(I had spent most of the night and half of the morning playing with my webpage, checking out links to add to it, scanning pictures, and writing letters to folks. I finally crawled into the bed about 9AM this morning. I was much too worn out to notice that Tater & Odie snuck out as I entered the bedroom. I slept for a few hours and dreamed of Otter and Eagle, and of the time when I was a young boy. A peaceful and restful sleep. I awoke to the scent of the beef stew I made yesterday as Mee Maw rewarmed it on the stove. My hunger was great so I didn't notice that niether of the guys was curled up beside me. Still wiping the sleep from my eyes, I limped into the kitchen and gratefully accepted a steaming plate of stew from my kind and loving wife. The stew was even better than it was last night, and my plate was soon empty. I stiffled a satisfied burp as I came into the pooter room and settled down to catch up on some mail. Imagine my surprise when I found Tater and Odie curled up together and sleeping soundly in my chair. I gently picked up an armfull of sleepy weasels, took them to the bedroom, and put them on my pillow. When I finally settled into my pooter chair and looked at the screen, I saw what follows. It seems that the guys were very busy while I slept. I guess they were pretty upset when they found out that some of our best friends live in a FFZ.) Dear folks who don't like folks like us, Our names are Tater and Odie. We are ferrets. We live in Atlanta, Georgia with our Mee Maw, our Paw Paw, and our nine cat-type buddies. We have a lot of fun just being ourselves and playing with the other members of our family. We like to sleep a lot, eat a lot, and play a lot. Mostly, we like the playing the best. Sometimes, when we don't have anything better to do, we like to snuggle and cuddle with anyone who seems to need it at the time. We can be very loving when we want to be. You see, we aren't wild animals. We are folks just like you are. We guess that the only difference between you and us is that we love everybody who will give us a chance to get to know them. We don't tell bad stories to other ferrets about how humans eat babies, run wild, kill other critters, and breed out of control - well, we won't go into that. You humans don't need any encouragement when it comes to filling the world up with babies that you don't want and won't take care of - not to mention killing each other off. We just don't understand. The point is that folks like us are the victims of too many false truths, superstitions and old wive's tales. There are still places where our human companions can be arrested and us killed just for being together and trying to live in peace. Even where we live we have to have our business cut out and have our scent glands removed. Imagine how you would feel if you had to live your lives with an empty space between your legs and nothing to use deodorant on. We don't think you would like it very much. We aren't bitter about this stuff - our lives are full and we have more fun than we can stand. We just get sad when we hear about uninformed peoples doing bad things and hurtful things, passing stupid laws and telling lies about folks like us. The truth is that we are the cleanest, most intelligent and most dometicated pet companions on the earth. We don't chase cars, we don't bite mailmen, we don't yowl outside your bedroom window all night, and we don't spread disease to other folks. Why are you so afraid of us? Could it be that you are just too busy getting ahead in your political careers that you don't have the time to listen to the folks who put you where you are? Are you so busy buying $3000.00 toilet seats that you can't take the time to allocate some funds to help us get over and prevent a disease that's hurting so many of us ferrets? Are you too busy to care and to listen? Or are you just stupid and mean-hearted? Us ferrets don't pose any threat to you. Why do you hate us so much? Could it be that you are afraid to have fun? Could it be that you don't know how to love? Think about it. Sincerely, Tater and Odie Schieman (Ferrets and proud of it!) (Well, that's what the guys wrote. I think they done good. Feel free to forward this to anyone who needs to read the truth about our little guys. - Paw Paw) http://members.gnn.com/emssandy/index.htm [Posted in FML issue 1688]