For Sean and Rocky fans! Here is a one-up for ya, Lynda. Now of course the ferret community has taken part in helping to raise this lovely boy of mine with autism and have offered so very much to my family. But I just love thinking about one special memory in relation to Sean and Rocky and the many generous things people have done for them. Do to so, I have to sort of repeat an older post. So bear with me, it's worth it. 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 the many stories and adventures his owner, Georgia Wood, shared with us over the years. 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 recieving magazine subscriptions, 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://www.geocities.com/kourifanclub/kouri.html. Please check it out, I assure you it will be grand fun when you explore this place of great wit and off beat humor 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 (with autism) and he had just adopted Rocky, Georgia wrote me. She was one of the first people on the FML to offer a hand of friendship. It was refreshing to answer questions about autism, and about Sean himself in relation to ferrets at the time. She had=20no hesitation in 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 to someone on the internet. 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 Sean 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. To Sean, Kouri 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 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. His famous photo is 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 during Atlanta's symposium 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 for making a little boys' world just a little more magical. Wolfy http://wolfysluv.jacksnet.com [Posted in FML issue 4561]