Foggy Update!!! Many of you have e-mailed me lately to ask after little Foggy... I apologize for the long time that has passed since I last posted on his progress. The incoming injured have kept me hopping and the Infirmary count now stands at 17, with 21 in the ongoing and long term care unit. So... what with my education program and my few other little activities I have been a little short of open time for the computer. I would like to share a recent indicator of his present condition.. What do you have when you combine one footless fuzzy and one very large and mischeivious Tech? If you guessed Creative Chaos you were close.. If it was Hilarious Hysteria you were really close.. But the correct answer is the invention of The Flat Ferret Shuffle Game! Many of you have wondered 'How will he get around?' and 'How can he play?' and many have commented things like 'Poor little guy, there's so much he won't be able to do anymore.' and 'He is so small and now with no paws, the other fuzzys may be too rough for him: Who will he play with if he manages to play at all?' Some of your concerns have been eased by his wild antics in the Krinkly Sack and his intrepid courage and brave cheeriness. I am hoping this escapade with Bruce will give you additional insight into the truly intriguing personality and attitude of this little fur kid.. Bruce often stops over at any old hour to grab a Foggy Fix. The two of them generally get off in a corner and rough house [Bruce is well over 6'8" and weighs in at around 280 lbs...but is the kindest and most gentle fuzzy caregiver I have ever seen (any critter really, except the humans that hurt little animals that is)] and laugh and just make idiots of themselves. Bruce talks about all sorts of things with Foggy and swears the little monster understands him very well, and even gives pretty good advice when asked about some knotty problem Bruce is puzzling over. I couldn't comment much on that part of their relationship but I can tell you those two make a couple of sneaky mischievous little boys look like relative Saints in the deportment department. And there is no point in telling them to hold down the noise or asking Bruce to stop tossing a wildly wiggling Foggy high into the air and catching him in heavily padded mitten pads. They just glance over at me as is to say.. ' Far Chance!' and go right on being reckless and crazy! A couple of weeks ago Bruce was absent for several days and Foggy really missed his visits and took to hanging over the enclosure gate and watching the entry for hours at a time hoping his best Buddy would put in an appearance. It was obvious every night that he was disappointed when another day had passed sans Bruce. So when he finally did show up Foggy nearly went nuts letting Bruce know how happy he was to see him. This time, however, Bruce didn't grab Foggy up for their usual rough and tumble... He just tucked him under one arm and marched back out the door. Now Bruce knows better than to take one of my patients out of the area so I was out the door in a flash all prepared to give him a real talking to... And stopped dead right outside! Bruce had laid out a piece of linoleum about 8 feet wide and thirty feet long... it covered the cement walkway edge to edge and its full length. the huge flat surface was edged with padded four by fours that formed a sturdy frame while holding the flat area flat and secure. It turns out he was helping a friend recover his large businesses floor space with this type of linoleum after a broken pipe ruined the carpeting. And this was the end of the enormous roll they had used for the job. Bruce had then made and padded the frame for it and used a very slick and hard commercial wax to render the surface shiny and very very slippery. Just as I turned to ask him what on earth this was all about he started pulling aluminum pole sections out of an old golf bag and fitting them together until he had two poles about 6 feet long. Then he opened a box and began attaching a weird looking object to one end on each pole. The device he attached looked like an oversized horseshoe that had a heavy pad covered with sheepskin lining the inside of the curve. Foggy had been watching his every move with total absorption, looking from Bruce's face to the emerging assemblies and back making it clear he was fascinated and wanted Bruce to explain everything... and right now, Please! Bruce propped the poles on a leg and snatched Foggy off his personal fleece blanket [the one from the Marvelous Magical Box] and started checking how his little body fitted inside the padded curves , extending all four legs out until the fuzzy was laying flat on his lap with the half circle enclosing him in a one hundred and eighty degree arc. When he was satisfied that the arc would hold Foggy with nearly no clearance but not put any pressure on his leg ends he handed me one of the strange poles with a huge grin on his face and took the other and Foggy and tromped to the other end of the thirty foot long surface. He and Foggy chatted for a couple of minutes while I tried to figure out what the dickens Bruce was up to, then he set Fogy down on the slick linoleum and placed the curve around him with Foggy facing me, then stepped back until he was holding the pole near its other end. Unlike his normal behavior, Foggy didn't twitch a muscle.... like he was concentrating very hard and waiting for something. With a Whoop of glee Bruce shoved very hard on the pole and launched Foggy down the long slippery surface at high speed! Foggy's eyes got incredibly wide and he glanced all around as he flew down the long sliding surface. Just as he was nearly to my end Bruce yelled at me to 'Catch him in your launcher!' and I had to scramble to get it in place in time to 'catch' Foggy when he arrived. I was furious and was really chewing Bruce out for being 'An irresponsible jerk' and having 'risked Foggy being reinjured' and telling him this 'insanity will stop this instant' ... and.. when I looked where his finger was pointing as he laughed like a mad man. Foggy had wiggled himself around until his head was facing down the lane towards Bruce and was looking over his shoulder at me with an expression that clearly said.. 'WOW, What a Rush!.. Will you quit hollering and push me back NOW?, PLEASE!' No doubt about it.. I was out voted and those two delinquents were enjoying themselves enormously. The Flat Ferret Shuffle (board) Game went on most of the afternoon, with breaks only for eats and an occasional quick sip of water. They play the game nearly every day, and I guarantee you Foggy has never been happier! Needless to say fuzzys with feet are at a definite disadvantage as they instinctively put down their feet to try to control the speed and direction of their slide and rarely make the distance, and they don't tolerate little socks on their paws for more than 5 seconds either! So the all time Champ is Foggy the Footless and Boy is he proud of himself! He is positively smug around the other fuzzys these days! So those of you that have worried that he might feel handicapped or be depressed because he was left out of the other little ones games can rest assured that this little trooper is having the best time of his life!!!! dayna :] dayna frazier 102046,3162 'resident of the 'Marvellous Menagerie of Mirthful Mayhem' MMOMM!!! [Posted in FML issue 1611]