Marcuz’s Grand Adventure: AKA Heart Stopping Fear

Yesterday was a day of highs and lows and one very prolonged heart attack. I cannot stress the need for ferret proofing and being observant of your environment. Yesterday was Monday and I had to get up early to go to job training down in Butler, Pa.

That meant I had to get up at 6am to get everyone feed, watered, and rotated. Now the room where Boyd the cat normally resides is being remodeled along with the roof being done on that side so he and I are residing in the ferret’s room.

During the day, the ferrets are out of their cage and at night, Boyd gets out of his crate to roam the hallway and the room. Boyd has a bad habit. He scratches at the window screen and nothing has stopped him from doing it. What I didn’t realize was that he had actually put a hole in the screen, which wouldn’t had been a problem if I had seen it before I left for my training that lasted from 8am to 5pm

I get home around 5:30pm and go upstairs to get out of my jeans and take my knee brace off entering the room I noticed that several things are out of place on the windowsill and then I see the six-inch long hole. Panic sets in and I start looking for my fur kids. Sleeping in a bin is Manny and Marylin.

As you can see from the pictures, I tore the room apart looking for Marcuz.

Looking out the window cold fear starts to develop as I realize that Marcuz had to have gone through the hole and out onto the roof. Racing down the stairs, I grab Manny’s harness and a leash speeding through the living room roomie asks what is wrong but the lump in my throat won’t let me speak so I just wave her off.

Stopping on the porch, I peer around the corner afraid to find a tiny broken body. There is none so the cold fear starts to receded and the panic starts to take over again. I can’t call for Marcuz as he is deaf and wouldn’t hear me. After checking around the outside of the house I go back in and get my voice to work long enough to tell Roomie that Marcuz has to be outside somewhere.

To which she tells me that Mr.. Z had been going ballistic earlier in the day and she thought someone had been knocking at the door but when she checked there was no one there but Mr.. Z laid on the floor and stared outside. Roomie thought it might have been the stray cat that comes around or the dog from across the street.

Back upstairs to make sure I hadn’t over looked one of Marcuz’s hidey-holes. I hadn’t so back down the stairs and Mr.. Z and roomie are outside checking out things. Mr.. Z seems to be on the trail of something but what it was unknown and didn’t seem to be Marcuz. Thankfully, our neighbors are good and they put their own dogs inside or in the dog’s kennel.

This weekend was the community day yard sale and I hadn’t gotten all the boxes back inside so before getting off the porch for the third or fourth time I shook each box in hopes of noticing a weight difference or having Marcuz pop out of one.

Around the block, checking the tree Marcuz loves to dig at when we go for cool evening walks to the back yard where the Ferret Chariot is parked. Roomie says to check under the garage. It is kind of dark under there so I start to go inside to get the flashlight when I hear something on the porch. I stop and look to where the sound is coming from and from behind the board leaning against the wide railing comes this grayish pink nose.

Marcuz’ white first is dusky grey and he smells of dirt but he is perfectly fine. Did he drop from the roof to the ground? Or did he get down to the gutter and follow it around to where the plastic was stapled to the roof and used it as a rope to get down? Or did he somehow figure out how to go down the ladder? I have no answers but there is not a mark on Marcuz.

I am sure that my neighbors finally have proof that I am the crazy ferret lady after this adventure. Taking Marcuz back up to the room I secured the window and took his access to it away before letting him loose and what does the little booger do? He starts weasel war dancing around the room with this look of pure delight.

My nerves are still shot and my chest hurts from where my heart was pounding on it but thankfully, Marcuz has been found uninjured and unfazed.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS CHECK! Ferret proofing isn’t a onetime thing and needs to be constantly updated.

Have a Safe and Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Mischievous Ferrets

     Ferrets can be a source of entertainment and for many a great stress reliever but they also are capable of getting into a lot of mischief. James and Lance are very much like the old Wriggly® double mint gum commercial where they say, “Double your fun” but with these two it’s double the mischief.

     They seem to have several methods of being able to get into trouble or more like getting away with something. Some of these include: Mom look at me while the other takes something, Divide and conquer, Hide and seek. There are others but these three have been the focus this weekend.

       Many of you know that James and Lance are caged because of the bloodhound, Trixie, due to her prey instincts although I do let them out occasionally while she is still in the room. They all are fascinated by the other but it would only take Trixie stomping her huge paw on one of the boys to end his life so I am super vigilant when she is in the room.

     However, most times the room is emptied of the other critters and the boys are given free access to it. Depending on the time of day and how bored they are the mischief doesn’t start until about ten minutes out of the cage.

     I think part of it is that they have to see what all has changed in the room once the inspection is done all is fair game for the ferret games.

      James has this fascination for plastic bags and climbs inside them no matter if it is empty or full. If empty, he does the dance of joy in them until Lance comes and sees what is going on and wants to join James in the bag. Where weasel wrestling commences until James gets tired and leaves the bag.

    Lance then will make sure I am looking at him being cute. This weekend while I was distracted by Lance’s cute play James got my pocket calculator and took off with it. Only reason I knew he had was that he ran past Lance and I to get to his hidey-hole. What James doesn’t know is that I have already retrieved it.

     Divide and conquer is the newest strategy in collecting the most loot. I know something is up when they both go into a corner and look like two kids discussing something in secret. When they come out of the corner they waddle calmly to the center of the floor and they spilt off in opposite direction at a full trot.

     Only reason I know something is being swiped is that it makes noise. James’s attempts at things included my dice box of 80 dice and miniatures, the keychain bumble ball, car keys, my wallet, my wireless mouse for my net book, dog’s squeaky toy, and I am sure he got several other things but hidey-hole cleaning day isn’t until Tuesday.

     Lance’s haul would have included 4 forks, bottle of pain relieve, my jump drive, alarm clock, pencil bag, my journalism bag which contains 3 notepads, assortment of pens and pencils, business cards, headphones, camera, digital recorder, replacement batteries, mini flashlight, and a change purse. I am sure that he made off with several socks and at least two small stuffed animals. Both boys tried to take my cell phone but the charger cord stopped that from happening.

     Lance’s love for socks has grown into an obsession. No sock is now safe from his addiction. I fold laundry while the boys are out and haven’t rolled a pair of socks into the balls I used to for some time now but because both boys will climb into the basket while I am folding the clean laundry I have a small pile of old clothes on the floor for them to play hide and seek in.

     Lance made great use of the game by making sure I would see him climb into a shirtsleeve, disappear into the pile, and then stick his nose out to show where he was at before pulling it back in. What I didn’t realize was that the other sleeve of the shirt came out behind the basket.

     Lance would wait until I would hang an unmated sock over the side of the basket until I found the mate. Only problem was when I thought I found the mate the other sock was gone. At first I thought it was because it had fallen back into the basket and I had just picked up the same sock then as I went to place the sock over the edge of the basket Lance came out of his hiding place and grabbed the sock. Lance’s game collected him 15 socks all hidden in the pile.

     These two little guys have lived up to their Latin name of little thief quite well this weekend along with making me laugh at their antics. Any and all comments are welcomed.

Jo

Movie Monday

     While I am not a fan of Monday’s I am a fan of movies. To make this an uplifting day I have decided to run a trivia contest. The prize is a $5 Wal-Mart GC and maybe a little surprise with it.

     All these movies have at least one ferret in them. Leave your answers in the comment box and all correct entries will have a chance by random drawing. I am going to let this contest run from today until next Monday August 24.

     The Winner will be notified on Tuesday and will have until Friday to respond.

1. In the 1982 movie, Beast Master who is Dur’s cunning?

2. In the 1990 movie Kindergarten Cop, what poem did John Kimble read to the children before naptime?

3. In the 2009 movie Space Buddies, where did Gravity ride on her owner?

4. What is the correct coloring of the ferret in the 2005 movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?  

5. How were the horns applied to the ferret in the 2009 movie Inkheart? 

6. In the 2004 movie Along Came Polly, what disability did Polly’s ferret have? 

7. In the 1997 movie Starship Troopers what was Carl’s pet Cyrano originally scripted to be?  

8. In the 2001 movie Dr. Dolittle 2, who did the voice of Lennie the weasel? 

Good Luck to you all.

Jo

Melt Down Monday

     I hate Mondays but days like today are the worst. The humidity is so high that you sweat while sitting in the shade and dowsing my self with water isn’t bringing the temperature down I feel like I am melting from the inside out. Its days like these that I worry the most about my fur kids.

     Ferrets cannot sweat like humans nor can they cool off by panting like a dog. Because of this, ferrets are prone to heat stroke that can be fatal. The way I deal with this is by having the fan running so that the air is circulating in the room but only when they are in their cages. The other way is to have ice bottles.

     These are easily made and reusable. You can use any size bottle that has a screw on lid. Fill ¾ of the way up with tap water. Right now, I have a half-gallon milk jug, a 2-liter soda bottle, and a single serve water bottle.

     The 2-liter soda bottle is for the bloodhound so she will leave the other bottles alone. Using socks that have lost their mates I cover the other two bottles so not to freeze my fur kids bellies. The milk jug goes in the boy’s cage where James or Lance will move it around until it is under their hammock or so they can both lay next to it.

     The water bottle goes in Gweny’s cage where she slumps over it like it was a log. Until she is cooled off then she will go into her hammock until she gets too hot then she will go back to the bottle to cool off. When the ice has melted I just put the bottles, sock and all, back into the freezer until the next time the humidity makes life unbearable.

     On days like this, my fur kids go though the water quickly and I have to check it several times in an hour to make sure they have plenty. I use to have the 32 oz drip style water bottles for them until Trixie the bloodhound decided those were her personal chew toys. All that is left is the drip spouts.

     This is also the time I make a small swimming pool for my fur kids out of a Rubbermaid® under the bed tub. By putting an inch or so of cool water in the tub, my fuzzies can climb in and out of it cooling off before playing snake on or under the towels.

                       

     I have seen ads for fans for pets but I am leery of them because ferrets are too curious for their own good and don’t have the reputation cats do of having 9 lives.

Jo

Manic Monday

I don’t know what I would do without my fur kids. Monday’s are hard on me no matter what is going on in my life. Today was harder than most Monday’s as I didn’t sleep well last night due to pain.

Then my job that went from full time to very part time, partly my request so I didn’t loose my unemployment benefits completely, is now on the verge of being done for the season. Most of the guys are fun to work with. Although lately I am being picked on by this one guy. He is suppose to be a supervisor.

I have borderline personality disorder. Which means I am easily upset by negative remarks and when it is close to that time of the month it get really bad. My self-esteem is low enough I don’t need people comparing me to others that I am nothing like. I almost told Supervisor where to go today.

I don’t know what I did to him to deserve this kind of treatment. Anyways I came home really down and just felt like bawling. I went into the other room to make my coffee and all three of my kids were looking at me like

“Can we play now mom. Huh Huh. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaseeeee.”

It brought a smile to my face and made my day a little bit better. They are playing with my shoes as I write this trying to get them under the desk.

They seem so happy that it makes me realize no matter how bad things look it could always be worse and I should just let go and dance.

Lance cracks me up with his sock fetish and where those socks should be. After each play session I go to the pile of socks by the chair and put them all back in the toy box for the next play session.

First thing Lance does is go to the toy box and rescues all of his socks and puts them right back by the chair. Once in a while he’ll drag one or two under the desk.

For those of you who don’t mind blog contests I am going to give away 1 pet super pet sock-r-ball and a $5 Wal-Mart gift card.

The contest will run from July 27-August 7.

I know how you hate jumping through hoops to earn an entry so this one will be fairly easy. 2 ways to enter

1. Leave me a comment about the blog on any entry during the contest period. Has to be about the blog no pick me comments.

2. Get someone else to start reading my blog. Have them leave a comment with who referred them.

On August 8^th I will pick a winner from all entries by random. I’ll post the winner on August 8^th and the winner will have until Wednesday to contact me with their mailing address.

Jo