First off, Jennifer and all those who've recently lost their babies---my heart goes out to you. I know you'll miss them greatly. For the person the other day who wanted to know about ferrets pooping in corners. Well, I keep newspapers down. Easy clean up that way, and I figure it's part of the territory. Lisette-in case you weren't joking, c'mon! None of us, I believe, advocates stealing an animal and butchering it, or any other form of violence to an animal. I know when I first started to read Limejello's story I had one eyebrow up, but then I began to see that he was pulling all our legs. Having been around and raised chickens when younger, I knew he had to have been around them too, either that or his imagination is perfect. Many times I've had chickens fly around and poop all over, and this was just trying to catch them to cut their wing feathers. By the time I'd finished I was cracking up. Thank heavens everybody around here knows I laugh a lot at things (at myself in particular). I did e-mail Limey baby and ask where the Weezils of Doom were at this time. I thought perhaps they'd set up bleachers, but he said they'd taken bets on who'd be the winner and now they were rich. This was a tale to make us laugh, brighten our day, not get offended by it. With all the world's tragedies, God knows we need something to laugh at. Hey, even He has a sense of humor-the human race is still around. For the lady who wondered if she could stop at 5 ferrets. HA! Good luck. I have, er had, 7, and my husband kept telling me "NO MORE. STAY OUT OF PET STORES". So, I did. However, there's an absolutely free column in our paper..... This morning there was a free ferret, I said, in a very low keyed, controlled manner, "Larry, there's a free ferret" to which he promptly said, "Call them!" So I tried. From 6:45 to 8:00 am. At 8:15 somebody finally answered the phone. Unfortunately, it was State Farm Insurance!!!!! The gentleman and I were both perplexed, because the number in the paper was correct, for the insurance company. (Boy, I'll be the paper got a call from them! hehehehehehe) So, being really swift minded for once, I called the paper and yep, they'd screwed up the numbers. Got the right number, got the people. When I said "You have a ferret for free" it was like the damn burst. This lady assured me how nice, how beautiful, etc. When she drew a deep breath I got in-age, vaccinations, what do you feed-and she was off again. I finally got to tell her we'd take him, where was he. She told me, then said, "Oh, he hasn't eaten since yesterday. We ran out of food." At this I felt myself do the "Quasimodo pose" (that means one shoulder goes up, one eye squints, and I feel my blood pressure going up). I managed to strangle out quite nicely, "Oh, really." Larry got on the phone and got the directions, and said he'd be there in 1/2 hour. He hangs up the phone and I said rapidly, "get the carrier, a bowl of food, the water bottle and go get him!" He said the little bugger's cage was way high up, and how he got up there to even get water he didn't know. But believe it or not he has been taken care of. So, let me introduce you to number 8: Age 6 months, cinnamon, male, MF, "Conan". Tonight Conan gets a bath, his ears cleaned, and his extremely long nails trimmed. He has devoured one small bowl of Iams kitten chow, is ensconced in a cage at home by himself with more food and lots of water (which he couldn't seem to get enough of). To my way of thinking, he's waaaaaayyy to thin, but that'll change. He's really sweet. Went around the office here and met everyone, let people pet him. Of course, the calmness will all change, I'm sure, when the "Magnificient 7" get hold of him and show him the ropes! Rebecca and the other 2 human slaves Socks-oh, no, another Kit--Ha! Lemme show him whose boss Genie--another cinnamon! The mountain climbers of the ferret world Scully-awww mom! Suzy--Hey-he looks just like me! Calvin-No he doesn't He's a him Mookie--run run run, dance dance dance-bite toes and ears! Conan-Um, help? Chewie, Dribble, Sarabi & Tigger: Excuse me-is this the Star Trek Episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" here????? ======================= Rebecca McFarlane Secretary Basic Medical Sciences School Veterinary Medicine Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 47907-1246 Phone: 765-494-8632 Fax: 765-494-0781 "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup" [Posted in FML issue 2749]