Sarah Senior Reporter Possum Stepping over to Advisor December 2011 HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS - That is what we heard the other night in our shelter - then a bit of a rustle - I was too tired to worry about what was going on but the next morning when mum came down to get us up - wow there were presents hanging on everyone of our cages - in pretty gift bags with our names on them - inside the bag was a toy for each and everyone of us - Santa sure is good to us here - I never thought coming here to live would be so much fun - Possum Here: Hey Sarah don't forget about all the boxes that all the secret Santas sent to us - boxes and boxes of things for us - some even had presents in the boxes for mum - with her special food - all because there are special elves out there that put up the giving tree for all the shelters and their fur kids - we owe them a BIG THANK YOU for putting up the tree and connecting the fur kids to the secret Santas! Sarah Here: Oh yeah - mum takes pictures of all the things that come in for us, with us opening our presents then sends the pictures to the Santa that sent them and to Miss Mindy - Miss Mindy puts the pictures up on our shelter site so everyone can see all the presents we got for Christmas! Mum has a few more to get done, but most all are sent and up on the site if you want to see them www.ferretfarm.org Sarah Here: So Possum if you are still around, I think I am going to need lots of help with this month's new letter Possum Here: Sure Sarah I am here what do you need help with? I hope it is not stupid stuff! Sarah Here: Possum you stop that - you know mum does not like it when that word is used! She will not even let the 2 legged furless kids on her big yellow thingy use that word! Mum says there is no such thing as stupid stuff! Stuff I do not know, stuff that I do not understand but not STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Possum Here: Are you done with your tantrum Sarah? What is it you want help with? Sarah Here: Mum has numbers at the bottom of the page - what am I supposed to do with them? The note says Webshots 327 Possum Here: oh that - the webshots site is where mum keeps all our pictures so all our friends can see the pictures that have been taken - here is the link for that place - http://community.webshots.com/user/lakeroad2 anyway once a month webshots sends mum a report telling her how many humans went to that link to look at our pictures - so last month 327 humans went there to look at what pictures are there - since mum set that page up there have been 51,221 views - that is a lot of views and humans! Sarah Here: Wow that is a big number - thanks for explaining that for me! Miss Brie came over one day to help mum pull some lumber out of the barn - mum had a friend coming over to help her fix the garage roof - they needed that lumber so Miss Brie said she would help mum get it out - once they got that done mum and Miss Brie put up the 5' bamboo curtain between the kitchen and the dining room - so when it is really cold mum can keep the heat in our play area better for us - before Miss Brie left she told mum she was a skitzo - mum was off the wall that day - we are lucky that Miss Brie loves us and mum so she just shakes her head and laughs at mum when she gets goofy as we call it - Oh! Oh! Miss Jackie is back! She stopped in to see us just before Christmas - we are so glad to see her looking so good and all better! Welcome back Miss Jackie we missed you! Possum Here: Miss Ili and Mr Bob are leaving to go south for the winter - Miss Priscilla and my boy friend Ralphie call them snow birds - I am not sure why they do not have wings and they do not fly - but that is what they call humans that go south for the winter. Sarah Here: well Possum did you know I got personal messages from the humans that read the news last month? Here is what I got - Hi Brenda, tell Sarah she did a great job for her first time and Possum was a good advisor! Marcia Great edition of the Master Largo news! Sarah is getting off to a wonderful start, under the watchful eye of Ms. Possum--of course! Priscilla Sarah, I think you did a great job with the news your first time out! You go, little girl!!! Far-away mom, Bonnie Possum Here: Sure Sarah - that is what happens when you become the senior reporter - you get told all kinds of things - that is great - do you mind if I add a bit of news? Sarah Here: I guess if I am going to ask you to help it would be nice if you did add some news so sure go ahead - Possum Here: Thanks Sarah you're not so bad after all - I thought I was going to get grief from you about it - Miss Marcia and Miss Mindy came the same day to help mum move the small freezer from the back room to another room so mum can pay closer attention to it - then they helped move the picnic table out of the back yard to the garage for winter - where mum thought she wanted the freezer was not working - so Miss Mindy came down the next day to help mum move the freezer to a better place - easier and safer for mum to have access to it - Sarah Here: there have been some new kids come in and some kids go out - the new girls Miku and Kiwi now have one more room they can not be in - Miku jumped the barrier from the library to the kitchen - she will also jump from the kitchen to the library - pretty soon mum will need to hang them from the ceiling to keep them where she wants them. mum says the longer they are here the better at staying put they are getting - Frankie came in too - he was found abandoned Miss Brie and Miss Mindy got him picked up, vetted and delivered to the shelter. Mum says he is a young' in. We have had lots of help and new folks stop by - Miss Donna, Miss Mindy in to help, Miss Jeanie B stopped in with lots and lots of things for us fur kids, Miss Victoria G and Miss Aretta and her son stopped by, Miss Rikki a high school kid that rides mums big yellow thingy came to help too. Possum Here: Miss Ili was here to work in the shelter while mum was in the kitchen baking for turkey day - Miss Patty sent us 24 jars of turkey baby food for our special turkey day - then one Sunday afternoon Miss Genevieve B, Charlie and Reilly K. came to help cut nails and weigh us fur kids - mum likes to get us weighed once a month - Miss EB and her family stopped by that same day to pick up their Theodora - she is a guinea pig mum watches when they need to go away - that same day Maxim and Pudgy went home with Charlie and Reilly K. to their new 4-ever home. Sarah Here: my turn, mum took the morning off to get and keep the shelter caught up so she could take Stevie to Doc. but the plan had to change so mum, took him to Avon to meet Miss Mindy so Miss Mindy could run him into Doc. Stevie had a mass on his penis called a preputial adenoma, or preputial adenocarcinoma it needed to be removed. The mass went from kidney bean size to large marble in 2 weeks time. Stevie is doing great now our favorite Doc got him all fixed up! The fur kid that was supposed to come in on Saturday did not show up, but came in on Sunday - her dad said he had to work. Mum says Daisy is skinny and tiny - nails far too long - wants an enormous amount of attention - nippy but mum says that should stop once she realizes she will get the attention she desires - mum says Daisy is afraid of hands, that the humans that had her told mum they tried everything to get her to stop biting - mum says obviously it was punitive not positive reinforcement - Daisy is doing awesome with mum - no bites, loves to dance and play, does not hurt mum in any way! Miss Susann T. came to pick up her fur kids from camp - she left with Penny so Penny has a new 4-ever home! Possum Here: So Sarah did you notice that you have everything mum had at the bottom of this news letter covered and done? You did it girl - see that was not so bad was it? Sarah Here: Really? We are done? Wow - I guess that was not so hard after all - thanks Possum for helping me get this done - we sure had a lot going on this last month huh? We are really lucky fur kids to have so many humans love us and help mum take care of us - Possum Here: yup! Yup! Yup! We sure are - do you know that the next time we do the news that it will be a brand new year? that it will be 2012? We need to be done with this news but say to all the humans out there >>>>> Happy Happy New Year!!!! Sarah senior reporter Possum advisor Newest Shelter Video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0GEYL02fnU> Shelter Video <http://www.kwflatbed.com/videos/ferretfarm.wmv> Fur kids with new homes <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4QDOOjil9A> The Giving Effect <http://ferretfarm.thegivingeffect.com/> [Posted in FML 7287]