Hugs and Sunburn

Fawn loves to give hugs! She comes over, jumps up on your leg as high as she can, digs in her claws and slides all the way down. This is normally a favorite "gotcha activity" for after the shower. (Along with biting my ankles and toes and trying to lick lotion off my feet. Which is a no no for ferrets to lick.)



But in the summer these loving, painful moments become an everyday occurrence. But also in the summer the chance of getting one of these scraping hugs down your sunburned legs increases. That's what happened last month when Fawn came to give me one of her special hugs. This picture is not of the sunburn hug. That was not a camera moment. So much pain. I think I almost threw up. But the upside is that now when Fawn hugs me, it doesn't hurt so bad, because I remember how much it CAN hurt!

Snuggles, Fawn!

Awww, da baby got a big boy bed

Happy two years Baby! You're so big now! The baby got his crib turned into a big boy bed.

Close up necessary!

Awwwwww

Where's Fawn?

"Fawn, Fawn where are you?!"

The best kind of hide n' seek with a ferret is when there is noise involved for you to follow. The worst is when they are dead asleep and don't hear your calls, jingling, moving of furniture, opening all containers and doors, lifting the couch on its side, or see the shining of the flashlight.

This search for Fawn led to a funny ending.

Are you in the closet?

Fawn, what are you doing? You are so talented walking
across the hangers like that, my little circus monkey.


Here I am Mommy!
Get me please.

Ferrets in a cooler

I went to leave the other day and so I put the girls in their cage. Mokey, however, was running around and playing with all the toys. So I asked her if she wanted to come with me. I like to take the girls out when I get a chance and the weather is nice. A rare occasion. Especially since I've learned the girls do not enjoy going out when it is windy. Which is almost all of the time. I need some practice taking Mokey out also, because I don't know yet how she reacts and how she prefers to be held for a walk.

It was a hot and humid day so I brought a soft cold pack to place on my arm so Mokey could sit on it and stay cool. I brought a cooler with water in it for me. She did not want to ride. She wanted to run free! I tried to detain her in the cooler.

Um, I'll try again with Mokey. So far I've always taken
her in a carrier or just out front on a leash.

I took Mokey, the busy body, to a flower bed to play for a bit and then back home. She was not in the mood to be carried. Although, she doesn't allow me to carrier her anyway. Only from a sleeping place to the cage to be tucked in. We are improving though. She used to bit me if I even tried to touch her or pick her up. Even with all the squirming and noisy excitement going on around us, she never bit or nipped at me. Yay!

So with Mokey safely returned to her cage, I found Kyra quite interested in what had been going on. I decided to give her a turn.

Kyra was much more calm about the whole thing.


Kyra looked around, dug in the cooler, and then nestled down for a nap.
Ice pack or no, I think she preferred to be home.
I wasn't sure if she was tired or miserable in the heat, so we went back home.

She was so cute in that cooler!

Where's Mokey?

Everybody loves Hide N' Seek. The ferrets play it all the time with me. Sometimes its a fun game at playtime. Sometimes its a frantic game when I'm trying to round up the girls so I can get to work on time! My favorite time is when I enter the room and I hear a rustling and I decide I must seek the ferret.

Hmm, where is that sound coming from?
"Crackle, crackle, crackle"


Anyone in here?




Found you Mokey!

Happy 4th of July From Me and Chi-Town

This year Chicago broke up the celebration. Instead of having millions of people all crowd into Navy Pier for the 15min fireworks show, they had three simultaneous shows at three separate locations. One at a north side location, one at Navy Pier in the middle, and one at a south side location.

Chicago politics and money are severely messed up! But if there is one thing Chicago does right, its celebrations! From parades, to street fests, to fireworks! This was an awesome idea! It takes hours to get out of Navy Pier, and for a 15minute show?! I only went once, and that was enough.

But this time I went down to Belmont Harbor. And so did a lot of people. With three lake shore locations, you could see a show from just about anywhere along the lake. Plenty of space and you could come and go without having to join a slow moving herd. From Belmont Harbor I could see both the Navy Pier and the north side shows.

Walking by the boat docks.

Private fireworks were going off on both sides as you walked toward the Lake.
Set off by others, not Chicago.

Here is a video of the North side location fireworks. They were beautiful and easy to see, but lacked the emotion of the booming sound and the patriotic music.

But even better was the show put on by somebody off the parking lot. I'm not kidding. They were shooting fireworks as I walked up to the lake. They shot off some to supplement Chicago's shows and then continued for an hour afterwords. It had four false finales. People cheered and the boats on the lake honked. I finally left and they were still going. I have no idea who did this or how they did it without getting shut down. But they did a fantastic job! Thanks whoever you are.

Take a look at a short clip from the longest fireworks show ever.

Mokey's Update

Mokey has now been a member of the family for just over six months. When she arrived as an adoption from the GCFA she was skinny, dirty, terrified, and a violent biter--as you may recall from earlier blogs.

Taken on Mokey's first day home. Dec. 2009

How is she doing now?

I'd say she's made herself at home.

She is definitely no longer afraid of me. She is fearless. She is a happy, healthy, fat ball of energy that loves to run around, chase jingle balls, wrestle with her sisters, dig and scratch at the paper and shoe boxes in her cage, and is an expert in ferret bowling.



Despite her happiness, I still have to say, SHE IS CRAZY. She trusts me enough to let me pull her out of the sleeping ferret pile under the couch when its time to go back in the cage. I just reach in, grab something fuzzy and pull it out. No problem, she's used to this. I have previously posted a video of me waking up the girls and patting their little heads. Ohh, so cute. BUT THEN... like the other day...I reach into the girls' cage to pat them all awake for morning playtime and she sticks her head out while I'm petting Kyra , grabs on to my arm and shakes me like a dog shakes its kill. She managed to get me twice before I could get my arm out. I was cut and bleeding and it hurt so bad, and she had the nerve to look at me like "G' morning." She still has a bit of Vampiress in her and she sneaks in a very painful bite every couple of days.

WATCH OUT!

She also has a very bad habit of pooing on the third floor of the ALL WIRE cage. So poo rains down on the hammock below and I think sometimes on the food, cause all of a sudden I notice that no one is eating out of one of the food dishes. I'm surprised Kyra and Fawn haven't said anything to her because they are all very upset when they can't sleep in the hammock. As I am very upset when I have to scrub a poopy hammock and try to clean all the poo out of the wiring. Its a lot more difficult than one would think!

I am glad Mokey is so happy. But she still makes me so mad. And its very disappointing to be afraid of your ferret. Every time she comes walking over to me I panic. I know she's going to bite me somewhere! The other girls will crawl all over me and behind me and I will wrestle them with my hand. But I have to move Mokey cause I know its only a matter of seconds before she goes for the softest, most tender part of my arm. I have made a few, short attempts at hand wrestling with her and they have been successful. She does bite gentler at these times.

Ever hear of a devil in disguise?