I know many of you are very anxious to hear about our operation but I'm just too tired...... Just teasing! :-) Well, we left a little later than planned (that is usual for us so I might as well PLAN to leave late and maybe we'd get out on time) and our little caravan of 2 big trucks and 1 little one (containing a total of 7 people) arrived in Topeka a little after 9. We left Topeka and drove on to Fredonia. At a little hamburger place we stopped for lunch and met 5 more people in 3 more vehicles. After a quick lunch and a short meeting we were off to Mr. Friends. When we arrived, the air was just a tad bit charged and Mr. Friend wanted to talk to the bosses, which were Kaye and I (well I told him Kaye was but he insisted on talking to us both). His wife would take the ferrets out of the cage and place them in the carriers and someone would write down the ferrets as they came out. That was partly what we had already planned too, as well as having tags on the carriers to be marked as to who was inside. Carriers and cages were lined up in the shade and food was added. Water would wait until the ferret was placed in each cage. We had just enough cages with one double sided cage empty on one side. Nancy, Lynda, Tina, Kimberly, Darrin, Shelly, Mark, Andrea, Shari, Shawn, Kaye and myself worked quickly and efficiently. Having a crew that is ferret knowledgable and friendly is wonderful! Everyone pitched right in. I think out of all of us the ferrets were the calmest. :-) As soon as we had all the ferrets in our cages and carriers and the transaction was complete we loaded up and headed for Fredonia. In Fredonia we organized the ones going south and sent them with Kaye (13). The rest came with us to our vet in Topeka. We again checked and labeled carriers and cages and carried them into the surgery room. After our work was done there we ate supper then drove home. One little boy albino decided cage cups were toys. Each cup we placed on the carrier he would take off then pull it back under the blankie and then push it out, back and forth. We couldn't leave the cup in with him as we were afraid he might chew it up. He was very disappointed. Tonight we go back to the vets office and pick up whoever has been spayed/neutered and they will come back to Lynda's house. We do the same tomorrow night. They should all be safely tucked away at Lynda's house by tomorrow night. We will work with them as best we can while they are here. Our handling will be limited because of surgeries but we will do the best we can. The females seem more tolerant of people. There is one male sable that is quite nippy. Of course I couldn't resist and I just had to gently pinch his haunch. He was not amused. :-) There is one crippled female that was found in a trap and one female whose vulva is extremely swollen - she'd been with a male for 2 weeks (adrenal?), one female has a bare sore on her side, and another with a very sparse coat and possibly pregnant. more later.... Hugs and love to all. tle [Posted in FML issue 1722]