Well I do consider my Animals my hobby. And not just my ferts. All of them from the cute cuddly furries to the scaled tails. They all give me the most pleasure I could Ever dream for. It does not have to be done in your spare time to be a hobby, I dont rescue for a living as wonderful as that would be, but I do have to work full time to assist my husband in our comfortable living. You are right though you arent familiar with me, I havent been on the list too incredibly long. And my rescue home is not big. I am the only one in ND. So we arent that familiar to alot of people. And as far as the IRS goes well, I dont make any money at what I do. Most people think of hobby as like collecting coind playing a sport or what have you. But they arent limitied to that sort of thing. It is something pleasureable. So no need to realy argue over it. If you felt I attacked you well I do apologize as I didnt. I was just clarifying what a hobbyst actually is. That term is used ALOT in the reptile world. And i love my Water Dragons as much as I love my Ferrets and my Dog Xavid and my Cat Popeye and many other past pets we have lost as well as the past rescues we have lost both ferrets and lizards. And they all are the most wonderful hobby in the world. When I become a vet that wont be my hobby ofcourse but the rescue i plan to have attached to it sure will be. And I think the reason people always misconstrue (sp) the word ametuer is because they associate it with immature. Because I have seen people think the same thing before and they think it beens a bad thing and so forth. I havent been on this list very long. But I can understand why some people have been driven away. All I saw was fighting and belitteling. I did find it apprpriate yet important to defend Karen because honestly I found what was being said wrong and we are suppose to be a ferret family. I respect her for all she does and she is a very nice person as I have spoken to her out side of the list. And she was greatful to see some care enough about her emotions to defend her. We all do something great, and important and I know that. So hats off to you all but I think alot of people realy should invest in some compassion for humans and their feelings next to their ferrets. I just think some of you need to be a tad nicer and a quite bit more respectful. Thats all Chelle and the Gang WWW.Geocities.com/chelles2ndchanceferrethaven [Posted in FML issue 4551]