Felix, Mikey and I are fugitives in Califbanaweaselornia. Good news: San Francisco is a *very* ferret-friendly town...in the 2.5 years I was there, I took Felix all over on busses, to Golden Gate park and other spots, and had over 15 encounters with cops, none of which gave me any hassles. The only *good* part about the ban is how severely weirded out people get when I take 'em out. Case in point: I was at GG park a while back, and as usual, little 2lbs albino Felix goes happily bouncing up to a large dog - a six-month-old German Sheperd "pup". And as usual, the dog couldn't figure it all out, and backed off - at first. Within a few seconds he realized Felix was being *playfull*, and despite never having seen a skinnykitty, they start "romping" together, having a mutual blast. The main game seemed to be for the dog to dodge Felix - it was great. After mebbe 1/2 hour, a huge crowd of at least 75 had gathered, stunned at this. Felix of course finally collaped, his teeny legs just gave out and he made like a carpet. The dog came over, nudged him with his nose while whimpering, clearly concerned; Felix looks up at him, drops his head back down. So as I'm walking over, the dog's owner calls him, says something about "time to go home anyways". The dog looked at Felix, looked at his master, then reached down and scooped Felix up gently in his jaws and carried him in the direction of home, tail flapping wildly. Felix didn't even *mind*! "Oh, I'm getting carried around by a dog; whatever...zzzzz". "No, dog, leggo the weasel, you can't take him home with you..." Case two: Down by Fisherman's Wharf, there's these cheesy little tourist-trap shops. One of 'em had this table with raised edges set up, with a couple of dozen stuffed battery-powered stuffed animals, moving around. All about Felix's size. So I go, "Here, Felix, check out these fake playmates" and put him in with the rest. Along come this yuppie couple, and the guy looks over, says, "Honey, this one looks cute!". One guess as to which one he grabbed. So Felix just *looks* at the dude, who's looking at his SO, who shrieks, so he looks back and gets in a short (I mean *really* short) staring contest with Felix, who wins as he makes a statement to the effect of "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!". Case three: I'm sitting in the laundrymat down the street, watching my duds roll around, with Felix asleep on my lap. This five year old walks over and says, "Is that a WEASEL?". I reply, yep, sure is. So from across the room I hear him go back to his maleparent, and say, "Daddy, there's a WEASEL over there!". "No, son, there's no weasel in the laundrymat"..."but daddy there's a WEASEL over there!"..."No, there's no weasel, now quiet down and lemme fold these socks!". So the kid comes back, long in the face, saying "He didn't beweeve me!". What else could I do? I drape Felix over his shoulder, a few seconds later, I hear "Daddy, look, a WEASEL"..."AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH WHATTHEF**K IS THAT?!"..."It's a WEASEL!"...etc. [Posted in FML issue 1526]