So Miss Peach we understand that you are a shelter friend. Where do you live?
  I live in Tonawanda, N.Y. it's just a little over 100 miles from LFFR/S.

Why is your name Miss Peach?
  The story goes that when I was born I had blonde fuzz all over my body and my Grandma said "We should call her Peachie because she looks like a peach." I even have a sister named Cookie and no, she doesn't look like a cookie.

How did you happen to find our shelter?
  About 2 1/2 yrs. ago I came across a little ferret whose farents had to give her up. They loved her very much but their situation had changed & they could no longer keep her. So I found LFFR/S on the A.F.A. list and contacted Ms. Brenda & she was willing to take this little ferret into her loving care & today, that little ferret is our very own Senior Reporter, you Sarah.

What made you decide to help our Mum take care of us?
  I met Mum on the day I delivered Sarah into her care and I saw how dedicated she is to saving & caring for as many fuzz butts a possible, even turning her own home into a shelter; I was very impressed. When I got back home, I looked up the shelter's website & saw that there were somethings Mum could use help with. So, out of my love for ferrets & admiration for Ms. Brenda, I help in my small way.

What specifically do you do to help Mum take care of us to support our shelter?
  Well, you see all that coroplast all over the shelter that Mum uses for all kinds of things to keep you kids safe? Well, some of it I send to her each month. She has all kinds of ideas for the stuff. I think someday Mum should write a book entitled "1001 Things You Can Do with Coroplast."

You mean the sleep boxes we have way up high on top of the cages in the play room are made from the coroplast you get for us?
  Yes in-dee-dee. That was a great idea Mum had to keep you all safe!

How long have you been a shelter supporter?
  I've been a shelter supporter for about 2 1/2 years.

Do you own any fuzz butts? If so how many, if not why not?
  No, I don't own any fuzz butts at this time but I was a farent to three fuzz butts at one time. I don't have any ferrets now for two reasons. First, I am retired now and not always home to take care of a ferret and second, you little guys are always on the go and so full of shenanigans, that I think you would be happier living in a home with younger farents.

Our Mum is not younger and she keeps up with us, I bet if you got an older fur kid you could keep up with them. Do you work out side your home and if so what do you do?
  I do not work, I am retired.

What does retired mean and retired from what Miss Peach?
  Retirement is like, during the summer when Mum doesn't have to drive the big yellow thingy and she can be home with you kids all the time, well it's something like that only she wouldn't ever have to leave and go drive the B.Y.T. again!!! I am retired from Women's & Children's Hospital of Buffalo, N.Y. I worked there for 28 years.

You obviously like ferrets why?
  I don't just like ferrets, I LOVE ferrets. I fell in love with the first ferret I met, her name was Farrah & I found her wondering in the street in my neighborhood, I love their sweet little faces, their funny little walk and happy dance. The little dooking sounds they make and even the way they smell. Ferrets have brought me much joy & happiness not to mention a few heart attacks.

Heart Attacks, What do you mean? Mum says when you have a heart attack you are in the hospital we would be sad if you were in the hospital. Did you really have a heart attack?
  No, I didn't have a real heart attack; it is only an expression I used to express how scared I was when something bad might've happened to one of my furkids. Like the time Farrah got in between the walls of my kitchen and I didn't know how she got in there or how I was going to get her out!!

What's your favorite game? These are the things we like to do, do you play any of these games?
a) Running through tunnels
b) Hide and seek
c) Tag
d) jumping/digging in peanuts, dirt, rice
e) Other: please provide an example

  Well, my days of running through tunnels or jumping in peanuts are way behind me but I do like to play some board games at family get togethers. One of them is called "Balderdash."

What do you like best about ferrets?
  There are so many things to like that it is hard to say just one. I guess I'd have to say, their pure joy of life.

What do you like least about ferrets?
  What I least like about ferrets and this is not their fault, is that these sweet little creatures are susceptible to so many diseases.

If you had the power to do anything you wished what would that be?
  Oh, there are so many things but since we're talking ferrets here, I would stop all exploitation of ferrets for monetary gain and scientific research!!

That would be awesome; Thank you Miss Peach for allowing us to interview you, we are so thrilled that you took the time to answer our questions.
- Sarah (the little ferret you brought to Mum) and Daisy

So Miss Kathy we understand that you are Titch’s far away mom. Where do you live?
  I live in Santa Fe, NM, although I spend the winter in La Jolla, CA and the summer at Chautauqua Institution in NY. Your MUM has visited me in Chautauqua.

Was that the weekend she went away and Miss Mindy watched us for her? How did you happen to find our shelter?
  Your Mum was a friend of my mother’s when she lived in Naples and helped my mother stay in her home for years after various accidents. Later your MUM made weekly visits to my mother in assisted living to make sure she was getting great care just like your Mum takes care of you. I stayed at the Shelter in February 2010 when I came to visit to help your Mum plan for moving my mother to assisted living.

What made you decide to help our Mum take care of us?
  After visiting you guys and talking with your Mum, I knew based on years of experience in foundation work that your Shelter could become a nonprofit organization, even though the first try in 2006 had been unsuccessful. After long talks with your Mum, she decided to try again and do all the things I asked her to do with record keeping assuring a success. There was a lot of hard work on her part and help from other volunteers, and in the end, the new application was accepted without correction form the IRS, and your Shelter is now a charitable nonprofit organization that can provide tax benefits to any donor. That’s a big deal since we can now ask more folks and businesses and colleges and foundations to make contributions to the Shelter.

Wow that is awesome; we have heard Mum say that you did a lot more work than she did to make that happen. Thank you for making that happen for us! What made you decide to help our Mum and support Titch?
  Titch was surrendered the day I concluded my first visit to the Shelter, so I met him and decided that I would sponsor him. Actually, his sponsor is my very dear cat Hannah, also a shelter rescue, who has the longest tail our vet has ever seen! Her picture is on Titch’s cage, and Titch’s picture is in the gallery of pet photos in Hannah’s Santa Fe home.

How long have you been a shelter supporter?
  Hannah has two moms- and since February 2010, both her moms have helped out with Shelter expenses, especially in times of “crisis” like the breakdown of appliances or leaking roof. And both Hannah’s moms like to shop for gluten free food to send to Mum or even take Mum shopping when they visit to help Mum stock up on meat and cheese and nuts. We know that Mum feeds you kids first and then takes care of herself!

Yes Mum loves getting the boxes you send because it has things in it that she has never tried or can not get around here, she lets us peek in the box while she is putting things away, you send some really good stuff that Mum can eat.

Do you own any fuzz butts, if so how many, if not why not?
  No, we don't have ferrets living with us. We have a Royal Standard Poodle Lily who was adopted from Houston Poodle Rescue- a very fine rescue shelter that takes great care of poodles like your Mum takes care of you. And we have Hannah- that's enough for all the traveling we do.

Do you work out side your home and if so what do you do?
  I have been retired since January 2007. I spent 40 years as a teacher, principal, university faculty member and administrator, and finally foundation director. I continue to do pro bono (that means for free) consulting for nonprofits and for families with special needs kids who need help finding good school and residential programs to meet the kids’ needs.

You obviously like ferrets why?
  I like smart, clever animals who can befriend people when they are treated with kindness – that's ferrets.

What's your favorite game? These are the things we like to do, do you play any of these games?
a) Running through tunnels
b) Hide and seek
c) Tag
d) jumping/digging in peanuts, dirt, rice
e) Other: please provide an example
What do you like best about ferrets? What do you like least about ferrets?
  I don’t play games but my favorite things to do for pleasure are attending theatre and opera, going to art shows and purchasing Native (Indian) art, and listening to interesting lectures.

Mum says you have taught, shown and taken her to some of these things. Mum says they are wonderful things to do and see she really enjoys your sharing these with her.
If you had the power to do anything you wished what would that be?
   I would lead a successful movement to have term limits on Congress so that elected officials would have limited time to demonstrate their ability to follow the wishes on their constituents and be gone. Then our government would have more women in office, more folks who are totally against war, more folks who support children, poor, sick, elderly whose needs are neglected by the arrogance of our current elected “leaders.”

That would be a wonderful thing to accomplish!
Thank you Miss Kathy for allowing us to interview you, we are so thrilled that you took the time to answer our questions.
- Sarah and Daisy

Where do you live?
  Albert Lea, MN (small town 2 hours SE of the Twin Cities)

How did you happen to find our shelter?
  I found the shelter through Yahoo Groups - Pets

What made you decide to help our Mum take care of us and support Snowy Bowie specifically?
  While reading Master Largo's News, I came across The Dig Box campaign. I promised Possum I would help. It took a while, a year or so, to honor that promise. Mum couldn't have been more gracious or accepting in her response to my "I made a promise" email.
As for supporting the shelter and becoming Snowy Bowie's far-away mom, it felt right, it felt good, and it still does.

How long have you been a shelter supporter?
  Not that long, six months/a year maybe.

Do you own any fuzz butts? If so, how many? If not, why not?
  Aside from Mr. Snowy, I'm not owned by any fuzzbutts for three reasons time, space & money. I adore ferrets. I've been blessed by having them in my life, but I have to be realistic. Affection doesn't pay the vet bills, and my apartment isn't going to suddenly increase in size.

Do you work outside your home, and if so what do you do?
  I don't work outside my home anymore. I retired after a 20+ years career in banking. (No, I don't have the keys or security clearance for the vault.)

You obviously like ferrets. Why?
  Why do I like ferrets?...hmmm I could say it's because they're cuddly, cute perpetual motion machines, but that's only scratching the surface. It's also the best I can come up with as answer.

What's your favorite game? These are the things we like to do. Do you play any of these games?
a) Running through tunnels
b) Hide and seek
c) Tag
d) jumping/digging in peanuts, dirt, rice
e) Other: please provide an example
  I like to do different things. Shopping, reading, visiting, baking, word puzzles, depends on my mood. Running through tunnels, hide & seek, tag and jumping/digging in boxes of stuff sounds really fun. Can I play with you?

What do you like best about ferrets?
  What I like best about ferrets: 10 pounds of curiosity per pound of critter.

What do you like least about ferrets?
  What I like least about ferrets: God calling them home before I'm ready say goodbye.

If you had the power to do anything you wished what would that be?
  The power to do anything I wanted to do? Oh, boy! Provide a cure for insulinoma and adrenal disease. The ability to fly (no airplane involved) would be cool. Kick California Fish & Game in the hinny/legalize ferrets. Eliminate all pediatric cancers. Sit down to a meal with my family, my entire family (the ones in heaven, human and animal alike) and their families again. (We would need a really big table and lots of chairs)

That would be wonderful! Thank you Miss Lori for allowing us to interview you, we are so thrilled that you took the time to answer our questions.
- Sarah and Daisy

So Miss Sue we understand that you are a shelter friend. Where do you live?
  I live in a Chicago suburb, Bartlett.

Is that far away from where we live in Naples NY?
  About 650 miles

Yup Yup that is a long way away from us. How did you happen to find our shelter?
  I was working on cartoon comics for our local shelter here and met someone at a ferret show whom put one of my designs on a t-shirt to help benefit the shelter. I was already doing a ferret comic strip in their quarterly newsletter. A few years later I Googled my name out of curiosity and saw the design I did through Ferret Farm's website.

What happened when you found the design on our web site did you get in touch with our Mum?
  I did. And we became friends right away! And I became her shelter artist.

What made you decide to help our Mum take care of us?
  Because people like Brenda Johnson are too few in this world that would be there to help the many homeless ferrets find forever homes. That takes a very special person whom works tirelessly to help our ferrets find a good life.

What specifically do you do to help Mum take care of us to support our shelter?
  I do campaign illustrations, t-shirt designs-general artwork to help her out.

Are you the artist that did the design for our web site with Andy and Possum and now the new design for our interview page with me and Daisy?
  I am. :)

How long have you been a shelter supporter?
  I think it was 1995.

Do you own any fuzz butts? If so how many - if not why not?
  I have 2 ferrets-Han and Solo. I've had ferrets since 1992.

Mum says Han left for Rainbow Bridge and now Solo is all by himself, Mum says you are going to get another fuzz butt is that true?
  It's been a tough several month's since we lost Han..I am contemplating getting another furkid for our family.

Do you work out side your home and if so what do you do?
  I work for a video distribution center for the last 26 years.

What do you do at your work? Is it hard work?
  Its warehouse work I am a Product Coordinator. It is pretty labor intensive sometimes.

You obviously like ferrets why?
  They always interested me-I used to visit a local pet shop on my lunch hour and saw a large pen of all sable ferrets-asked to hold one and I was hooked!

Mum says she has never met a ferret she did not like, it sounds like you feel the same, is that true? How many fur kids have you had at one time?
  I think the most at once were 6. Boy was that a blast!

What's your favorite game? These are the things we like to do, do you play any of these games?
  I like some card games-canasta is my favorite. Life or Monopoly was always fun growing up. Currently, my favorite sport is bowling.

What is bowling? Can ferrets do that?
  Bowling is where you put your fingers in a ball and roll it down an alley to knock down pins. No I don't think ferrets could do it. :)

a) Running through tunnels
b) Hide and seek
c) Tag
d) jumping/digging in peanuts, dirt, rice
e) Other: please provide an example
  Of course I did all of those. :)

What do you like best about ferrets?
  Ferrets curiosity and determination they are very tenacious animals and are wonderful pets in the right hands. Definitely not a child's pet.

Why aren’t they not a child’s pet?
  As wonderful as they are, ferrets are curious and they can get into a lot of dangerous situations. .and throughout their lives they keep that curiosity. Definitely not a child's pet.

What do you like least about ferrets?
  Ferrets tenacity to get into trouble-but then again, without that they wouldn't be as endearing.

What kind of trouble do your ferrets get into?
  Stealing our socks, chasing down the cats..trying to climb the barriers or get under the couch...normal stuff for a ferret. ;)

If you had the power to do anything you wished what would that be?
  Give good homes to all the animals that need them. And respect all in the animal kingdom and their lives and territories otherwise they will be gone.

That would be wonderful! Thank you Miss Sue for allowing us to interview you, we are so thrilled that you took the time to answer our questions.
- Sarah and Daisy

So Miss Janette we understand that you are Squiggles far away mom. Where do you live?
  Miss Janette: I live in West Henrietta, NY

How did you happen to find our shelter and what made you decide to help our Mum take care of us and support Squiggles specifically?
  Oh my....I can't even remember the year...we were driving by and saw the sign...stopped and even though the Shelter was not open, Mum opened her doors to us. Since I am on the Board I felt I should be a sponsor (not that I didn't want to be)...so I choose cute little Squiggles!

We understand from Mum that is was about 2002 when you popped in our door to check us out, which is a long time ago.
  Then 2002 it was....my memory isn't is good as it used to be! :)

What do you mean you are on the board, what is a board and what do you do on that board?
  I apologize for not being clear: I am on the Board of Directors for the LFFR/S. I am the Treasurer. I help mum keep track of the all the donations that come in for all you fur butts; between the two of us, we "get r done!"

How long have you been a shelter supporter?
  Since forever! ;)

Do you own any fuzz butts? if so how many, if not why not?
  I have one fuzz butt, Stitch. I have had fuzz butts since the early 1980's--Nicki, Pilfer, Conan and Sonja, Breezie.

We also understand you got Stitch from Mum at our shelter;
  Oh, yes, I got Stitch from Mum. I had to send my Breezie to Rainbow Bridge and had planned on getting another ferret "in a while." Well, your mum and Stitch had their idea of what "in a while" meant. I met Stitch on a Sunday and he was home with me the following Thursday! You are most welcome to use any pics of me and my boy!

Do you work out side your home and if so what do you do?
  Yes, I do. I work for Gannett (30+ years) and I am a Tax Accountant.

You obviously like ferrets why?
  How can you not like ferrets!? They are such fun to have around, to chase, to watch them dance. And they are so cute!!!!

What's your favorite game? These are the things we like to do, do you play any of these games?
a) Running through tunnels
  Oh Yes!
b) Hide and seek
  and Yes again.
c) Tag
  Yup!
d) jumping/digging in peanuts, dirt, rice
  I personally don't jump/dig, but Stitch does ;)!
e) Other: please provide an example
  ”We" play lets drag into the closet all the toys mom hides...immediately after she hides them.

What do you like best about ferrets?
  Cute, playful and cuddly (my Stitch likes to sleep in my arms).

What do you like least about ferrets?
   Their life span is TOOOOOOO short!

If you had the power to do anything you wished what would that be?
  MMMMM...tough question for me. It would have to be to see my niece Marissa who passed away at the age of 9 1/2 months. She would have been 22 this year (2013).

Oh my! That is so sad. Thank you Miss Janette for allowing us to interview you, we are so thrilled that you took the time to answer our questions. We look forward to you stopping by with Stitch at our June clinic day.
- Sarah and Daisy

Sarah: Miss Brie, you’re the board secretary. What do you do?
  Miss Brie: Well, I take care of organizing the board meetings, updating our contact lists, and making sure that all the board members are in the loop, that kind of stuff.

Daisy: OH!!! So you’re the reason Mum's so worried about losing our friends!....We heard her talking about how people would see "Volunteer Registration" on the recent form and think that since they aren't nearby they won't be able to keep getting our news!! Why are you trying to get rid of our cyber shelter friends? Not much of a secretary if you ask me...grumble, grumble....
  Ah, yes, uh that is rather embarrassing. I was so preoccupied when writing that I chose some poor words to describe the form correctly. Now that I think back I probably should have titled it "Mailing List/Contact Registration" or something close to that at least. But I didn't think about it since I consider all of our friends to be volunteers, whether they read the newsletter or come to help out at the shelter. I guess in my eyes it doesn't matter what they’re doing. As long as our friends have a relationship with us, no matter what kind, they're volunteers. Don't get me wrong, I will absolutely consider my choice of words much more carefully from now on!

Sarah: Well....alright, we can accept that. Just be careful and don't go losing our shelter friends due to a poor choice in words! Ah, Mum's calling us. Guess we'll have to finish this interview another time.
  HEY, email friends, send in those contact forms AKA Volunteer Registration forms. Don’t miss out on our Ferret Farm good news! If you don’t have them any more email Miss Brie at lakeroadferretfarm@gmail.com and she will get another out to you!
  Me and Daisy are extending the dead line until April 7th just to cover Miss Brie’s tail. We hope you understand that Miss Brie is human and humans are NO where near as perfect as we fur kids are.