So, FMLers, picture this. It is a dark and stor -- no no no -- a dark and mild damp night, and I am standing in front of the kitchen sink, trying to decide if I have the energy to wash the dishes.... When ! what do my wondering and unfocused eyes behold, but a fat grey ferret trotting right across the window! Focus! Followed by another one! Big grin!! Yes, my dear furry little men and women were out on a night adventure (using the wire-mesh tunnel that goes past and almost up against my kitchen windowpanes). So I went into the next room where their cage is and, uh HUH, only a few ferts within. So out I go to one of the outdoor pens -- the wood and mesh one that's outside my back door. Three big soft guys out there -- Robert, Rico, and Phillippe -- and one muscular tiny black girl -- little Lucy. Then scrabble scrabble and out pops Eric from the drain pipe that leads into the pens from the mesh tunnels. Aftr playing awhile with them, grinning and cooing, I decided to see who might be in the big metal and mesh pen -- the totally expensive one that caused so much anguish and drama over the past 18 months. The ferrets weren't ready for me to stop playing with them, but my curiosity was strong, and off I went. There's no light to turn on for the metal pen at night, so I went back in the house to get a flashlight, went out the side door, and to the big pen. Well, you guessed it, not a soul within. My spirits fell (even though of course I know they spend time there). But - - - pretty soon there's the scrabble scrabble scrabble of ferrety feet coming down the pipe. Who is it? Three of the same guys -- Robert, Rico, and Phillippe. Then Lucy. Why, they must love me! They must want to be with me! Aren't they smart! HOw did they know how to find me?? Ohhhhh! BIG happy GRINS! Aren't you lovely, aren't you soft, aren't you dear, you wonderful ferrets! Then the pit-pat-pit-pat of ferret feet in a carpet-floored mesh tunnel, and YES it's Eric Then more scrabbles, but up above. Who is looking down at us, through the mesh roof? Raoul, the handsome young orange cat. [Posted in FML 5434]