Sarah here: Santa is coming to our house pretty soon; pretty soon Christmas will be here!

Daisy Here: Hello Sarah … have you not noticed the boxes that are coming in almost daily for us; you silly girl … Christmas is here!

Sarah here: No! No! No Christmas is not until the 25th of December, the boxes that are coming in are from the Giving Tree Santa's that picked the new fur kids that came to the shelter this year!
  Well not just from the Giving Tree or the fur kids that are on it, we got some really special things from far across the country from the Mile High Ferret Club in Colo. They sent us an awesome Christmas! Thanks you guys! You don't know how this Giving Tree thing works because you came in this year too so you have not seen it happen before.
  Anyway you have a far away mom so any fur kid that lives here with a far away family does not get put on the Giving Tree - I might add your far away mom came to spend the day with you and brought you your Christmas already! Just saying...

Daisy Here: Oh well I guess then you know more than me! It has been crazy around here, Miss Donna D - Miss Iliana B – and her Mr Bob - Miss Rebekah J -my far away mom Miss Marcia - Miss Tori and Miss Jackie have all been here to help in one way or another! Miss Jackie even had to make an emergency run with our Mombo to see our favorite Doc. Miss Tori and Miss Ili got to see how well I climb, Mum had forgotten she added the "NO Library" tag to my cage. I was up and over headed for the kitchen when Miss Tori caught me. I did that when Miss Ili was here too, that's when Mum tagged my cage, but she is still not remembering I can not be in that room. Now I have No library, No play pen, No play room, No ferret room and Needs supervision in the kitchen tags on my cage. Mum told me that I was a goat not a ferret! I am not the only one to get where I have no business! Mums words NOT mine!
  One day when Miss Ili was here, Mum left Bear III in the kitchen when she went to work. Mum had forgotten he knows how to remove Velcro ties so he got into the upstairs bathroom and started beating on Stevie. Thankfully Miss Ili was still here and she got the bully out of the bathroom and put him away. Then Mum put Miku and Kiwi in the play room so when Miss Ili came she could spend time with her sponsor girls, only when Mum was on the phone she heard a big crash so she headed down stairs to see what was going on. Mum found Miku on the high shelf that she had – HA - ferret proofed. Miku was huddled in one of the upside down plastic igloos Mum has stored up there. She had the look of "oh poop now that I am up here how do I get down" all the other things Mum had stored up there Miku had knocked down, so I am not the only trouble maker here at the shelter!

Sarah Here: Miss Tori and Miss Brie have been busy bees with things on the web site. We now have pictures that get big if you click on the image, well some do; the pictures Mum took with her old camera do not get bigger, but Miss Patty S. got Mum a new camera so now any Mum takes with that camera they too will get bigger if you click on the image. Miss Brie set up a forum that you can get on and leave all kinds of messages, ideas and such for the shelter helpers, board members and each other – you will find it on this page. We would love for you to join us there to share ideas and things with us!
  Miss Priscilla G. has a new little guy (Z) that was taken to the hospital by his family; they did not want him anymore so the vet asked Miss Priscilla G if she would like to take him. She did, they fell in love with one another. He has been in and out of the hospital but is doing much better! The family that first had him did not tell the vet important stuffs so the vet had to guess what was wrong with him. They think they finally figured it out; he is home with his new mom Priscilla for post-op and doing much better! Mum is doing the happy dance for that!
  After I passed along the "we could use some help" message on Staten Island Mum has gotten word from folks that they were going, or have been there to help; thank you Miss Margaret, Miss Rebekah, Mr Wally and Miss Susann for helping out the lost souls.
  Mum is doing the happy dance for all the lost fur kids still on the streets; they may find their home after all. We have awesome shelter friends! Thank you!

Daisy Here: Oh Miss Iliana B and Mum are going to set up at Petco on Sat the 22nd December 11 am till 3 pm Mum hopes if they are there maybe they can keep a few fur kids that are there (8) the last time Mum was there to check on them from being an impulse buy. She hopes folks will talk to her and Miss Ili to learn about ferrets first.
  Mum found a mass on the bottom of Mombo's right foot, she needs to get him in to doc to have it removed the poor little guy can not stand on that foot. It looks like the head of a cauliflower, the size of a pea. It appears to be hanging by a tiny piece of skin. Mum called a shelter friend Jackie and asked her if she could help get Mombo into Doc next week. Miss Jackie said she could and would but why not today. Mum said if you can get him in great! Miss Jackie called Mum back to say Doc is going to seem him at 4 that day to remove the thing from his foot, it is an easy removal and he can come home right after. Miss Jackie and Mombo walked back in at 10 minutes after 5 before Mum's bed time! Miss Jackie's car has wings! Actually she got to the hospital early and Doc took Mombo in early so Miss Jackie was headed home just a bit after she was to be there for the appointment. J Mombo can now stand on his foot without discomfort. What do you think Sarah I do not see any more notes at the end of this so I think we have reported all that needs reporting, except that Santa Claus is coming to town!

Sarah Here: It sure looks like we got it all covered, so we will close for now.

Sarah, Daisy and all the fur kids that live at the Lakeroad Ferret Farm Rescue Shelter Inc. wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sarah Here: Happy Happy Turkey day!

Daisy Here: What are you doing Sarah? Turkey day is over! Gone, done for another year!

Sarah Here: I know but it is still the weekend of Turkey day, I thought that since it was so late in the month we were getting our news out the least I could do is tell everyone happy turkey day! OKAY with you cranky?

Daisy Here: Fine what ever you want Miss Senior Reporter! We need to get on with it we have a lot to report this month!!!!

Sarah Here: So what are you waiting for? Oh Wait! I am going to start! It has been a really rough month for the shelter, we have lost a lot of our buddies; some were expected some were not. They left for Rainbow Bridge. Mum had Miss Tori put them on our site.
  Miss Jackie, Miss Iliana, Miss Tori, Miss Donna D. Miss Marcia C. Miss Donna Z and Mr Robert have been to the shelter to help with one thing or another. Miss Jackie and Miss Tori loved on Stevie while they were here; he is in the sick pen. Miss Jackie took Henry out to the play yard for a bit. Miss Marcia played with spoiled Daisy all day while she was here helping Mum. Miss Iliana gets to hang out with her far away girls sometimes when she is here too.
  Fiona came to camp; she got to hang out with Mum in her space for an entire week.
  Miss Tori got the web page up for Tigger and Miss Anna W.

Daisy Here: There are lots of new things on our site, Miss Tori has been working hard to keep up with Mums updates, our new photo album is listed here http://ferretfarm.org/zenphoto if you have not been on our site for a while go take a look at what Miss Tori has done. We have a calendar on there now too if you want to know what is coming up check it out there, we are trying to fill the calendar way ahead so you have a chance to make plans to join us if you wish. Mum got a call from the Youth Advocate Program asking her is she would be interested in helping them with at risk furless kids, if the at risk kid wanted to help at the shelter, Mum said YUP! YUP! YUP! She was an at risk kid once a very long time ago, so she would be honored to help.

Sarah Here: Hey Daisy you better be real careful how you talk about Mum and how long ago she was a kid! She may be twisting your tail if you tell too much! Boy would I like to see that! Ha Ha
  Mum was suppose to go to her 2 legged furless kids house to spend turkey day with them and her grandkids but she got a call saying they were sick so she said she was going to stay home! She hung out with us all day long instead, that was the bestest turkey day ever for us!
  Hurricane Sandy left Naples and our Shelter alone! We had some wind some rain but no damage at all. Naples school district was closed for the day. We got to have Mum home with us all day! Mum got all the new kids that came in this fall on the Christmas Giving Tree all of our shelter kids have been chosen, but there are still many that do not have a Santa at other shelters – you can find a fur kid here if you want to be a Santa to a fur kid.
  Miss Sheilla is keeping our Facebook page going for us check us out.

Daisy Here: oh do you want to hear something funny when the time changed and fell back an hour, Mum did not get that message so instead of getting up at 3:30 AM on Sunday she got up at 2:30 then Monday morning she still did not know the time had changed so she went to work and there was no one there. Seems no one gets to work at 5:15 am. Mum is so silly sometimes. So Sarah have you decided what you want for Christmas this year? I have I think we need Mr. Malcolm and Miss Sheilla to come to Naples again to play with me; I had such a good time playing with Mr. Malcolm that day they were here. I love playing with my far away mom but she does not let me nibble her nose like Mr Malcolm lets me do.
  Well it seems we have all the notes Mum left us for the news reported so we are going to close for now. We look forward to sending out our Christmas news letter in just a few weeks.

  Sarah Senior Reporter
  Daisy Cub Reporter

Daisy Here: Hey Sarah did you know my far away mom went to Ireland? That is far far away from here!

Sarah Here: That is cool! Why did she go to Ireland?

Daisy Here: All I know is far away dad won a trip to Ireland and he and far away mom went, she is back now.

Sarah Here: I have some news too!
  "When LFFR/S submitted its application for 501c3 charitable status, we knew that if accepted we could apply for a Ralph and Virginian Mullin Foundation grant to cover the $850 fee plus copying and postage. Ms. Kathy and Ms Marilyn loaned us the funds to send with the application since we didn't have that kind of cash just waiting around for some bill. When we were designated a charitable non-profit, we applied to the Mullin Foundation for reimbursement. We received that grant! Yippee! We could pay off our loan from Ms. Kathy and Ms. Marilyn. Well, they surprised us and tore up the check we sent them and said we should think of good reasons to use the funds- like food or medicine or even treats!!!

Daisy Here: Wow Yippee for us!!!! That must be how Mum has all that food coming in lately, you think?
  It has been very busy around here; last month Mum and shelter friends went to Canandaigua and Dansville Tractor Supply to set up for adoption days. Then with our Christmas in October event the first weekend of October it was crazy Busy! So many shelter friends came to join our day. We had lots of ferret games and ferret rentals. That is when the humans come in to pick a shelter kid to spend the day with. I even got to spend the entire day with my far away mom Marcia C, Delilah got to spend time with her far away mom Miss Iliana B., Honey Bunny with her far away mom Miss Mary B. Miss Patty S. hung out with her far away boy Teddy, Miss Donna took her Dancer out, Miss Wendy rented Milo and Sugar.
  We had a first time visitor Miss Mary Ellen B., Mum did not know it at the time but Miss Mary Ellen had not ever touched a ferret until that day and here she is the far away mom to the CYN girls and Lord Jenkins. Can you believe it Sarah? She even took her girls out side to play in the play yard.
  I was in the contest with Fred a brand new fur kid that came in and went right out with the Keenen family; Fred and I were in the look a-like contest and we won. The Winners of the contest were: Milo won the Heavy weight, Delilah won Miss Dainty, Fred won biggest ears, Stitch; Miss Janette’s boy won the longest tail and you Sarah won the paper bag escape. We always knew you were an escape artist, which is why you have so many cards attached to your cage telling folks where you can not go!
  The shelter volunteers that have been here are Miss Donna D., Miss Brie and my far away mom Miss Marcia and Miss Iliana, Miss Jackie, Mr. Bob have all came to help. Miss Stephanie N. has started keeping track of and recording our physical donations for us, Miss Sheilla S. is maintaining our Facebook page.
  Then there is Miss Tori and her little Nora that keep our web site looking fresh and awesome. The list of event helpers is long; some of them come to our events to help like Miss Wendy, Miss Mary B, Miss Tori, and Miss Pat N. All of the volunteer help before, during and after made our Christmas in October event successful. A big Thank you to all!
  Frenchie’s far away mom and Cousin Ralphster, they live in Florida, sent a big box of stuffs for our raffle table for our event – beautiful snack and snooze theme, man we have awesome shelter friends! Miss Tori is setting up a special place to put all our shelter event pictures right on our web site! Web shots site is going to start charging to store pictures there so Mum and Miss Tori said NO WAY!!!!
  Mum sure has been bombarded with tons of calls and emails for surrenders! So many fur kids need a place to go and Mum can only help so many. We are stuffed to the gills with fur kids just like you and me when we needed a place to go Sarah. A business of 2 Fred and Alice came in on Friday before our event – they were adopted by the Keenen family the day of the event.
  Then Luna and Monster came in after that, Mum was a bit worried the day they were dropped off; they did not act quite right. They had just come from the Vet so they may have been having a bit of a reaction to the vaccines. Miss Jackie came to sit with the shelter in case the fur kids did not get here before Mum had to leave for work. They are doing awesome now!

Sarah Here: We got a call from folks from Medford, Long Island about 8 ferrets they found on the side of the road. Mum called them back when she got home from work; they played phone tag for a bit. Apparently, the guy and his brother were picking up junk and they opened a plastic tote and in there were the eight ferrets. They had them in their home and are interacting with them. They said they are very friendly and very full of energy, but they had no info on their ages. The gang of 8 did well their first night, Mum said their food and water dishes were empty she was constantly filling them for the first few days they were here. Mum is feeding the gang of "8" duck soup to fatten them up. Mum figures they have gone without food at times by the way they are scarffing the food down as soon as they see it.
  Vet day in Brockport – Jackie was true to her word, she jumped in the van with Mum when she pulled up to her driveway at 6:30 am – See Miss Jackie is more of a night time person so that was way early for Miss Jackie!
  Our favorite Doc was ready to take the new gang of "8" when they got there, but he used the larger room they usually use for dogs, with that many fur kids Doc wanted more floor space.
  What a process with so many fur kids at one time, 2 of the 8 got Des implants a couple others are suspect but because of the poor diets and nutrition Mum and Our Favorite Doc figure they had, Doc said he wanted to wait to be sure they did not just have awful coats because of it. 6 of the 8 had gained weight from the Mum took them in to vet visit date. Doc says they are in pretty decent shape considering; the most of them are about 18 mo to 2 yrs one of them he figures to be 3 yrs old.
  Miss Jackie cleaned up the poo in the carrier while Doc and Mum handled the fur kids – Mum said Miss Jackie made her traveling to the vet day so much easier. Thanks Miss Jackie for helpen our Mum!
  After the gang of 8 spent time quarantined and away from the shelter until they saw our favorite Doc Mum let them loose in the Play room. They have become real ferrets; Mum found them stealing toys and stashing them under cages. It has not taken them long to know that when Mum taps on the barrier they come to see what she wants. Smart babies! I still do not go running the minute Mum taps on the barrier, I wait till I see her getting ready to crawl over it then I come to see what she wants. It drives her crazy when I do that!
  Mum wanted to make a horizontal cage for the gang of 8 which meant the AC unit in the play room window needed to be moved up. Mr Bob moved the AC up to the top part of the window so Mum could do that with the cage, only now she found out that the company is making the FN cages different and they are not compatible with ours! We heard Mum muttering "why fix it if it aint broke!" Mum says the AC up higher is a good thing and Mr. Bob is a saint for coming to help her get that done! Thanks Mr Bob!

Daisy Here: Hey Sarah this news is getting mighty long, are we almost done with the notes Mum left us?

Sarah Here: Yup pretty close Mum says she has some of the FML/SOS calendars left if you wish to get one let her know ferretfarm@frontiernet.net oh and Miss Tori has the Paypal button on our web site now for your convenience you will find it here.

Sarah Here: Don’t forget about the Ferret Giving Tree Mum has all the new kids listed there.
  So until next month
  Sarah and Daisy official reporters
  Lakeroad Ferret Farm Rescue/Shelter Inc

Sarah here: Can someone please stop the clock so things will slow down?

Daisy here: What's up with you Sarah a bit cranky these days?

Sarah here: I suppose so, with mum being back to work on the big yellow thingy full time now; she just seems to be running in and out all the time. Then with the adoption days stuff that means she is out the door one more time.

Daisy here: Yeah it has been an adjustment to having mum gone more during the day but I am not willing to give up eating to have her home with us all day are you?

Sarah here: No; I guess not but it sure was nice having her home more with us this summer. I guess I best quit complaining and get on with the news; at least mum is working and we have food to eat, so many of our shelter friends are out of work these days.

Daisy here: I want to start telling about the humans that have been checking out our picture site, 571 of you were there, thanks for checking us out! The new 2013 SOS/FML calendar is out, here is the link to see how to get one or if you ordered one with mum you are all set but here is the link if you want to see the list of fur kids that made it in the calendar this year.

Sarah here: Mum hopes to have them here by the time our Christmas in October event happens on October 6th 2012 here is the link to find out more. We sure hope you humans out there will drop in and join the fun that day.
  Mum and Miss Jackie ran Avery to Jamestown to see Dr Rappole; Avery had a lump under her left ear and Mum wanted a second opinion. Dr Rappole looked at Avery and said he could fix her, he would even do it that day so mum and Miss Jackie did not have to come back.
  See Dr Rappole is 3 hours west of here so mum drove 100 miles one way to get Avery there. Anyway the Doc got a tube put in Avery so the yucky could drain and sent her home with Mum and Miss Jackie – it was a long day but Mum was happy that Avery was now more comfortable. Mum was also happy to have Miss Jackie with her for company that was a lot of hours to be away without somebody to talk to. Miss Jackie was right there with Mum to keep her company and give her moral support. Thanks Miss Jackie!

Daisy Here: Hey Sarah did you know we get money sent to us from iGive just because humans out there shop on line through iGive with our shelter in mind. Mum signed us up a long long time ago so if folks want to help they can.
  We just got a check this month for $42.17 – all because you humans out there were shopping on line through iGive – an organization that helps us fur kids just because we are signed up and you shop – the more you shop through iGive the more money you raise for us. So far this year you have raised for us $199.00
  If you want to learn more about how to help, go here Miss Tori has it all spelled out for you. Look for the iGive logo at the bottom of this page.

Sarah here: There has been lots of activity here at the Shelter. Miss Marcia C, Miss Donna D, Miss Iliana B, Miss Jackie R, and her other half Bob, Master Dylan, Miss Kathy C, The Keenen’s Charlie and Reilly, Miss Brie Mc, Miss Patty S, Miss Sue K, Miss Donna Z. Miss Tori and Miss Shaylyn have all been here at least once, some of them more.
  A few of the volunteers gathered to have a meeting one weekend to see what more we can do to help the community learn about ferrets and what we do here. Then other humans come in to give mum a hand in cleaning up our messes. You and I don’t make much of a mess but boy there are some that do all the time. Mostly it is Marshmallow and Snowy Bowie and the 5 pack. You, Daisy don’t stay where mum puts you! Miss Donna comes in to take care of our property and the play yard so it looks nice all the time and ready for us to use when we have events. Like what we have coming up next month.

Daisy Here: Mum not only went back to work, Miss Stacie K. told mum to come to her house to get some tomatoes – Mum was thinking a few – HA! It was bushels and bushels – Mum brought 2 Bu home to can and freeze. She has not only been up to her ears in fur kids she was up to her ears in tomatoes. She did finally get them all done. Miss Donna Z stopped in to leave off papers for us. Miss Sheilla asked Mum if she could set up a Facebook page for us, Mum said sure as long as she does not have to sign up to be on FB and Miss Sheilla is willing to keep it up Mum was okay with the idea. WOW – Miss Sheilla is keeping that page awesome go see what she is up to out there. She and Miss Tori are working together to keep our shelter out there for anyone that wants to know about us fur kids! They are both doing a great job; thanks ladies for helpen mum take care of us.
  We had some campers here this summer, Miss Ella brought her fur kids to hang out with us and Brownie came to camp too. It was good to see them again.

Sarah here: Mum was invited to set up at some adoption day events this summer, so she, Miss Iliana, Miss Patty and Miss Shaylyn were at one this last weekend. They took Pickles and Hammy this time. They are going to another one on the 29th of September in Dansville NY Mum says that Frenchie, Rizzo and Sandy will go this next time. Mum likes to give us all a chance to show humans how we can be on our best behavior.
  Well Daisy it looks like we have all the notes mum left us taken care of, I think we should be done with the news, so until next month –
   Sarah and Daisy the best darn news reports on the East Coast

Daisy Here: Hey Sarah did you know that mum is done working the big yellow thingy for the summer? Do you know that means she has 2 weeks to stay home with us all day long to love on us?

Sarah Here: Yes I do know, it also means summer is almost over, that mum will be going back to work when school starts and she will be working longer than she does in the summer time. There have been summer events that mum and Miss Ili have gone to when Mum was not out on the big yellow thingy – Adoption days at Central Tractor and the invitation from Pet Co in Canandaigua, the Pet Co one they did not go to because it was far too hot that day to be out in the weather with fur kids, then it rained real hard that day too! HUMID!!!!!

Daisy Here: Boy it sure has been hot in Naples this summer hasn’t it Sarah? We had a new cold box donated to us by a neighbor of Miss Donna D. Miss Stacy stopped in with some fresh veggies out of her garden for Mum so she stuck around to help Miss Donna D and Mum get it in the window for us – that has been awesome to help keep us cool. It has been so hot that Mum decided that as long as we can not use our play area on the porch she is going to revamp it and make it bigger, then put a new floor down and fix it all up nice for us. She has been working on that on the days it was too hot for us but not too hot for her.

Sarah Here: Oliver was feeling poorly so Miss Jackie R. was going to take him up to our favorite Doc. Oliver did not wait, he left for Rainbow Bridge. Miss Patty S. came to visit she is far away mom to 4 of us fur kids here at the shelter! Miss Patty spent the day hanging out and playing with us all day. Daisy, have you heard how many ferrets have been found out running around without their humans this summer? Mum has gotten lots of calls, from places like Hamlin NY Albany, NY Lima NY and Charlotte NY. One was even from a different state but Mum did not tell me what one. Too many fur kids getting outside and getting into trouble! Squiggles what a lucky one she got picked up and brought to Mum to be safe. There have been lots of humans that want to give up their fur kids too. That is sad. Mum does what she can to help, in three weeks time Mum got calls about a total of 28 fur kids that needed a place to go.

Daisy Here: I heard mum talking to Miss Jackie R about all the fur kids that need to find a place to go, it makes Mum really sad that she can not save them all. Mum says what is important is making sure she takes care of those of us that are already here, and then if there is room she will take more in. Thankfully we have lots of shelter helpers that come to help mum take care of us; Miss Shaylyn, Miss Iliana, Miss Brie, Miss Marcia, and Miss Maricella, and Miss Donna D. Miss Donna finally has some lawn to mow. We went weeks without needing her to mow the lawn. Miss Sheilla and Mr Malcolm came to visit us from Brooklyn, Miss Sheilla loved on Jenkins and Mr Malcolm loved on me! Malcolm even let me nibble his nose. I had a great time playing with Malcolm; he is one really cool dude. They hung out with Jenkins for a bit – then mum switched the kids and handed Milo and Sugar over to them.

Both Sheilla and Malcolm are in the construction business so when they saw the ceiling of the bathroom with the plastic they wanted to know what was going on. Malcolm headed up to the roof to see what was up. Mum explained that we were getting wet but not consistently. We were getting wet too; we stopped sleeping behind the bathroom door because we got so wet one night it left a puddle in our bed.

Malcolm’s thought was that when the rain comes in from a certain direction is when we get wet; Malcolm took a tube of silicone up to fill in an area that may be allowing water to get in. He said we should not have anymore wet spots with the roof leaking but to let him know if we do.

While Malcolm was on the roof, Miss Sheilla and Mum were out in the play yard righting the one canopy that was upside down and dismantling the broken one. They took the top off the broken one to use if any of the others rip then dragged the broken frame up to the driveway for Preston to pick up – he takes all our metal junk for us.

Sarah Here: Boy you are long winded; I sure hope you are done! I want to tell about the events that are coming up, September 15th is another adoption event in Canandaigua, Miss Jackie wants to set up a booth for us at the Grape Festival the weekend of September 29th and 30th but we are not sure that is going to happen, that is pending. Then October 6th is our second annual Christmas in October event. We would love to have you join us for the fun at anyone or all of these events.

Daisy Here: Oh Sarah have you see our new web site Miss Tori has done for us? It is awesome; Miss Sheilla has set up a Facebook page for our shelter too so between the two of them they are getting our furry faces out there for all humans to see. We are so excited to have so many humans that love to help us fur kids out with their different talents. Miss Kathy says we need folks that have “time talent and treasure” We have two ladies that are awesome with their time and talent for sure! Thanks Miss Tori and Miss Sheilla for helpen mum take care of us.

Sarah Here: Well it looks like we have all the notes Mum left for us covered and taken care of so we are going to close this news for now. We almost had to double up on this news letter again this month –

Daisy Here: Phew that sure was close! We got it done Just in time!

Sarah and Daisy

Sarah and Daisy here: Where or where does the time go? Mum was just running in and out of the shelter like a bee in a bonnet, trying to get ready for clinic, and then doing extra runs with the big yellow thingy because it was almost time for summer! So when we snuck a look at mum’s calendar we discovered it was the last day of June already! Now we need to do two news letters just to catch up!

Daisy Here: Clinic day was a huge success, so many humans, so many ferrets; play pens all over the back yard, 2 big tables of raffle items – thank you Miss Wendy for your time and talent. All kinds of auction items, there were so many that Miss Mary B wanted to know how she was going to get through it all. Thank you Miss Kathy C. and Miss Marilyn H. for the lions’ share of auction items and then there were the last minute auction items from Mr Jim S. and Miss Mary M.

Our favorite Doc was on hand to check out the fuzz butts, Miss Pat N. and Miss Nancy A. gave Doc a helping hand at the medical table. There were new folks here, and folks that come year after year. WE had a grand time! Mr. Dick H sat proudly at our raffle ticket table as he does each year! Thanks Mr. Dick! Pictures will soon be up for all to see!

Sarah Here: What do you mean WE? Mum only let Ginger and Teddy outside because they went to see our favorite Doc for hurt sticks. WE did not get to go out side that day!

Daisy Here: So what is your point missy? Mum wanted us to let you know that Old Lady Kay went to Rainbow Bridge on Mothers Day 2012 – Mum and Miss Kathy C. were sad to see her leave but they also knew that was Old Lady Kay’s wish. She left peacefully with no tubes, or hurt sticks to keep her here longer than she wanted to be. It was a promise mum made to Old Lady Kay many years ago, and thanks to Miss Kathy C. Mum and Miss Kathy C were able to accomplish all that Kay wished for at her end of life time.

Sarah Here: My point was that "WE" was the incorrect word to use, since "WE" were not the ones that got to go outside on clinic day. Now can I get on with more news please? Mr. Bob, Miss Ili’s other half stopped down to look at and take our screen inserts that the bad raccoons tore apart, home to fix for us. They turned out fantastic – Thanks Mr Bob for doing that for us! Mr Bob and Miss Ili are Delilah’s not so far away, far away family. Oh the soap campaign prize went to Marcia C in Skaneateles NY.

Mum took in 4 more new fur kids; they were in fact saved by Mylene from certain death in Rochester NY. The woman that had the 4 ferrets stuck them on a windowed porch that had no ventilation with cat food to eat but no water to drink. She had the fur kids for 2 weeks, Mylene said the lady that had them had no idea how to care for them, so thanks to Miss Mylene they are safe with us now!

Then Mum got an email from CNYHA about 3 ferret girls that needed to come here, Miss Kate a volunteer for CNYHA brought them, she got here about 12:30 on a Sunday afternoon. The 3 girls are tiny but are in really good shape, having a ball hanging out and running around in the play areas mum calls enrichment rooms. They came in with documentation having been vetted and vaccinated.

Then 2 boy fur kids arrived from Fort Drumm to live at the shelter. We are filled up to our ears in fur kids.

Daisy Here: Mum went to school after she droved her big yellow thingy so Miss Shaylyn could do a presentation in her 4th grade class on ferrets. Shaylyn chose the Brooklyn kids for her props. She and mum helped the furless kids in the class to understand what mum does here and how Miss Shaylyn gets to help at the shelter. Shaylyn taught them how to care for ferrets and what it is to be a responsible pet owner. The presentation was wonderful; Mrs Arsenault had our shelter web site up on the large screen behind mum and Miss Shaylyn, so when students asked a question and Shaylyn did not know the answer they went to the web site to find the answer. The students wanted to know if ferrets could swim, so Shaylyn showed them the picture of Tock in the swimming pool on clinic day 2011. The class presentation was such a success that another student Master Dylan is now coming to help mum take care of us.

We have had lots of shelter help these past few weeks – Miss Marcia, The Keenen Family, Master Dylan, Miss Shaylyn, Miss Donna D. Miss Mary B. Miss Donna Z, Miss Stacie K., Miss Jill W, Miss Jackie R and her other half Mr. Bob R, Miss Wendy, Mr Dick H. Miss Tori and Miss Brie not all at the same time but they do come and go a lot around here especially around clinic time! Geezzzzzz Sarah I hope I did not forget anyone; there have been lots of humans here!

Sarah Here: You did miss some folks! Miss Kathy C and Miss Marilyn H, Titch’s far away moms came to the shelter to take mum to lunch the day after clinic! They thought mum could use a break! They were right mum sure did enjoy her time with Titch’s moms and the lunch was wonderful! Little Luna went to a new 4-ever home with Miss Susann T in May, and the 3 Brooklyn fur kids went to their new 4-ever home with the Jacobus family in July. Oh some sad news 2 of the 3 DMK kids left for Rainbow Bridge. Big Foot is the only DMK left with us now.

We were invited to go to an adoption day event in Canandaigua so Mum and Miss Ili went with the new 4 Rochester fur kids to show them off on a Sunday for 4 hours. We have been invited to another one in Canandaigua coming up in 2 weeks they may go to. If anyone wants to join them mum says she would love to show off our shelter friends along with the fur kids they are going to take!

Mum is getting a 2 week break from the big yellow thingy then she goes back to work for summer runs because we refuse to go hungry during the summer!

Daisy Here: So Sarah what do you think, do we have all the news reported? Are all the notes mum left us all gone?

Sarah Here: I believe so Daisy I think we have all the news done for both June and July it was pretty good working with you this time snip-it.

Daisy Here: The correct word it snippety NOT snip-it and I am not snippety!

Sarah Here: I know you are not snippety that is why I called you snip-it because you are a small part of this news letter.

Until next month
Sarah and Daisy

Sarah here: Oh boy it is almost melt down time for mum, clinic day is just around the corner here is the time and information posted on our web site. Keep in mind if you want a chance to win our super duper campaign prize, bring some laundry soap with you when you come.
Thanks to Miss Mindy our web site has lots of great information on it; she makes that site look awesome!

Miss Tori and Miss Shaylyn came to help treat all us fur kids with Revolution, cut nails and weigh/record weights. Big job but with 6 hands it is much easier and faster then mum trying to do it on her own.

The Keenen kids went home that same day, they were at camp for 10 days. Katie, Anna, Izzy, Chloe and Brownie were at camp too but they went home the day before. Mum loves it when shelter kids that found a new home come back to hang out for a bit.

Miss Donna came 2 days in a row to finish our property, and our play yard, it looks awesome! She is the bestest grounds keeper ever!

Mum got a weekend away with Miss Kathy C. in Canada, Miss Mindy stayed at the shelter to watch us, (don’t tell mum but she spoils us as much as Miss Donna does when she watches the shelter) Miss Donna came in to do yard work, Miss Marcia came to help Miss Mindy, she played with us fur kids.

Miss Mindy came in early so mum could be on the road at 6 am Saturday after getting us moved and meds done. Mum parked her van in over night parking in Rochester; Miss Kathy met mum in front of the air port then they headed north to Niagara on the Lake.

Mum was back by Sunday afternoon. Mum called it a mini vacation! She had a good time and Miss Kathy showed her all around NOTL, she took mum to the Shaw festival for the play Rag Time. Wow mum sure enjoyed that! If any of you get the chance you need to go see that!

Daisy Here: The new Brooklyn kids did well their first night in their cage, they even used only the litter box so mum says they are adjusting well. Mum thought Petrie was trying to be the loner in the group however she found him and Minnie in the sleep box together in the morning. Bron was up in the big bed mum has on the upper shelf.

When mum checked on them again after putting them to bed they were playing musical beds, Minnie with Bron on the shelf, Minnie in the hammock alone, Bron and Petrie in the sleep box, then Minnie, Bron and Petrie in the big bed. So mum says at this point she is not sure who is or is not bonded, hard to know when the business of 14 all got split up and sent in different directions.

Mum gave the Brooklyn kids the kitchen and her space first the next day; they were up the stairs like they had been doing all their lives, and so they are getting stronger and more agile very quickly. Doing ferrety things like dooking and dancing, just plain being happy fur kids!

Wait till you hear this! Miss Mary B our auctioneer that comes to do all our auctions for the shelter? Well she told mum she hope we have good stuff for auction this year, that was the wrong thing to tell our mum because mum told us she was going to show Miss Mary B how much she could get her for auction!

Miss Kathy C was moving so the things she did not want to take with her to her new place she packed up in the car and brought to mum. Holy Moley talk about good stuff! Word got out that we needed things for auction so all kinds of stuff is showing up from everyone. Human things, pet things, out door tool things, indoor hanging on the wall things and shelter things that we can not use so mum let us put that in the auction pile too!

Sarah here: Hey you! Yeah you, the white weasel with the black beady eyes! What are you doing in my news? I believe the top of the news letter states Sarah senior reporter, MAYBE Daisy can help! I do not remember asking for help this month! I do not remember mum asking you to help so what is up with you in my news?

Daisy Here: WELL EXCUSE ME! I THOUGHT I WAS BEING NICE BY HELPING BUT OBVIOUSLY YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LET ME!

Mum here: Ladies, Ladies, Ladies there is more than enough news to go around, I have no doubt that Daisy can tell some news without stepping on your pretty little toes Sarah. Remember we do not bully each other! So let’s get back on track, tell the news and be nice to each other!

Sarah here: Mum got another call from her 2 legged furless grand kids asking her to come to another concert they were in at school. So she stayed up past her bed time to go. She loves that her furless kids are so close that she can spend time with them.

So it is spring in New York; mum needs to get up to get us ready for a new day, then mum needs to get ready for work. Mum’s alarm went off at 3:30 am she hit snooze two times! Mum got up at 4 am to get the coffee started, we fur kids moved into cages and fur kids moved out, all was going great until about 4:30 am when the power went out!

Mum was in the shelter with absolutely no light, and it was still pitch dark outside. Mum fumbled around feeling for one of the flash lights Mr Dick got us! Thank you Mr Dick we have one in each one of our play rooms, thankfully mum was able to feel around where she keeps the light when we are in the dark. It gave mum enough light to get up stairs to bring the mini generator down to set it up. Mum plugged in a light, HA! Mum was back in business! Mum now needs to figure out how to thaw and warm soup for our morning meds.

Mum drew some very hot water into a small pot, warmed up a ceramic food bowl with the running hot water, then put 2 frozen soup cubes into the bowl set the bowl into the pot of hot water; we have melted soup for meds. By this time the lamp starts to flicker and that goes out, looks like our mini generator is not working either, Mum had to finish up meds by flashlight.

Once Mum got the meds done she headed back up stairs there was not much she could do in the dark. By this time Mum had gotten the call there was no school so she crawled back under the covers to stay warm. Miss Mindy called to check on us at 7:30 so the system we have set up worked no word from Mum someone needs to check to find out why. Miss Mindy had electricity so she knew there was no school for Naples.

Miss Mindy thanks for checking on us and letting everyone know what was going on. We like this system, at least we fur kids will have someone to rescue us if there is no response from Mum when you call.

Daisy Here: My turn! Miss Mindy took the Brooklyn kids back to the vet to get their rabies shots; their initial check up and distemper were done 2 weeks prior, the vet was pleased they looked good, put on weight, their coats improved in just 2 weeks. Mum and Shaylyn took Miku and Kiwi to the assisted living home in Geneva for an out reach day. The old folks there just loved Shaylyn and the ferrets. This month we are taking some fur kids to Miss Shaylyn’s class so she can do a presentation on ferrets. Mum is going to supply us Miss Shaylyn will supply the information. Now, for the monthly financial report.

Donated Stuff April $376.13
General Donations $1,039.00
Sponsors April $360.00

Well we sure did a lot of news this month – gotta run

So for this month I will say farewell my cyber friends

Sarah missing Possum
Daisy coming to the rescue

Daisy Here: HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOO out there it’s me, Daisy. Mum told me Sarah needed help with the news so I am here to help. I am smart, witty, energetic and so close to what Suzie Q was like; that sometimes Mum even calls me Suzie Q without thinking about who I really am. I set her straight right away.

I am going to report stats for Mum and Sarah starting this month. The stats in this news will include Jan, Feb, and March. Miss Mindy and Miss Janette record them for us each month. Miss Mindy records all the stuffs that you humans send to us like toys and treats, blankies and laundry soap.

Miss Janette records all the sponsor and cash donations that come in. You will get to see how much help we/mum get to take care of us. Miss Kathy C. says you hear about all the humans who come in to visit and to help but you don’t get to hear or see all the folks who do other things behind the scenes to help Mum keep us going. So we are going to start putting that in our news, as well. Sooooooooooooo here you go!

Donated Stuff:
Jan - $1,279.56
Feb - $204.99
Mar - $420.93

General Donations:
Jan - $355.00
Feb - $273.00
Mar - $253.00

Sponsors:
Jan - $745.00
Feb - $565.00
Mar - $380.00

Totals miles run by volunteers for fur kids Jan-Mar 1,108 miles, this includes the miles run for the Brooklyn rescue that happened recently.

Thank you; Miss Susann T, Mr Pete B. and Mindy H. for getting the 3 to Naples and to the vet. And a big thank you for all those involved in getting these and the other fur kids out of a bad situation.

Sarah here: Hey Mum said you could help - that is H-E-L-P - with the news not take it over! I am the senior reporter, I have been here longer than you so you need to slow down and take a breath!

From last report that came into Mum, 274 of you looked at our picture site. Mum is a bit behind getting new pictures on there she has been pretty busy lately.

Last month Miss Wendy L. was looking to find a ferret girl to take home with her, so she and Miss Mary B came to the shelter to check us out. Miss Mary B is Honey Dew’s far away mom. Miss Marcia C was here that day too, she is far away mom to little "take over the news letter" Daisy. All 3 of these humans helped Mum get us weighed, our nails clipped and some hands on loving. That is a big job to get done! Thanks for helpen Mum with that.

Yeah! Miss Ili is home from Florida! Snow bird no more! We sure missed her; she is Delilah’s far away mom. Delilah missed her the most! Miss Ili came to help Mum catch up our play areas and poopy papers the same week she got home! We think she knew Mum needed her help bad! Now maybe Mum will be able to catch up on the 245 emails she has sitting on her computer! Welcome home Miss Iliana, we missed you.

Miss Kathy C. asked me to add this to our news, "Now that LFFR/S is a recognized charitable organization, all you volunteers can keep track of your mileage when you come to help us and deduct that as a charitable contribution at $.14 a mile in your income taxes, if you itemize deductions. We're trying to make it easier for you to come help us, even when gas is soooooo expensive.

Mum got a rather late phone call one night real close to 6 pm - Mums bed time. When Mum answered the phone she heard this little voice say,

"Hi it’s me" Mum could not figure out who was on the other end of the phone!

Mum sat waiting for more, then she heard her 2 legged furless son in the back ground say to the caller, "Tell Grandma who you are" now Mum knew it is one of her 2 legged furless grandkids.

"Hi grandma it’s me" with that Mum chuckled and said, "hi me which one of you are you?"
"Logan" – ah ha now Mum says we are cook’en

"Grandma Will you come to my concert?" Mum goes into questioning Logan as to where, when and what time for the concert. It was established that Mum was going to a concert on April 3 at 7 pm at the middle school in Bloomfield to see her 2 legged furless grandson Logan’s concert. How special that he would call to invite our Mum. Mum said she guessed he was on a mission; the mission having been completed there was no need to continue the conversation. Logan hung up the phone.

As many of you may be aware there was a rescue situation, in the NYC area – mum had been contacted, so mum got involved a few weeks back. The involvement came to a positive end when all fur kids were removed from a bad situation and fur kids were dispersed into several shelters. Mum took 3 of them to fatten up and allow them to be happy and healthy.

Daisy here: Hey! Hey! Hey are you going to save me some news, mum told me you needed help, I am not helpen much if I am not reporting too! I am going to add some news!

One Saturday was crazy here; well most Saturday’s are but this one especially! Miss Shaylyn our new shelter helper was thrilled to be here. Miss Shaylyn kept telling Mum that she works hard when she comes to help but then she gets to play with us ferrets. Shaylyn told mMm her teacher said our mum had been to her class with Genevieve, and wondered if she would come again. Mum told Shaylyn that she would if the teacher wanted her too.

Shaylyn did work very hard, Miss Patty S. brought mum a treat from Simply Crepes in Canandaigua (gluten free) that we shared with both Shaylyn and her mom. Miss Patty S. brought a lot of them, enough to give Mum breakfast and dessert for Miss Donna D. and Mum on Sunday.

Miss Patty S. got to spend time with her far away boy Teddy on Saturday and Miss Donna D. got to spend time with her far away boy Dancer Sunday.

The next Sunday morning the young man that wanted to interview Mum for a school project came in about 10 am.

Damian is 8 yrs old in 2nd grade both his Mom and Dad came with him, very supportive and very nice. When Mum asked him how he picked our shelter he said his teacher had us on the list to choose from. Damian got interested in Miku and Kiwi so Mum let them out of the cage. Oh my, the family just laughed at their antics.

Miss Donna called about 11:30 to say she was coming to Naples; she brought dinner, cooked dinner, and then picked up our poopy papers in the play areas. It was took wet to work outside in the yard.

Yeah Miss Jackie came to see us – she is not missing in action any more! It was a busy day because Miss Ili and Miss Pam where here too! Mum was on spring break so lots of things were going on that week, like Shaylyn went with Mum to Seneca Lake Terrace to help with the ferret girls Miku and Kiwi for an out reach day. Seneca Lake Terrace is an assisted living home that Old lady Kay lives in, that is where Mum visits weekly to check on OLK. There were lots of campers here too that week!

The 3 new Brooklyn fur kids have names now. Minnie of course was named by Miss Susann T, thank you Susann that fits her well, the little albino boys name is Petrie and the little silver boy is Bron. Mum chose names from the movie Land before Time. Mum loves those little guys in that movie.

Sarah here: The 3 Brooklyn fur kids are free! The gate is open and they are roaming around Mum's space! The Vet got them all checked out and shots done gave them a clean bill of health, so Mum says now they can explore.

They seem to be happy to explore larger horizons, they are climbing in and out of the trash can (Mum emptied it before letting them loose) checking out all corners and toy boxes. They are acting like ferrets so Mum says she guesses they are settling in as happy shelter kids.

Miss Peach and Mr. Tom stopped by to visit and hang out with us for a while, Miss Donna came in to make our property all pretty again, boy the grass was getting so high, Mum thought she was going to have to hire some goats, turns out the only thing wrong with the tractor mower was it needed a new battery, so once Mum got that put on it was good to go! Miss Donna spent 2 afternoons getting things cleaned up, and best of all, our entire play yard mowed so we can go play out there. We still need to get the canopy up before we can go out because the hawks are always out looking for lunch; mum says she does not want any of us being part of their afternoon meal.

Reminder that we still have our laundry soap campaign going - here.

Clinic day is not too far off.

Mum wants me to remind you once again that you can still get IFC Arizona symposium shirts – there are a few left. There are Goody Bags too. Then there are the Globe T-shirts that are available. You can find out what they look like, and how much they cost here.

Well we sure did a lot of news this month – gotta run
So for this month I will say farewell my cyber friends

Sarah missing Possum
Daisy coming to the rescue

Sarah Here: Well I will be doing the news for the first time all by myself – I miss my adviser Possum. On 02-13-12 – Possum left us for Rainbow Bridge – all the messages that came in are here.

I am not so sure I can do this on my own. I need help!

Mum here: Sarah the reason Possum and I chose you to do the news was because you fit very nicely into Possums paws, you have her spirit, her spunk, her tenacity, her energy. You will do Possum proud; I know we made the correct choice. The new fur kid Daisy is a lot like Suzie Q maybe we can see if she wants to help with the news. You get this months news done we will work on getting you some help for next month.

Sarah Here: oh okay, I really do not want to do the news right now but Mum says it needs to get done the month is ½ over. I got this message from Miss Alex N. her mom helped her write it –

Sarah, mom wanted me to tell you I know where you can get that cotton candy stuff for mum if she ever needs some more. See we go to Chuck E Cheese to play and they have big bags of it there. Alex

Wow another source for cotton candy for Mum, how cool is that? Miss Priscilla Scardy Cat’s far away mom sent Mum some this week.

Miss Jackie is M.I.A. again, where are you Miss Jackie we miss you! Mum says maybe she will pop up again when the weather gets warmer; Miss Jackie is just like Mum she hates the cold!

Miss Marcia, Daisy’s far away mom came to help – she and mum got every play area picked up – papers changed – food stations freshened – nails clipped if needed – Miss Marcia helped mum get some coroplast on the bottom ½ of the FN cage in the playroom – that is where little Nora was going to stay while at camp – Mum wanted to fix it so the other kids could not pester her if they had a mind too.

Miss Marcia left about 3 that afternoon, little Nora came in shortly after – Mum got us kids put away – meds done and cages cleaned after Nora’s mom Miss Victoria left – Nora’s mom was having separation anxiety; that was the first time she had left little Nora with anyone, but little Nora did great at camp and since our Mum had that week off Nora was able to write daily camp letters to her mom.

This was Nora’s was first visit to camp – boy she had fun, Mum taught her how to like soup and treats, and all kinds of things. She is a hisser she would hiss at Mum when she was ready for her N-bone treat. Mum just laughed and laughed at her.

Oh yeah mum wants me to remind you that you can still get IFC Arizona symposium shirts – there are a few left. There are Goody Bags left too. Then there are the Globe T-shirts that are available. You can find out what they look like, and how much they cost here.

Because Mum was so sick over Christmas she did not get her present to Miss Loana and Miss Mindy done, dinner and a movie day – so they did it over February break, Mum makes them a scratch meal and they were gong to watch a special movie only Netflix took it off the streaming list the day before. Miss Brie made a surprise visit and joined them too.

After dinner Mum and the ladies visited for a while then Miss Mindy and Miss Brie went back to the finish the closet that Mum stores our food in – Miss Brie started hoeing it out before Miss Mindy got here and the two of them finished it – well they are coming back to complete it with bins on wheels so all the unmixed food is in containers – and Mum can move it around. Mum keeps our mixed food in 5 gal pails. The mice were having a party in there – it looks great – and Mum can actually walk into the closet now! Way to go ladies! You got Mum to do the happy dance.

IGive –sent us a check for $40.47 thanks you guys for helping Mum take care of us though iGive.

Miss Mindy came the next day to help mum work in the room Mum keeps the food she cans each year in, to get it cleaned out - there is a still a ton of work to be done in there – but Mum and Miss Mindy got the jelly cupboard stripped – vacuumed and washed down – jellies and jams put back in it – man did Mum and Mindy come up stairs dirty when they were done.

Miss Donna Dancer’s far away mom and Miss Cindy came in the next day – Mum was planning the last big dinner before going back to work. Mum lives off leftover’s and fast and easy to fix gluten free foods when she is working.

Mum made chicken Alfrado – Miss Cindy had to leave before Mum had dinner done, mum asked Miss Cindy to stay but she needed to be back to Bristol Mountain to pick up Mathew.

Mum got a surprise visit from Miss Cindy two weeks in a row – Miss Shaylyn came to help for the first time, she is 10 yrs old, she loves ferrets so she begged her mom to bring her here to see us, she is now coming to help Mum take care of us.

Mum knew Shaylyn was going to come – she is a good worker – she is a bit timid around us ferrets but she will come around when she realizes we are just trying to get her to play with us.

Shaylyn kept telling Mum how organized we were – a 10 yr old impressed with organization – pretty cool, hey maybe she would help me with the news letter?

Little Nora went home with her mom after a 2 week stay – Miss Victoria stuck around for a bit to help – Miss Donna came in shortly after that – Miss Donna got the play areas done that Miss Cindy was unable to finish – Miss Donna also made dinner for her and Mum – salmon, raw fries w/garlic, onion powder and something else on them – bakes them in the oven on a cookie sheet mum says they were awesome but she will not share with me –

Wow 274 of you looked at our picture site. Mum is a bit behind getting new pictures on there.

Mum had a special run to make so Miss Mindy came to stay with us while Mum was out, she did not get home until 5 so Miss Mindy helped Mum get us kids settled and meds done before leaving – Miss Mindy got the our porch set up so we can start using it as when the weather allows! We love playing on the porch.

We finally heard from the IRS

The shelter is now a Charitable Non-profit Organization; Mum got the letter from the IRS March 8th! Is that weasel dancing news or what? Mum and I have been dancing the happy dance since the letter was pulled from our PO Box

Three major benefits:

1. All future donations to the shelter are tax deductible for the donor;
2. The shelter is eligible to apply for grants that require charitable non-profit status from granting groups;
3. The shelter is eligible to apply for NY sales tax exemption for all its expenses.

Thank you Miss Kathy Titch’s far away mom for putting up with our Mum and the board to get this done! You all rock!

The last thing I want to report is our clinic day is set for June 9th. You are welcome to stop in and join the fun even if you do not need to see our favorite doc.

So for this month I will say farewell my cyber friends,
Sarah missing Possum

Sarah Here: Oh Happy Day! Oh Happy Day! It is time for love, treats and candy! Mum calls it Valentines Day, I call it: A Happy Day! It looks like I will be doing the news all by myself this month – Possum is feeling poorly again, Mum has her up in the sick pen now. So I will get on with the task. First I would like to say, Miss Donna will you forgive me? Mum was so sick she did not get all the important notes for last month at the bottom of the page so I did not tell about you coming in after Miss Mindy left to go home - to help Mum and that you went all over town looking for cotton candy for Mum – finding it way away from where you live and shop – Mum needs the cotton candy to be able to take the meds the Doctor wants her to take, so Miss Donna was on a mission for Mum! It was a successful mission too! Mum got a beautiful get well card from the Fritz family, it made her smile. Thanks M/M Fritz for making our Mum smile.

Remember when we told you Miss Iliana and Mr Bob went to Florida as snow birds? Well Miss Iliana has been sending Mum pictures of what they are doing and where they going in Florida, she told Mum that we could share the link with you to see the beautiful pictures they have been taking. I don’t see any wings or snow on Miss Iliana or Mr Bob so why are they called snow birds?

Miss Donna Z and Mr Scott Z. helped Mum get all the papers into the house that they brought for us. Then we had Miss Patty S. and Miss Donna D. here all on the same day helpen to get things caught up around here. Miss Patty S is Teddy’s far away mom from Canton, Miss Donna D is Dancer’s far away mom from Rochester. Miss Mindy came the next day to help. We sure are blessed to have so many loyal friends to help take care of us.

Miss Victoria was to come help Mum and Miss Mindy get us all weighed in and nails cut but she got snowed in where she lives – then the week after that Mum went to spend time with her 2 legged furless family because her oldest grandson turned 12 yrs old. Mum took pizza and brownies for dinner to be sure everything they had, Mum could eat. Mum had a good time hanging out with them.

Oh yeah Mum wants me to remind you that you can still get IFC Arizona symposium shirts – there are a few left. There are some Goody Bags left too. Then there are the Globe T-shirts that are available. You can find out what they look like, and how much they cost here.

The weather in Naples has been mild – lots of spring like days. Good thing too because Merlin got really sick so Mum needed to get him up to see "Our favorite Doc." Miss Mindy met Mum at the ½ way point in Avon to pick him up from Mum, then took him the rest of the way to get him to the hospital. He was so sick that Our Favorite Doc could not make him better. Miss Princess was in the sick pen for a long time, she left for Rainbow Bridge in January, then Merlin, now Possum is sick so Mum has been busy with lots of sick kids.

Mum had a chance to pick up some extra time at work – to drive the two legged furless kids to a special place and then bring them home, she was going to be gone a good part of the day so Miss Mindy came to Naples to stay with us – boy or boy did she have the shelter sparkling when Mum got home. Mum did the happy dance when she saw what she got done!

Miss Victoria got to Naples this weekend to help Mum, Mum let her do all the rotations, that gave Miss Victoria the opportunity to handle every fur kid in the place, well any of us that were going to bed or getting up, then Miss Victoria helped Mum strip cages and put them back together - some of those cages even got coroplast put on them. Miss Peach is the one that makes sure we have lots of coroplast for the things we need it for. Miss Victoria taught Mum how you can undo the zip ties if you want to take them off, Mum has been cutting so they could not be used again, Miss Victoria taught Mum you do not have to do it that way. Mum was so shocked that you could take them apart!

Mum got the report from Webshots, 358 of you humans have looked at our webshots site

It seems I have gotten though all the notes mum left on the bottom of this news letter, I think I have all the news reported. Since I did not have Possum to help I think it is good that there was not a lot of news to tell, or things I did not know how to tell.

Until next month
Sarah Senior Reporter
Possum advising from the sick pen

Sarah Here: OUR MUM IS BACK! Boy or boy we were not sure we were ever going to get our mum back! Mum brought in the New Year in an unusual way! She spent Christmas day with her 2 legged furless family and grand kids – she was warned that they were sick, Mum shrugged "so what" she hangs out with germ factories all the time on the Big Yellow Thingy so she told her family she was going to be there anyway.

Christmas day she came home in time to do our last shift and do meds – she had a slight sore throat but nothing she was too concerned about – well she should have been!!!! She got sicker and sicker as the days went by, her entire week’s vacation she spent sick. Mum did kids and cages. That means she got us up, put us away, and cleaned our cages, refreshed food and water. Nothing else! The only one that came to visit and help was a new shelter friend Miss Victoria – Mum was too sick to want anyone here but, Miss Victoria had made the appointment and plans to come that day weeks in advance, she lives far away so Mum did not want to cancel her visit, she let Miss Victoria play with us and she sorta did things then rested then did a few more things then rested again. All Mum wanted to do was sleep – she did a lot of sleeping that week.

By New years Day she needed medical intervention! Mum does not like or accept medical intervention easily, she does not like or accept taking meds easily, so when she sees a doctor and takes meds you know she is really really sick!

Mum finally had to ask for help! Mum was checked out, prescriptions called in and meds to ingest, yucky ones – we get our meds in our duck soup – Mum has to take hers without – we want thank Miss Priscilla for the cotton candy Mum got for Christmas – she has been instrumental in Mums' recovery. On top of the pills, Mum was prescribed an inhaler to use that she found to be so yucky that she found it hard to do the treatments that she was told to do 3 times a day. – she gagged, spit and sputtered - Mum promised both doctor Keenen and Miss Kathy that she would use the inhaler before she went to bed that night! Mum happened to have opened one of the bags of cotton candy Miss Priscilla sent her so after doing 2 puffs of the inhaler, Mum opened the mouth wash that was picked up for her to disguise the inhaler taste – there was a toss up which taste was worse the inhaler or mouth wash – so Mum popped a good amount of cotton candy in her mouth! WALA the nasty taste was gone! Mum now has a way to get over the hump so she can take the 3 treatments a day prescribed by the doctor!

Mum needed to get her hands on more cotton candy J – Miss Deena got her a cotton candy machine several years ago but she was too sick to get it out to make some - Mum took her morning inhaler treatment washing it down with a good amount of cotton candy. Not a traditional breakfast. So the song on Mary Poppins movie "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" no truer words have ever been spoken or sung!

Thanks Miss Priscilla for helping our Mum get better! Mum spent a week on her own doing just us and cages – one week and 2 days later the support staff came in to help – Miss Mindy and Miss Marcia were here the Wednesday morning after New Years day to get the shelter and the kitchen whipped back into shape. Miss Marcia got the kitchen done, errands to the PO, bank, grocery store and pharmacy. Miss Mindy got the play areas back in shape keeping up with shelter duties while Mum lay under the covers sleeping trying to get better! Mum was out of work for an entire week. Grandma and Grandpa Harvey told Miss Mindy she was to stay here with us until Mum was back on her feet – Miss Mindy stayed until Friday night.

Mum did a whole lot of sleeping – but it looks like we have her back – she was up and moving – stripping play areas and fixing things like she does around here – 20 days she was down and out! We kids want to say thanks for all the shelter friends that stepped up to help Mum get better, Dr. Keenen was the bestest doctor ever – he made sure Mum got the medicines she needed and the check-up required – he even called to check on her.

Possum here: – Hey Sarah can we get on with it please? Shelter news? Not Mum news!

Sarah Here: HELLLLLLOOOOOOO! What Mum is not part of the shelter news?

Possum here: Yes but enough is enough – Mum is back on her feet, she is back to doing what needs doing around here so we need to get back to doing the news as it is intended to be – like the New link Miss Mindy got up on our site Animal Antics Like – the message we got from Miss Wendy L– take a look -

Marshall Products on Facebook was having a photo contest. So, I submitted one of my pictures that I took down at your place. I believe this might be Riley’s ferret from "Clinic Day."

I got an email from Marshall, that my photo was selected. They will feed up to 5 ferrets for the year. Shipment quarterly or when requested. I will stash those bags away for you. Wendy

Sarah Here: Okay! Okay! When Miss Wendy asked Mum if we use Marshalls food Mum told her yes it in one of our mixes – most of us when we come to the shelter to live we have only been fed Marshalls food so with it in the mix we get the food we recognize as well as other food so we learn to like the other food too - 514 people looked at our webshots site and the messages I got from doing the news last month.

Tell Sarah she did an excellent job and thanks to Possum for helping! Hope you enjoy your week. Marcia

WOW! There WAS a lot of news. Glad Sarah and Possum seem to be getting along well on this project. Bonnie

Possum here: Yeah like that silly!

Sarah Here: Well Possum I have all the notes that Mum left me covered, the only thing we have not done it say

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY! Until next month

Sarah Senior Reporter
Possum Advisor