Princess Gracie Scared Me

Gracie, my littlest (not youngest, just littlest) ferret escaped. She got out my back door, courtesy of a couple of five year olds.

I was very freaked out. You see, Gracie is exactly one pound, very skittish, and my favorite weasel.

Every person in the house searched everywhere about three times. I took a flashlight outside and search all over my yard and the neighbor's and the front yard. My husband and brother-in-law also did an outside search.

I left a message with animal control.

It was a really windy night and it was very cold. Gracie shivers when it's below 65F. It was about 20F that night.

I made fliers the next morning with a picture of Gracie, our phone number, address, and other pertinent information. I made the five year olds walk with me to all the neighbor houses and we knocked on doors, talked to people and gave them fliers, and taped fliers to their door if they weren't there.

I sent out an email to a ferret mailing list and someone had a fantastic suggestion. I put a crate with food, water, a squeaky toy, and a blanket outside the door Gracie escaped from. My husband and I looked at each other when I did that. It was the look of "yeah, it's too late but just in case."

About 28 hours after Gracie got out, my husband heard a scratching noise at the door. The other four weasels were playing at the time. I didn't hear it.

He went to the door and then came in with a muddy little girl. She looked injury-free. She scored a warm bath and was extra skittish, but healthy.

Leon's made an extra effort to pet and hold her since she came back.

I'm still amazed she came back, and she's still my favorite weaselgal.

New Venture

Hi,

Nine months ago I started a new venture with three other people. We launched the beta version today.

1TherapyPlace is an online library of mental health articles and an online directory of therapists.

--gwen

Jared plays ball

A trip to the pet store

My daughter and I went to the pet store whilst my son was at preschool. We needed to get some more litter and some of that neato liquid you put in the weasels' water that makes their odor a little less intense.

We always walk through the rabbits, gerbils, mice, rats, and ferrets to get to the litter. This time there were three baby ferrets in the ferret cage. One was white, but not an albino. One was a normal sable looking ferret. The third was a small, female, almost solid dark brown ferret.

Sometimes, we can't help holding the ferrets. The pet store lady let us hold the three of them. Anna and I fell in love with the small, female almost solid dark brown ferret. I think the little gal knew it, because she sort of jumped in our purse to come home with us.

I'm hoping my husband won't notice the extra ferret. Or, maybe I can do like my mom does and have him name the ferret so he'll love it and let me keep her.

Isn't she cute?

A Weasel Themed Birthday

My daughter is turning seven at the end of March. She told me she wanted a ferret birthday.

She's had a dolphin birthday (5), a blue whale party (6), a butterfly party (4), a Thomas the Tank Engine party (3), a non-themed party (2), and an Easter themed party (1). The Thomas, butterfly, and dolphin parties were the easiest. It is very easy to find birthday paraphernalia like plates, cups, suckers, loot bag gifts, and party decorations for dolphins, butterflies, and Thomas. The blue whale party was a little more difficult. I had to attempt to draw on a cake. Luckily there was an artist at the party who fixed my blue whale and then drew blue whales on all the plastic cups. (Thank you Kent!)

This year's party will prove to be the hardest. For the dolphin, butterfly, and blue whale parties, I was able to go to Oriental Trading Company and buy a dozen stuffed toys for about a dollar each. They don't carry ferrets. Luckily, Dr. Fosters & Smith, an online pet store, carries stuffed ferrets as play toys for ferrets. I ordered a dozen. They were more than a dollar and I have yet to see what they look like.

My daughter asked for a ferret coloring book. Actually, she's been asking for that for a while. A search on "ferret coloring book" in google did not yield positive results. So, I made one for her. (Click on the picture to get the ferret coloring book.) She wants copies of the ferret coloring book in the loot bags for the kids.

She's agreed to let me take a photo of Simon (a ferret) to the bakery and let them print his picture on the frosting of her cake, so I won't have to try a ferret on a cake or make a ferret-shaped cake. (Whew!)

Anyway, if your kid wants a ferret coloring book, have at it.

Mimzy's New Trick

Mimzy, the younger, cinnamon ferret, has learned a new trick. He crawls behind my computer, climbs up the cables, and walks across the computer. He then weasels up onto the keyboard tray and plays with my input devices. My trackball is currently AWOL and my mouse is missing the rubber on the center button. He also managed to open all my web-based games at once.

Mimzy is proud of his new trick. I can remove him from my desk and give him a different puzzle, and he's back at my desk in short order. He's a determined little guy.

It's funny when the boys steal my wallet and hide it. It's cute when they hide my shoes. The computer, however, is sacred. I need to figure out how to keep him away from the mice.

Wonderful Weasels

If you've ever played with ferrets, you know they're entertaining critters full of playful curiosity and antics.

Mimzy likes to steal objects that have soft, rubber parts. This furby has a nose that meets the requirements. Unfortunately, my computer mice have this same rubber.

Simon likes cups. Any cup he can find, he'll tip over and inspect. He also likes to see how far into the cup he can go.

Anna loves the ferrets, and so does Quinn.

And tunnels are always good toys.