Every year, I delight in watching my sable buddy, Emmett, dress up for the winter. Since he will be seven years old soon, we've had quite a few winters! Last winter, I marveled at the way the dark stripe along his back merged with the last bit of non-gray-mixed fur on his head, so that he looked as though he had an arrow painted on his little head. This year, I looked at the design on his head and it seemed familiar. It isn't an arrowhead. It is--yes! really!--a VIOLIN-shaped dark spot on his lightening head, with the neck of the instrument towards his spine and the body towards his face. In other words--he's marked like a brown recluse spider! Right on top of his head! (Looks just like the one I killed in Memphis many years ago. . .) Once you recognize the design, it's obvious, and cannot be mistaken for anything else. I wish you all could see it, but you'll just have to picture it from my description! Happy New Year! == "May all your ferret tales end 'happily ever after.'" Kate, owned by Emmett Kelly, part-owned by Booker Cat [Posted in FML issue 2168]