Flower has often encountered marauding hordes of 6-year-old girls in her travels. She is usually unfazed by it, and usually enjoys all the excitement and attention. I have found that the 6-to-12-year old female set is usually the most likely to display this "groupie" behavior. While young children in general tend to make me nervous, I've never gotten into a situation with Flower that made me really nervous. The only thing I have to watch for now is when I walk through the park and I hear the distant shrill of "Flower's here!" Eat your hearts out, Hansen boys... There's one comment I've heard many times among ferreteers that sometimes concerns me. In our never-ending quest to educate the world, many have stated that "ferrets are not wild animals." Well, in the interest of maintaining our credibility, I really think we should realize that the Black Footed Ferret is still a ferret, and is truly wild. Many "wild animal lover" people I know are actually more familiar with the BFF than the domestic ferret. ...Which brings me to my next question... I've seen references occasionally to the term "fitch". I remember 15 years ago, when I first became the property of ferrets, a fairly knowledgeable guy I work with referred to domestic ferrets as "fitch" ferrets. Can anyone out there give me a true definition of this word? And lastly, anyone care to take a whack at what color and markings my Chester is? I have my own idea, but I'd be curious to hear what y'all think. His coloring gets washed out in the flash pics, but gets more saturated in the setting sun when he's outside romping in the yard; this is closer, though, to his natural color. Here he is; tell me what ya think: http://members.tripod.com/~michaeljay/ferrets/chester.htm Michael (Bluejay) Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. -- Albert Einstein http://members.tripod.com/~michaeljay/index.html Visit The Bridge Coffeehouse! http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/9636/index.htm [Posted in FML issue 2235]