13 posts tagged “ferret”
Over my many years of blogging, I thought I learned a few lessons.
Watch what you say and show online. Don't write anything you wouldn't want your boss or your mother or your neighbor or anyone else in your life to see or know. It can and will bite you in the butt.
So when I started this blog, I said that one thing I would never do is use it to air my dirty laundry on the internet.
I lied.
I give you Vin Weasel, Laundry Lounger.
We can all learn something from this. Namely, that what to one of us is nothing more than a pile of dirty clothes and chores is another's happy place:
I plan to spend a lot of my weekend doing exactly what Vin was doing here - lounging about and relaxing. Only not in the clothes hamper.
There's a fun trip to a historical re-enactment and another steamed crabs extravaganza (this one in honor of the long weekend and my sister and aunt's birthdays) in the near future too. Good times for all.
I think I'll use Vin's clear attachment to these dirty clothes as an excuse to not waste the weekend on laundry.
Hope you all enjoy yours too!
The People have been on a bit of a productivity binge lately.
Sylvester and I really don't agree on much. Like lately, he's been getting all sorts of snuggles and sympathy around here, just because he got neutered. I mean, what a wuss! They'd taken me to one of those vet-places and made me wake up without my balls long before I even came to live here. Be a man, Sly, for real.
But one thing we do agree on is that these clean-organize-and-do-stuff sprees The People go on now and then are downright annoying. They leave much less time for fun things like hanging out with us furballs. Luckily, our People are kinda lazy, so this doesn't happen all the time. But when it does ... watch out!
First, they take Sly and get his balls done. Then they throw me in a tub and wash me and make me first all slippery wet and then all fluffy. They actually had the nerve to say I was becomiing a stinky weasel ... as if!
After cleaning me, they cleaned the house.
Well, they can just have at it. I'm sure not doing anything with those cleaning supplies - that ferret shampoo was bad enough!
And paying bills ... The People are ALWAYS paying bills, whatever that means.
I dunno why they don't just do what I do and ignore those stupid envelopes that come in the mail. Or better yet, put'em in a corner and I'll poop on them. That'll show'em!
So they cleaned and paid bills and worked in the yard and worked in the shed and de-balled Sly and washed me. Seriously, they need to chill. They say we ferrets are the hyper ones! I've been doing my part to show them what weekends really SHOULD be about, though. I even gave them examples.
Take it easy. Cook some of those yummy things you don't have time to make during the workweek:
Chill out and read the newspaper:
No, not just the yucky bad-news headlines, either. I mean REALLY read the newspaper:
And most importantly, just hang out and watch the world go by:
Hopefully, they'll get the message and relax. Otherwise, they'll run out of chores and decide its time for me or Sly to get washed or go to the vet again.
If THAT happens, I just hopes its the feline four-legger who gets it.
I give you all Vin Vicious:
Actually, that's just a mid-weasel-war-dance moment of perfect timing. Anyone who has ferrets knows how hard it is to get candid photos of their speedy little selves.
After I took this shot, Lee played around with it a little in photo editing so the sign could be seen better:
A friend sent me this: Click on the link and scroll down to the article on black-footed ferrets. The webcam lets you watch a momma ferret who just gave birth on Friday. So far, I haven't seen her do much more than sleep (it is cute to watch her flip over and adjust herself into a weasel ball though) and I haven't caught sight of the babies yet, but I'm determined to see them!
Between Vinnie and Sylvie (Lee decided her name should be spelled with a "W," and I'm OK with that), our house is full of intrepid explorers. Nothing is sacred. My underwear could end up anyplace.
When you are faced with all that furball energy and curiousity, the only thing to do is to try to use it to your advantage. The ferret owners of the old days used to use them to catch mice and rats. They'd carry them around in their pants legs and peddle their services at nearby farms. They were the first exterminators.
Me, I'm far too squeamish to market Vin's services as a mouser. But a weasel has to earn his keep. So I decided to put his "ferreting" skills to the test and send him on Mission Impossible: Figure out where all the damn socks go and why they never make it out of the laundry in pairs.
He gave it his best shot, really:
Anybody in there?
But eventually, we had to concede that even Vin Weasel, Ace Detective, was no match for the ever-elusive Sock Thief.
Better luck next time, Vin.
Editor's Note: The above is pure fiction. Sure, Vin explored the dryer. But he didn't give a weasel's butt about my missing socks. In fact, if he'd found them, he probably would have just hidden them better, because that's what weasels do. His real job is simply to be cute.
Happy Weekending!
Although I didn't have a ferret of my own until my mid-20's, I caught ferret fever when I was just a kid. I would spend a few weeks each summer with my great-grandmother in West Virginia, and her neighbors had two of them.
The first time I saw a ferret, the neighbor lady was walking him up my grandma's driveway on a harness leash. The ferret trotted along almost like a puppy, stopping to weasel war dance now and then on the way. I fell in love. So when I was all grown up and had weasels of my very own, of course I wanted to try the leash thing. I think that over the years I attempted to walk three or four different weasels. The result always went something like this:
- weasel looks at me like I'm insane.
- weasel won't move other than to try to wiggle out of the harness
- weasel eventually gets sick of wiggling, rolls over and flops with his belly in the air, playing dead until I give up and remove the offending harness.
So I gave up, thinking there was something wrong with my weasel skills. After all, every now and then I'd see a couple walking their ferret across the campus where I work. THAT weasel bounced along quite happily, so it must be me.
Then my most recent next-door neighbors moved in, the ones who currently have six ferrets. They've been weasel people for decades, and admitted without shame that they've never been successful in taking a ferret for a stroll. Like mine, their ferrets prefer playing dead. And taking a weasel for a drag just isn't the point of the exercise.
So I still couldn't walk a weasel, but I felt a little better.
Flash forward to now. After the loss of Ginny and Cleo, Lee and I decided that we aren't getting any more ferrets for a while. It's the right decision, but it leaves the Vinster without in-house weasely companionship. He can visit with the neighbor's ferrets, but we still feel like we have to do more than ever to keep him entertained and content. So we bought a leash and decided to try the whole weasel-walking thing again.
Our first attempt was Wednesday night. I got the harness on Vin with minimal struggle and took him out into the yard. Lee was already there talking to the neighbors, who cracked up at mine and The Vinster's arrival. When I put him down, they leaned over the fence and began to count.
"One ... Two ... Three ... over onto his back he goes!"
But he didn't. He bounced and clucked and weazed all over the front yard.
I can't say I was "walking" him, exactly. It was more like I was following him as he bounded about. If I had tried to get him to go in any particular direction, I think we may have gone into "flop" mode. But he moved. And he got to explore the yard, something he'd never get to do without a leash. Unlike other pets, ferrets aren't smart enough to come home. And they're too fast to guarantee that you'll be able to catch them if they roam free.
I haven't seen the Vinster so animated and happy in a while. So we'll stick with this, even if we never get to the point of actually "walking him." It makes him happy.
And I finally have a ferret who doesn't play dead on a leash.
If you're like me, you let yourself slack a little bit on the exercise in the winter. You don't mean to, but curling up under warm blankets feels so much better than working out this time of year. Oh, and since you're always wearing layers upon layers of clothing, you don't notice the difference your lack of routine is making as quickly as you would, say, in the summertime.
Then February hits, and to keep from going crazy you remind yourself that spring is just around the corner. Sunshine, warm breezes, flowers, green grass. It will all be back soon, so you better do something about the size of your ass.
Unless you're Vinnie, that is. For a weasel, a bit of pudge just adds to the cute. See?
Speaking of critters, Bailey is doing OK. They did have to remove some of his intestines as well as the blockage, so the vet wanted to keep him on a 48-hour watch period. Mom, my sister and my niece went to see him yesterday, and he was alert, perky, moving around and happy to see them. The one problem is that he's not eating. Because he seems in such good spirits otherwise, Mom is pretty sure that this is only because he's not at home. Bailey is a creature of habit and she even has trouble getting him to eat when they take him on road trips to the cabin. The vet agrees, but really wants him to poop before she releases him so they can make sure everything is coming out the other end OK. If he won't eat, there's nothing to poop, so they're in a holding pattern.
So keep thinking good thoughts and send some "eat and poop" vibes Bailey's way, please!
At least, they seem to around here.
In this household, it seems we're ALL desperate for the caffeine:
Hmmm ... I think the fact that instead of getting Vin off the counter and cleaning up the spill I ran and got my camera might mean that *I* hadn't had enough coffee yet myself, huh?
The past few days have been rather frustrating for Vin Weasel. First, the Girl Human goes and gets a cold and lays around in bed. This means he gets less playtime, because he ankle-bites sleeping people.
Then the Boy Human gets all into playing football on Playstation, and when she's not sneezing and sniffling both The Boy Human and The Girl Human play the Sims. Again, less play-time, because ankle-biting while the humans are trying to score touchdowns or keep Sims from peeing themselves is apparantly "distracting." To top it off, the humans decide to redo the bathroom, which keeps them both far too occupied to entertain weasely types.
Whatever, says Vin. The Girl Human tries to explain that things will go back to normal in a few days when The People go back to work and don't have time for things like naps or computer games.
Again, Vin says whatever. With all this extra time on his hands, Vin has compiled "A Weasel's Guide to Showing Humans How You REALLY feel" when they aren't providing quality entertainment.
1. Sit on human and give it a look that lets it know you think it's really missing the point.
2. Attempt to call the weasels who live next door to organize a protest, because their humans are probably all whacked out for the holidays too. Do your best not to let the humans know you're a little embarrassed to find out the "phone" is really just the stupid cell phone case.
3. Since they're so focused on their stupid home improvement, let them know what you think of their interior design skills by pointing out that their wall art would make a good weasel equivalent of a rock climbing wall, or maybe a snack.
4. Humans still not getting the hint? Go for the kill. You aren't called "ferret" for nothing. Go find the stupid Playstation games.
5. Smackdown, my butt. You can take this guy, with just a little nose-nudge.
6. The grand finale, and this is REALLY important.
Be so impossibly cute that no one could EVER think you did that on purpose.
Ferrets don't have to go to counseling or read books like "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" or "He's Just Not That Into You" to understand each other and keep the love alive. They've figured out that the two most important things in a relationship are lots of snuggling and a little give and take. See:
Vin uses Gin for a pillow.
Gin uses Vin for a pillow.
The next time I get in that mood where I want to overanalyze my relationship, I think I'm just gonna act like a weasel instead.
My Groups
-
Things on Tuesday Updated: Yesterday
-
The Thinking Woman Updated: Yesterday
-
RIS Updated: Yesterday
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
