Question of the day: Why is it that it seems that ferrets own more women than men? Maybe they are ashamed to admit that men make good pets. Hmmmmmmm. Chris Nielsen: My wife and I used to make all of our own Christmas cards. One of the things we did was to buy large gum erasers, draw an image on them and then carefully cut out the un-needed surface, leaving only the image raised. These were great, and inexpensive, ink pad stamps. All we used were Xacto knives with sharp blades. Karen E. Marsh-Lovvorn: Your event is better known as the "de-cat-along' in our house. Pretty much the same event order with one extra ferret requirement: Our cat has figured out that if he just stops and falls over on his side, he can sometimes 'get' the offending ferret off his back. Our de-cat-along includes the ferret exercise, "cat-body-rolling". (It is very similar to log-rolling.) If peformed properly, the cat issues a disgusted yowl and the ferret participant struts off chuckling and clicking mightily, daring the cat to pounce from behind. A comment on how I teach my little ones not to bite as kits: As we know, it is very natural for little ones to want to mouth and bite. I will pick up the kit and look him/her in the eye and say "kisses". The little one will usually attempt to bite at which time I gently blow in their face and repeat "kisses". It is natural for almost all animal babies to start licking madly when you puff or blow in their faces. When the kit starts to lick (ie: kiss) I praise the little one and repeat "kisses". Within a couple of minutes, the kit will start 'kissing' when he/she hears 'kisses' and biting is a forgotten thing for the time being. Over a longer period of time..say 2 days or so, biting when being held will be a thing of the past and you will have the opportunity to amaze your friends with how easily your new owner has trained you to kiss! (HEH) It worked with my babies and it works everytime at the pet store when I hold a kit. (I can't go in without picking up one of the kits and carrying it around with me while I am there..fortunately the owner knows me and tolerates my compulsive behavior! <GRIN>) Lastly...One more event for the Ferret Olympics. Water bobbing. The venue is the kitchen sink. Stopper in place and 6 inches of water. At the bottom of the apparatus is a brightly colored 'whatsit'. The event is the time it takes the ferret to ferret out (sorry) the object and bring it to the surface. Points are awarded for overall time to object recovery, pre-water entry posture, and the number of attempts before successful completion of the event. There is a degree of post event difficulty...all participants usually celebrate mightily as they dry off in the towels..the weasel war dance and low fours take at least 5 minutes and almost always influence the judges' scores! Oh boy...this is 'way too long! Joe, with the kids on each shoulder! [Posted in FML issue 1651]