Hi all! I'd first like to offer a hearty and heartfelt THANK YOU to all of the wonderful people who sent us e-mail messages of hope and inspiration while we were going through our crisis with the house fire. It is really great to know that there are so many nice and caring people out there. We are all fine, husband and the kids (I'll introduce them all again, in case there are any new people here): - Miles: (husband) sweet and loveable, likes to run around being chased by ferrets - Telaraj(me) aka Dr. Doolittle ; ask me about my zoo sometime- I think they're coming to take me away, ha ha, hee hee,.... - Hawat( siamese female fert) passed cuteness 101 with flying colors; con artist 218 as well - Thufir ( sable male fert) aka Digger; need I say more? Oh, he's a cutie pie too - Rachael ( teensy sable female fert) Miss Petite Miss.. beautiful and delicate, kinda shy - Hannah ( DEW female fert with a banana yellow tail) Mom makes up funny names about my tail! I am Queen of the World, and you better know it! - Tor'Ag ( butterscotch/white male cat) pushy love muffin; can't take no for an answer - Alia ( silver tabby female cat) .. the reason house #1 burned down. I wanted a hot dog outta the danged trash can, and it fell on the heater! Stupid trash can! Anyway.. that's us. Fert kids are kinda bored because they have to be caged a lot, but in FIVE days, we move into our new home, and they get their own room! I don't see them throwing a party yet, but maybe it's supposed to be a surprise. Y'never know. Hannah's Tail.... Is losing fur from the tip to the middle so far, and has tiny black spots on it. I thought at first maybe she had singed it in the fire, but now I don't know for sure. Doesn't respond to palpitation, so I assume it isn't bothering her. Could this be blackheads, I wonder? I forget how ya'll said to treat those.. was it with oxy pads?? I mean, I'm willin' to share mine, if she needs 'em... course I thought my skin was a lot oilier than hers.. oh well.! Otherwise, she's the picture of health. Tiny white thing with sparkly dark eyes... spoiled ROTTEN! I can't get her or Rachael ( I got them as a pair from a woman who didn't have time enough to spend with them ) to recognize anything as food.. besides food, I mean. Oh, and the miracle drug, ferretone. I can do almost anything with them while they're in a ferretone-induced semi-comatose state, and get away with it! Like trim those nails... Found out last night that Thufie and Hawat ( aka the 'Heathens'.. aw,c'mon, I mean it in the nicest way!) go gaga for raisins, and somewhat for granola.. so I pick miss Hannah up and offer her a choice raisin on a human platter.(my hand) No go, uh-uh. So, I get all wiley and saturate the thing in their miracle drug. Put it on a box on the floor so as not to be contaminated by my human presence, and what does her royal highness do? Licked all the danged ferretone off the raisin and left the raisin there! Same with miss Rachael. I love my girls, but I worry about what I'll do should they ever get sick and can't eat their food. I told 'em I was going to tell on 'em to ya'll.. told 'em that the FML'ers wouldn't beelieeeve I had ferts who turned up their little noses at Raisins! The sumptuous treat! Now what am I going to do? Somehow, I don't think caviar will do the trick either. Champagne they're not old enough for anyway, so that's out of the question. What other luxury treats are there that my finicky fuzzzballs will eat? My little heathens I don't have to worry about; they like all kinds of stuff. But the other two worry me. Well, I guess I'll just have to take them to the store with me next time so they can pick out their own stuff. I can just see Hawat dragging a box of frosted mini-wheats down the cereal isle.... While Thufir grabs the case of coke... oh, and a few packages of that wonderful red kool-aid! ( note: do not try this at home. These are real ferrets; they are not amateurs.) *hoo hoo!* Thanks for putting up with my ramblings.. am in a really good mood about the new home and the babes' new room and all; they've had a lot to put up with for the last three months. A REALLY big thank you to BIG and also to Troy Lynn... hope to hear about the ferrets' recovery soon!?! Hugs to all, and prayers for all sick and lonely ferrets everywhere, ~ Telaraj, Miles, and the four miracles (with many other aliases; maybe we'll apply to the FLO too; we're all ready with the super secret spy stuff) ~ [Posted in FML issue 2249]