I noticed the post a few days ago about Anne McCaffrey and ferrets; I thought it was so correct - it is like being impressed. I've noticed she uses the phrase ferret out a lot in her books. Maybe she modeled dragons after ferrets : - ) Anyway, in a book related to her : The Ship Avenged by S.M. Stirling pg. 42 has a ferret reference. An AI program as an anthropomorphic ferret to break codes. Plus the pooka (referred to as a ferret several times) continued to appear in Generation X 26. I'm waiting for the pooka to rescue the lost team member and show many readers ferrets are cool! Cheryl. [Posted in FML issue 2238]