I've made my first big change of scenery and have made it to the UK, specifically Scotland. I plead for understanding and forgiveness for not visiting all the Australian people that wanted me to stop by. I just ran out of time and needed to finish my work and move to the next part of the project. I deeply apologize; there was nothing I could do. For most of the next week I'll be in Edinburgh taking measurements at the Royal Museum. I will be staying at the Heriot-Watt University during this first part of the trip. My UK cell phone number is 447924442285 for those that need to get hold of me. The museum collection is large and the work will be very time consuming, so I don't anticipate time for DNA sampling -- at this time. I will probably have some time for short local visits, if any Scottish ferret owner wishes me to do so. When finished at the Royal Museum, I will fly down to London and eventually meet up with a vet from the USA (June 8). Hopefully we will be checking out stock and taking DNA samples of a large group of ferrets. The vet and I will take the train back to Edinburgh around June 12 (+/- 1 day) for more DNA work. After that, I hope to score a visit to Nottingham with a person I was just hooked up with to check out their ferrets. I will probably try to schedule other stops during this time, working them in when allowed by time and ferret owners. On June 18 the vet returns to the USA from London and I will fly to Paris and take the rail to another large museum collection. That work should take about a week, maybe a few days more. Once all that is done, I have until July 20 to zip back and forth in the UK and Europe to collect DNA via the rail. I plan to fly home from Rome on that date, so you can see I hope to travel eastward first, then southerly second. I can extend that date by two days if necessary, but I would like not to do so. I need help finding more ferrets for DNA sampling in France, Italy, and in Spain. If you know of someone (or are someone), please drop me a line and I will schedule time in your region and area. I am running out of time and really need some help with this, folks. I can also use more ferret samples in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. My goal is to get at least 25 samples from each country so that future genetic arguments can be answered. Every sample counts and I will stop for just a few ferrets! I would be honored if asked to speak to clubs or small groups before or after the DNA sampling. My goal is to travel a day, visit and sample a day, and then travel to the next location and repeat the sequence. I will spend a bit more time in Hungary than a single day. I hope to have two days in Rome before I return home. In the next week, I will be contacting all those UK and Europeans that have already expressed an interest in this project. If I don't send an email by Tuesday, assume your mail has been lost, my contact info was lost in my hard drive failure, or your mail is mired in the mass clogging my inbox -- just drop me another line. It would be helpful and greatly appreciated. Bob C [log in to unmask] OR BETTER STILL: [log in to unmask] (my not-so-secret email address for the project) [Posted in FML 5988]