Hello! I'm back (finally....I left my mom's house almost a week later than I'd intended to). Emma had explorstory surgery 23 December. The vet found that she had been neither spayed nor descented, so he did both. I talked to the pet store owner (since the pet store had said Emma was spayed and descented), and he was very pleasant about it all. I'm meeting with him this week to discuss this more. I'm pretty sure he'll reimburse me for the cost of the surgery. I took Emma home with me. My mom, who is not a big animal fan, was not too pleased, but my dad was tickled. I stayed with him for a few days, and we visited some of the relatives on his side. Every time we went somewhere, Dad told me to "bring the rat along" or "let's take that weasel thing with us." :) The relatives loved Emma! We went out to eat one evening, and Dad even wanted to take Emma to the burger place. (We didn't, though; I figured there might be some sort of health code against that.) Seth comes home this evening or tomorrow - I can't wait to see him! I think Emma misses him, too....When we got back to my room here in Lubbock, she ran all around, looking in and under everything....I'm still not sure whether she was looking for Seth or for treats... :) Harmonicas? How'd that start? I bought a harmonica and book last year, intending to learn to play, but then I lost the harmonica. I found it over Christmas, but haven't started back on it yet.... I'll be sure and watch the fuzzies' reactions! It's good to be back, but right now I'm going to have to wind this up and go take a nap. <big yawn> I hope everyone had a good holiday! [Posted in FML issue 1437]