A few months ago there was a thread where people were introducing themselves, even if they had been on the ferret list for a while. We missed that first round but want now to (re)-introduce ourselves and to give a belated introduction to the latest two members of our ferret family. Clare and Bill Sebok live in Columbia, Maryland, which is about halfway between Washington, DC and Baltimore. Bill works as computer manager for the Astronomy department at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Clare teaches English at Goucher College in Towson, MD (just north of Baltimore). We have been members of the FML since June 1992. At that time we had Ben and Jerry, two silver-mitt ferrets that we adopted as kits in January 1990. We added another kit, Buttercup, in February 1994. Buttercup is a rather petite, dark sable ferret. In April 1995, we added another sable ferret, Bridgett, as a rescue. We were told that she was "under a year old." Bridgett had been so neglected that it took several months for her to become a happy ferret. Jasmine was added as a kit in October 1995. We got Jasmine to be a friend for Bridgett, whom our other ferrets took months to accept. Jasmine is a ruby-eyed white who had gray markings on her side. Now she is almost completely white. The family stayed at 5 ferrets (plus a dog, Lupi) for about a year and a half. Then on February 15, 1997, Jerry died of kidney failure at age 7 years, 2 months. Her sister Ben was on chemotherapy for lymphoma during the spring and summer of 1997. Then the cancer began to resist the drugs. She died August 22, 1997, at age 7 2/3 years. We still miss Ben and Jerry very badly. About a week after Ben's death, Bill saw a kit in a pet shop that resembled Ben. He just had to have that kit. She had Ben's black nose and many of Ben's markings. There was also a male sable mitt ferret present who vaguely resembled Jerry and looked enough like the Ben-ferret that he could be her littermate. On September 15, 1997, a couple of weeks later, we adopted both ferrets. We named them Bonnie and Charlie. Bonnie is a silver-mitt with a cute white tip to her tail. You can see a picture of her at "http://www.astro.umd.edu/~wls/images/bonnie1/". Her name was picked because it sort of resembles the name Ben. Her nose was originally black like Ben's but has faded to just a little bit of dark around the edges. Bonnie has turned out to be a much more timid ferret than Ben (who was boss and knew it). Bonnie is a bouncy ferret who likes to stash toys and Cheweasels. Charlie is a sable-mitt with white feet and a small white dot on the back of his head. You can see a picture of him at "http://www.astro.umd.edu/~wls/images/charlie1/". He seems to have become the dominant ferret, because as a male he is bigger than the other ferrets who are all female. It is not as if he wants to be boss, he just wants to play. It now has been more than 6 months that we have had Bonnie and Charlie. They do not and cannot replace Ben and Jerry, but their cheerful antics have helped brighten our spirits. You can read about our ferrets in more detail at our ferret page at "http://www.astro.umd.edu/~wls/ferrets/". I note with amusement that the Atlantic hurricanes this year that begin with the letters B and C will be named Bonnie and Charley. --- Bill and Clare Sebok [Posted in FML issue 2280]