Hello Everyone, Thought that perhaps since I have popped up again and there are so many new folks on the list, I might reintroduce myself to all. First though, some sad news. Earlier this week I lost my Owen, aka Jokerboy, to an accident here. He was always dancing and making me laugh and I am still in shock over it all. I miss him greatly. He was one of my first ferrets, and there is much grieving amongst us all. With the others, Georgie had about half of his teeth out on Monday due to abcesses. He is feeling much better and already begging for raisins. Hates his meds, but then Dr. Susan said he would. I tasted it (a liquid antibiotic) and man oh man, I went around shaking my head for quite a while afterwards. Yucky poo poo. I also have 6 very good candidates for adrenal surgery. We sent off blood panels and will do the surgeries soon. Dr. Susan is going to do them all in one day and invite students from the Mizzou vet school over to observe. I think it is a wonderful plan. So keep your fingers crossed for Pookie, Conan the Toebiter, Miss Sadie, Miss Myrna Loy, Miss Esmerelda and Miss Maisie. As you can tell I have a lot of ferrets. 29 to be exact. I am a 42 year old divorced Southern Broad who has been attending college at the University of Missouri-Columbia (English major with an emphasis in creative writing). This semester I am out of school, the cost of the tuition should cover the vet expenses and I feel my higher duty is to the ferrets. So I will be working on other projects and such and possibly going back to finish my last semester in January. How did I get so many ferts? Well, I started out with 2, Stan and Ollie. I loved them so much I got 5 more kiddos to fill out the family. And then I started a ferret club in Houston. What I didn't realize was the number of calls I would receive about unwanted ferrets and abuse cases. I took in lots, since at the time, I had a very wealthy husband. ;-) After the marriage broke up, and I moved here I was slowly discovered by the community as a ferret lady and have taken in several more unwanted ferts and adopted some from the Petersen's shelter in St. Louis. OK, I admit it, I am a sucker. I am very very proud of what I have done in the ferret community. I have helped directly or indirectly lots and lots of ferts. It is good work. Does it make me an expert? No, not by a long shot. I know a lot about some things, nada about others. But I try to help when I can, of late that has been very little. But I am ready to get back into things, maybe up to a level I was before. I like working with the animals and with their people. Before you think I am too sanctimonious, I must tell you some things about myself. I am a loud mouthed Southern broad of Celtic heritage. I take strongly after the Scottish side of the family ( I am also Irish) and have attitude to prove it. I love bawdy humor and have a decidedly earthy mindset. I also have a bad temper that I am slowly gaining control of. I have pissed off a lot of folks on this list, and plan to keep doing the same in the future. I don't do it on purpose, but I also don't shy from stating my opinions. Or correcting others when I think they are wrong. In other words, I am good at getting myself into trouble. ;-) I am also extremely sarcastic and understand the true meaning of satire. You will see it in my posts and I have been known to put disclaimers on my posts because of it. Naturally, two of my favorite posters are Limejello and Todd. My ferrets have two bedrooms for themselves so they are free roaming, in that sense. I let each group out daily and play rough with them. I am constantly bruised from it. All of my friends and teachers at school know about my ferrets. They are such a part of my life folks are getting bored listening to me. I take Georgie to school to meet folks. He is so laid back and such a big lug that he is really impressive to all. And he walks very nicely on a lead, so we always walk across campus. Of course, it *is* a bit slower than even this middle aged broad might otherwise do. Columbia Missouri is a ferret free zone. I live outside the city limits so that I don't have to worry about my ferrets and the law. I hope that someday someone who lives in the city limits will start a battle for it and I will pitch into help. My vet keeps hoping that it will change too. I will work on a post on all their names. It takes me a bit to make sure I haven't missed anyone. I like to give good strong names that fit the personalities of the ferrets and don't used joke names. Well, unless you count Conan the Toebiter. But his name isn't a joke, it is a statement of fact and he earned it the first night I had him. And he reinforces it daily. And he is my ferret that talks to angels. Maggie and her Mid Mo Mob of Mustelids [Posted in FML issue 2794]