Risa, that was Barbara Carlson singing. Yes, her voice is lovely and she writes her own lyrics. Barb used to post some of them here if I recall right so they are probably in the Ferret Poem Book: http://www.dookingweaselforge.com/ which is incredibly fun and leads to contributions to places like SOS: http://www.supportourshelters.org/ Also: <http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/SCRIPTS/WA-FERRET.EXE?A2=ind9305&L=ferret-search&O=A&P=1715> I think her singing provided much of the glue and a lot the accessibility of the show. Barb also sings at Filks. Don't ask me what filks are because I have only had them explained once to me; I gather they are sort of sci-fi folk song gatherings but that is a very loose concept and my memory is probably faulty on that regard. The focus of the Pursuit of excellence series is NOT the critter or activities but the people themselves who are doing the questing. That is why the topic did not range too broadly. I've read several non-ferret people reviews of the show and some loved it, some were appalled, and some treated it just the way they treated the other "Pursuit of Excellence" topics, as an illustration of the balancing journey between a quest to do one's best vs. toppling over into obsession. One of the people often mentioned spoke about how ferrets opened her world. Some said that it was "sad" but the more perceptive ones (Yeah, reporters are not always intelligent or wise) found it a great illustration of how following a dream or interest can open social networks and create community. After all, if our interests and loves don't connect us to others what do we have left? Blood and proximity? To some of the reporters who covered the show it seemed that anything which was not among their own personal interests must by definition be an obsession which makes me wonder if those particular people are too narrow minded to ever become good reporters, and to me THAT is a sad situation since they must care about reporting to be doing such a hard job and underpaid job (esp. sometimes as opposed to being a tv commentator, some of some ARE reporters and wonderful at that so worthy of respect in both ways, but some of whom are talking heads but not reporters). (All that said, Steve and I don't breed and have been to a ferret show only once, something like 15 to 20+ years ago.) DVD: 1-800-PLAY-PBS (again if my memory serves me) Like Renee, we heard from many people telling us about the show. http://www.pbs.org/previews/pursuitofexcellence/ http://www.shoppbs.org/home/index.jsp doesn't list it yet but an FML member said 2 days ago that it was already backordered. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Moderator's note: Features are typically backordered at first -- the vendor wants to get an idea of how many copies to produce before actually going to press. BIG] [Posted in FML 5675]