Hey All, Had a real scare yesterday. My wife, Charlotte, and I just moved into a new apartment. Our four carpet sharks are confined to the bedroom for a short while as we attempt to proof our new digs. We were testing the lava-rocks-as-digging-deterrent for potted plants (Nuvak, our athletic male, laughed maniacally, threw a couple of the rocks at my head, and quickly dug through 6" of the stuff and got to the soil. Something about the smell of the soil that just gets under his skin and doesn't let him go. When I dragged him out, his nose was black and he had that "I'm the happiest ferret in whole world" look on his face). We left the room for a while to let them work at it, and follow through with the experiment (I'm thinking we need rocks that are a good deal heavier than the lava rocks). As we came back into the bedroom, Charlotte let out a scream. Our female albino, Uinta, was outside of the screen on the concrete window ledge! That window is 2.5 floors up, above a concrete walkway. We were truly frightened. The weird thing was, there was no visible sign of how she had gotten out there -- the screen was in place and intact. I won't keep you in suspense. Charotte gingerly raised the screen, speaking softly (Uinta comes when Charlotte calls her), grabbed her, brought her in, sat down on the bed cradling the little fuzzball, and told her over and over again that mommy didn't want her to go out there again. In retrospect, I am glad it was Uinta. Of the four, she has the surest grip (one of her many nicknames is "Velcro," has the lowest center of gravity (nearly impossible to topple her), and is the most terrified of heights (she can't even jump down from our low bed without first going through her five minute pacing, leaning-over-and-pulling-back routine, which is quite comical). So she is the one least likely to make a mistake out there. The bottom of the screening itself is somehow loose from its channel, resulting in easy, though invisible from a foot or more away, passage. We don't know if she simply pushed her way through by force, or if it was already loose and she just walked through. Maybe she or all of them had already spent hours and hours out on that ledge -- oh, god. Needless to say, that window is now closed to a sliver, no fun for anyone, given the heat and humidity we've had in Chi-town (looks like the entire eastern 2/3 of the country, actually) this summer. Can't have A/C when you're an environmentalist -- if one is talking the talk, one must walk the walk; though this is pushing it. But I stray. All is good and safe in the asylum, and all fuzzballs are, at least for now, accounted for. Honani, Nuvak, Soyoko, Uinta, Charlotte, Chuck (oh, yes and the two temporary and NERVOUS house guests, Gerble 1 and Gerble 2 "Please don't let those things loose, they look at us with hungry eyes!") Charles S. McCarthy "Vox clamantis in deserto" - E. Abbey Northwestern University Office of Summer Session and Special Programs 2115 North Campus Drive, Suite 162 Evanston, IL 60208-2660 ph (708)491-7404 fax (708)491-3660 [Posted in FML issue 1287]