2015

 

 

 

Have a Grateful and Chittering Start to a New Year.

 

Marylin, Marcuz, and Manny

Wordless Wednesday: Happy New Year (The Morning After)

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Year in Review: 2013

As I sit here sipping at my coffee and watch from my window the snow that is falling I realize that Enlightened Ferret kind of fell down on the job this last year.

The first half of the year seemed to go well but behind the scenes, it was starting to show signs of no feeling it. On top of that our business Enlightened Ferret Fashions took on a mind of its own and gobbled up time that would have gone into writing.

We were completely sponsored for Blog Paws in 2013 something we’ve been working on for a long time. Which was great but it also left us feeling even more exhausted and taught us a valuable lesson. I loved working with Linda Cope and Denise (Sorry I can’t remember your last name) from Marshall Pets but being an introvert (is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people.) and trying to be an extrovert clashed badly.

.

Kind of like a motorcycle tangling with a semi the motorcycle is going to lose ninety-nine times and so started the slow decline of posts for the rest of the year.

June saw me finally getting a bi weekly paycheck in the form of a job. Working for the Post Office which is great for many reasons but it ate the last little bit of time I had left for me. So now I was working basically two jobs, being a seamstress for Enlightened Ferret Fashions and a PMR (Post Master/Mistress Relief) and what was supposed to be only a few hours a week exploded as the main Post Mistress took time off as she hadn’t been able to for over a year.

Don’t get me wrong I love working there but it is hard to get a set schedule set when you don’t know what is happening day to day. But I digress as the blog suffered for it.

Half-heartedly I posted pictures on Wordless Wednesday until even that faded. So I took several steps back and have been analyzing just where I wanted this blog to go in the following year but I also went back to the first few posts of this last year and saw that I set myself some very unrealistic goals that probably set myself up for some failure.

So the New Year is going to see some changes to Enlightened Ferret.

I will be posting a written post on Mondays and a pic on Wordless Wednesday. Granted that is a lot less than I have been doing but for the moment that is all I can do. They will be a mix of education, news, personal, and reviews, some of these posts maybe very lengthy depending on the subject of the post. Along with the occasional post challenge such as the one on Jan 10. (see badge for details)

Thank you for sticking with Enlightened Ferret though its silence and now that we are rested up we hope to hear from you all as 2014 starts its march towards 2015.

              

Have a Chittering Good Day and a Dooking New Year,

Jo

Year in Review: 2012

I am sitting here wrapped up in a cozy blanket with three ferrets playing hide and attack the toes making me giggle and squeal, as they get a little rough. Boyd the cat is sitting in the window looking at the snow falling while he is safely away from those needle teeth.

This year has had a lot of up and downs for us.

In January, Manny turned two and while the twitter pawty had several hitches, it was still a fun pawty and it lasted a lot longer than planned.

February brought home the fact that ferrets can injure themselves easily when Marcuz did something to his back and it took us five days to get to the vet because of no vehicle.

Marcus was lucky that he only had some swelling and what looked to be a narrowing of space between two disks that was later ruled as normal for his back.

Because of this incident, the challenge to get a vehicle was achieved by the gracious donations made by so many that follow both this blog and us on twitter.

Thus the Ferret Chariot  became a reality in May and its maiden voyage happened in June when we all loaded up with Doreen from Doggies and Stuff  and took the ultimate road trip to Salt Lake City, UT to attend Blog Paws

Blog Paws was Great as usual and thanks to Michelle Maskaly making me do a tout that I laughed about doing several times before it could be posted. I felt comfortable enough to do a radio interview with Steve Dale show #389 which led to other interviews that I would have never done otherwise.

August saw the addition of Marylin   to the Enlightened Ferret family.

September we loaded up the Ferret Chariot and drove across the state of Pennsylvania to participate in the Berks County 35th Annual walk for the Animals  and help out Boris Kitty’s  human 2 and Edgar support a great place.

We also went to the local pet fest and participated in the pet parade along with educating many people about ferrets.

October, November, and December saw us less online as I had a lot of orders come in for unique ferret costumes.

While we say goodbye to 2012 we are looking forward to the adventures 2013 has planned for us.

Have a Chittering New Year’s Eve Day,

Jo

Happy New Years

 

     I am sure many of us feel or look like this at the moment. For those who were out celebrating I hope you all recover quickly. I have to work today not that I expect to be busy until after 3 when people’s hangovers are diminished. Please if you order pizza delivered think about the fact you can do so and please tip them a buck or two.

     Okay so what is 2011 bringing to Enlightened Ferret? I am not overly sure yet but I do know we will be attending Blog Paws 2011 and Bark World if we have to walk there.

I am working on setting up a small store to sell ferret themed magnets like this guy. Most are 3x3 inches. I haven’t worked out how much I am going to charge yet.

 

     I know a lot of people make New Year Resolutions for themselves but for myself I don’t personally have any but for my blog I have one that I have already blogged about and that is getting a 100 followers.  Who knows the 100th follower might get something special.

     I am going to try to do a lot better at posting this year. So what are your goals and wishes for 2011 and what would you like to learn about ferrets this year?

Have a Chittering good first day of the year,

Jo

It’s the End of the Year

     Wow what a wild ride this last year has been for Enlightened Ferret and me. I joined twitter in late 2009 but 2010 really showed me how much it could help promote my blog. Thanks to twitter I found new friends that were as dedicated to their animals as I am to ferrets.

     March/April saw Manny join my little band of ferrets.

     April also saw me go to the first ever pet conference Called Blog Paws East. What a great adventure that turned out to be. I was able to help a rescue because of winning a door prize. If you haven’t read what amazing work these two ladies do you should hop over to I Love Rescue Animals  and check them out.

     April also brought sadness as I had to make the heart wrenching decision for Lance.

     May saw James turn ten years old. A true senior when it comes to ferrets.’

     June: I supported a ferret rescue: Heart of Ohio Ferret Rescue and Association by doing a walk with James and Manny on the Allegheny trail even if I did get lost the ferrets had fun. We also raised money for them through a twitter party called the Outlaw Pawparty what fun that turned out to be.

     July saw James diagnosed with Insulinoma and he was put on Prednisone and because of his age surgery was ruled out. I had to learn how to do paw sticks on such a tiny paw to monitor his condition.

     August brought us to Atlanta, Ga for Bark World. We got to ride down in style thanks to GMC and BZTAT. James and Manny got a lot of attention and I got to talk a lot about ferret ownership with a lot of people.

     The boys and I weren’t able to make it to Blog Paws West in September but we did get to meet a new ferret friend because of trying to get there. We made plans with Snot Face Critter  to have a ferret invasion at Blog Paws 2011.

     The middle of November brought me Marcuz a splattered marked ferret who is deaf and is Manny’s new playmate.

     The end of November was hard as my beloved James passed away in my arms from his insulinoma. I had hoped he would have made it though the year and past Manny’s first birthday but it wasn’t to be. I miss him but I know that he did live a full life by living to be ten years old and filled with love.

     December we were Santa to Gibbs and sent a goodie loaded box to him along with a couple of presents for his hooman.  It was great to see all the Ferret Giving Tree ferrets opening their gifts.

     What will 2011 bring to us is mostly unknown but we will be attending Bark World again and Blog Paws 2011. There is also a goal in place to reach a 100 followers in 2011. What would you like to see or learn about from us in 2011? What are your plans for 2011?

Have a Chittering good day and we will see you in 2011!

Jo

Thoughts

     11:30pm December 31, 2009 I sit here with my glass of champagne waiting for the clock to strike midnight. I think about the year we are leaving and what it meant to me. It was a year of good and bad. I lost my beloved Galahad to Adrenal disease and watched my son graduate from high school. I was unemployed for most of 2009 and was able to work on my writing. I received rejection letters and started this blog.

     Many of us have goals for the coming year. Some we have shared and many we haven’t. I know that one of my main goals is to work on this blog and improve my writing along the way. There are other goals but they are for things only in the beginning stages.

     I awoke to more snow today leaving the world a blank page to create something beautiful. I took some pictures of the bloodhound making dogging angels and Lance and James snorkeling in the snow. Gweny couldn't play in the snow because she doesn't have the fur to keep her from getting frostbite.

     While I am not sure of the direction, I am going to take this blog I do know that I want to keep people informed about my three little fur children and their antics.

     I will be keeping up with the plight of the Black-footed ferret and those that are helping to reintroduce it back into its original habitats. December saw Canada releasing thirty plus Black-footed Ferrets back into the wild.

     I look towards the coming year and all the hidden treasures it holds for those willing to take the chance and plunge into it with a child like gusto. I suppose it’s more like the curiosity of a ferret for me. I need to know the hows and whys of things. This can lead me to finding out so much information that I have to step back from it so what is important floats to the top and the rest is washed away.

Happy New Year

May 2010 be the year for us all.

Jo