Sharon; My wife and I have had terrific luck this year with the christmas tree. We bought an artificial tree (6.5 ft tall) that has nothing but a very skinny pole in the center (about 1.5 inches in diameter). The pole is too skinny for the ferrets to climb, not to mention that it is slick, like a broom handle, and they cannot quite reach the branches to pull themselves up. They did manage to steal one ornament when I had first set the tree up, so I moved that ornament up a couple of inches, wa-la, a ferret-proof tree! The tree that I am talking about does not have the usual wire branches sticking into the center pole, instead it has the branches that hang from the very top of the tree. This way, there is nothing for the little guys to get ahold of and haul themselves up! Of course, you still have to keep any of the ornaments from hanging down under the tree, or else they will become booty for the weasels, and you may not find them until the 4th of July! :) Scott Pearce and the woozelers: Samson (Sam) Seymour (Seymour) Simba (Simba) Ginger (Trouble one) Timon (Trouble two) Alexander (Alex) Suzie Q (Trouble three) And coming soon......<drum roll>...... Briar Rose (Rose) ------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 13:29:51 -0500 From: Dee Schiller <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Group Name Hi Everyone - I'm a new subscriber (2 weeks) and while I haven't a little fuzzy of my own (yet), I enjoy living vicariously through all of you. Hugs to folks who've lost pets, and to everyone else, thanx for the anecdotes about your kids...... BTW, how 'bout "an ecstacy of ferrets"? Dee in Kalifornia Custer wore Arrow shirts.... [Posted in FML issue 1409]