Charlton Heston, building real cat-a-pults, and even receiving a telephone call from a bewildered young man who didn't realize he was a ferret (yes, she gave the phone to the ferret). His mischievous and clever personality can be read about at his website: http://geocities.com/kourifanclub/ . Please check it out, I assure you it will be grand fun when you explore this witty place on the web. Sharon Beardon and Georgia Wood made it possible for anybody to join whether you are human, ferret, or otherwise. Kouri was/is special to Sean and Rocky. Let me tell you why. Years ago, when Sean was still quite symptomatic and he had just adopted Rocky, Georgia wrote me. She was one of the first people off the FML to ever offer a hand of friendship. It was refreshing to answer her questions about autism and about Sean himself in relation to ferrets. She had no fear of doing so. And I welcomed that. She soon wanted to send Sean a crocheted ferret afghan, two sleepers as well as other goodies. I had never told anybody my real name online, let alone given an address. Gut instinct told me that I could trust her. She took pain staking steps in making sure that each thing was not just the exact color that Sean wanted, but the exact shade and "feel".. Pretty soon, Georgia, sent photos of Kouri. The first photo she sent is the now famous photo of him in reading glasses. Sean, in all his innocence, gasped and asked me, "what else can Kouri do, besides knit, mommy"? Sean believed in Kouri just as strongly as he believed in Santa Clause. He was a magical ferret that could do anything and everything. It wasn't until this past year that Sean would giggle and tell me that he now realized that Kouri really can't bake cookies, play drums and make afghans. I keep telling him that indeed he can! Somewhere around the time that White Russian was nearing Rainbow Bridge, Georgia wrote me that a routine ADV test came back positive for Kouri. "You could knock me over with a feather right now", I remember her saying to me. Now Kouri seemed to have an ever more important role in the ferret world. He stood for routine ADV testing, and especially stood for why you should test before a ferret event. He helped people to realize this should be done, and how it can help to ID positive ferrets early on (and prevent the spread to other ferrets). His famous photo has the honor of being the middle square in Alicia's ADV quilt that travels to events. It's hard to believe that when I saw and touched that beautiful project in October he was still alive. Still alive ... living by the sea in a houseboat with his parents, cage mates and fat kitty. Still alive... baking cookies with his mother, playing with his catapult, napping by his father, and no doubt munching down the occasional octopi. Thanks for those memories Kouri. Thanks for all you did and still continue to do for ferrets. Thank you for helping to spread the word about ADV. And most of all ... thank you from the bottom of my heart for making a little boys' world just a little more magical. Wolfy [Posted in FML issue 4345]