Hey Ya'll, Well, I stand corrected. I also stand officially chewed out. And not by the same person. hehe. Apparently, my Southern ears are cracked and it actually is *marmots* they are talking about in the "Big Lebowski." I got a very nice letter giving me some good detail on the whole affair. I knew that the FML'ers would catch me if I boo booed, and I was right. A gracious thanks. ;-) Now, for those of you who are bitching at me for not writing and the fact that I can post, well, ppphhhfffttttppp!! I will let you guess were I got that paticular habit from!! Hehe. Actually, I have not ignored any one person, I have been ignoring the whole lot of you! Nothing personal, just my own very low energy levels. Oh yeah, thanks for the book and you will be getting an email from me. And I only have 5mb of web space to play with. Cryptic? Yes, I have long since given up using names if I don't have too, don't want anyone to get any fallout from my detractors. And I have also been cited (accused) for being completely non-contriversial lately. For those new to the list, I have a mouth that says what it wants to say and it do get me in trouble. So I guess I will have to figure out something to start a mess with here, just to please my readership. hehe. (BIG Guy, don't groan so loud, I promise it won't be as bad as the last mess). For the last couple of days I have been bringing in tubs of snow for the farts to play with. I sit it in the middle of the kitchen (read vinyl) floor and let them investigate. They stick their heads in it, climb in it, dig in it and general have a grand time and make a big mess. So youse guys in the East just recently getting all that snow, try it out. It is a safe and easy way for the ferrets to experience the snow. And don't forget to have your camera ready. hehe. I did manage to get the carpet out of the house, just in time to get half a foot of snow on it curbside. Then the trash folks came a day late. And bless their hearts, they actually still took that messy, sodden, stinky carpet with them. They will have some goodies waiting for then this coming week. Pookster lost a fang. Well, broke a fang. I don't know when it happened exactly, but the stub is still white and it doesn't seem to bother her, except when I curl her lip up to look at it. And Bette, my faerie ferret with the Spock ears, is growing still. She has hit 2 lbs. I have no idea how big that one is going to be. But I am still keeping an eye on her, looking at her butt daily to make sure she isn't in heat. She has a tatoo like MF, but it isn't quite right, so I am not sure. As for MF ferrets, I have a lot of them. And they are all sweet, healthy babies. And not all of them are even small. Georgie, my big luggo, is a 4 pound silver mitt. And Ranger Rick, and Ready Freddy are 3.5 plus. As is Angus. I don't like the age of neutering, but after working with animal shelters in regards to cats, I would rather see that than all the unwanted destroyed animals. And while later neutering might influence size, my personal opinion is that the genetics do more for it than anything else. I have a cat, Kane the skinny butt cat, who came out of the same cattery as Connor the dim bulb. Both were neutered well past a year, because of me. Kane weighs 6.5 pounds and Connor is around 13. It is just like the ferrets, I have small MF ferrets and big ones. But...I know that later neutering is better. I know it can influence size, but I am also more worried about the possible influences on maturation in the skeletal structure (not dealing with size alone). Does it slow down the maturation process overall? Perhaps someone whose field this is can enlighten us. Anyways, The only thing I can say is if you think MF is terrible, go visit a local horse auction and when you see a horse sold for $50, know that what you are looking at is pet food. That is a shame. Maggie Mae, trying her best to start a mess ;-) [Posted in FML issue 2244]