Alexandra: The outpouring for your little nephew was so special to all of us because of you! You brighten our days with your ferret stories. You allow our minds to escape to a place where one can conjure up a visual of a couple of ferrets sitting under a tractor cooking a can of cat food on an open flame. You create visuals of a French-speaking pygmy hedgehog who only befriended a ferret one time and that was when she was sad because she was all alone and had tears on her whiskers. You shared a story of a man in your checkout counter who just "knew" you had ferret fur on your clothes. Remember him? He had a "slice of stomach showing under his shirt that looked like watermelon rind? Remember Romeo's Rebuttal? I do. He made himself into the shape of an arrow and shot himself over the side of the cage to his lady-love, Rosie. And, most of all, I know what you did for me when Zoe, my very first ferret crossed the bridge. I have a stack of printed Alexandra stories sitting under my coffee table and I read them from time to time when I need a good laugh or a sense of something that is sweet and heart-warming. Because your nephew needed something to cheer him up, you turned to the people who have the softest hearts. The ferret folks. The ferret folks will always come through. You give joy to so many of us, of course we are going to return it to you and yours. I think your photo of Alex and his "loot," epitomizes exactly what the Ferret Mailing List is: A group of big-hearted, animal lovers who are thankful for the joy that YOU bring to us and in some small way, we try to return it to your nephew. We thank you, Alexandra. P.S. You still need to put your stories together and get them published. Your stories and drawings from Deva would be a best selling cook, I am sure! Julie Coddington [Posted in FML 6659]