Well, I've been so behind, as usual in e mails etc. But today I'm home from work, sick again with the cold/flu, who knows what. I'm trying to keep my distance from the ferrets, as the flu had taken some of our precious babies away from us. i'll will be wearing a mask and gloves to feed and water and handle them all today, not taking any chances. I really want to thank SOS and Hildy for the Valentines raffle, it came on a day that i was feeling very down, I opened the FMl and saw that and it made this old grump cry. you all are so dang wonderful, this shelter is blessed beyond belief to have the friends that it does. The day I saw the post about the raffle was the day that Judge Judy passed on. Dr k came to the house to hand deliver flu meds and Judy was not doing well, all we could do was to help her cross with some comfort and love. Judge Judy was my special babie, she took great joy in biting me, not hard but just enought to get my attention. she would lay in wait under my bed and get my feet, and then sit back and watch me holler and cuss and jump around like a fool. i could almost hear her laughing at me. i miss those nips and her cranky butt, its just kinda empty without her. 2003 brought many things to myself and the shelter, we took in 340 ferrets, right up to the last day of 2-3. We found may homes for the ferrets that were adoptable, wonderful loving homes. When they come into Petsmart to shop they bring them to visit their old mommy. It was a year filled with great happiness, the open house, seeing my wonderful friend Robin, twice in one year. Having the greatest friends anyone could ever hope for in one lifetime. We survived another year of sheltering and 2004 will bring us into our 7 th year of helping ferrets. It was a year of sorrow, losing Mr, Bigglesworth, Meadows accident, and the flu taking some of our older ferrets. It was sad to pick up a ferret right before Christmas that was left on a lawn to die, covered in feces, urine and shavings, seizuring and screaming, to stay up with him all night to oly give him love and comfort til he passed away, but in that short time I will never forget little Jerry Springer. then one day we had snow in Las Vegas, Dave picked up a ferret that was sleeping in the snow under a bush, he has lighter fluid squirted on his back, its a new thing for kids to "torch" pets thats going around LV. Chilly Willy was ok and reclaimed by his mommy, the old timer snuck out and she was looking for him and found him safe and sound with us. There was so much that happened good and bad and i can only hope that 2004 will be as good or better than 2003. i wish for all the ferrets to be safe and loved. i can not even put into words how I fell about my friends, new and old. I am in awe of the things they do for the shelter, I would be lost without them. We did start the year on a bit of a crisis, the SUV that has carried hundreds of ferrets to the shelter and to the vet and to new homes, had a major breakdown. It has been in the car hospital for a few days and I'm hoping to get it back tomorrow. It blew a major fuse so to speak, lol. The bill will be close to $800, ouch. but we can not be without wheels. i use this vehicle for work and rescue, its my lifeline. so I'm hoping things can only get better from here, might as well start the year off on the down side and go up from there! We have taken in 10 ferrets, 2 more Dave is picking up today. We have listed some things on e bay to help with the vet bills, as we did necropsys, cultures, histos on the ferrets that passed with the flu, so we didn't miss anything. It all came down to the flu. so please visit http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems& userid=24kferretshelter&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50 to see our current auctions. or visit our website for the link, http://geocities.com /a_24k_ferret/. Thnaks for being such a great group of ferret folks! Take care, CJ 24 Carat Ferret Rescue And Shelter "where ferrets are treated like gold" [Posted in FML issue 4391]