Hopefully, if we get the USB cables delivered, the first week or two in December should see Weezil Cam up and running again.

TO ALL YOU DIE-HARD WEEZIL CAM FANS OUT THERE: now is the PERFECT time to check out the REST of the Extreme Weezils' web site and see what ELSE we have in store for you, our fellow ferret enthusiasts. Don't forget to visit our Message Board and let us know what YOU think, about YOUR ferrets, or even just drop us a note to say hello ...

Sasha and Blitz are the two pack rats of our bunch and delight in procurement of excess household goods [in other words, they love to steal things lying around the house...] However, with our apartment mostly vacant, they have nowhere to hide their precious treasures. Both of them looked so pitiful, running up and down the hallway, around and around the living room, bedroom, and back storage room with their beloved treasure in their jaws, looking in vain for a stash spot...

The fun started when Sasha began transporting all the tissue packs that she had stashed throughout the house, the same ones we collected in bags, up into the front cage and into the ferret room itself. Sasha is so small that on her own she has enough trouble climbing from the living room floor to the front cage door, never mind with a pocket sized tissue pack in her mouth. However, ferrets are willful beings and Sasha sure used her abundance of willpower to hoist herself up and into the cage, tissue pack in mouth never dropping.

Blitz must have seen his sister doing this because after the first couple of days without furniture, during which poor Blitz was prancing up and down the hallway with empty soda cans in his mouth [Blitz's particular treasure of choice] he began a similar tactic. Being larger than his sister Sasha gives him enough strength to hoist empty soda cans up into the front cage almost effortlessly. Soda cans make a lot more noise than tissue packs do. I laughed hysterically as Blitz clanged his way up the stairs in the front cage, cling-cling-clinked his way through the skyway tube, and crinkled the can up with the collection he has started on the top shelf in the main cage of the ferret room.

November 20, 2001 ... Now that the furniture is moved, we have several virtually empty rooms. The ferrets have been frantically running from room to room seeking a hiding place for their treasures. After a couple of days, Blitz found his empty soda can hiding spot between the stack of drawers in the corner of the bedroom and the wall. Sasha creatively decided to bring all of her treasures inside her own space, and has been struggling up into the front room cage with scores of pocket-sized tissue packs in her jaws. Her collection can be seen via Weezil Cam, Extreme Weezil Cam Two - top shelf of the front room cage...

This is our second winter with all six ferrets - and it is Raven's first winter that she is not a few weeks old, so all of them will be sprouting luxurious fur coats day by day. Bandit and Basil have literally EXPLODED into total fuzziness! Boofsh!

I have got to get some video and photographs while they are metamorphasizing into the gargatuan fur monsters that they did last winter. The change is almost frightening, as weight seems to stick to their ferrety figures like hot tar in the summer, and almost seems a bit uncomfortable for Bandit....

All six ferrets have put on some winter weight. Even Sasha and Bear, the two sleekest ferrets of the Extreme Weezils, are looking a bit on the puffy side. Basil has turned a cinnimon red, almost yellowish in some places, and looks like someone dressed him in a fur coat. Bandit is STILL putting on weight every day. The poor guy looks like a raccoon now, all six pounds of him.

This is it - the preparations are clipping along like a sailboat on the calm spring ocean surface ... There are a lot of memories in this place : We moved in the day after my husband proposed to me in 1996, returned here after marrying in Boston, MA in 1997, I succumbed to a severe illness and came out the other side, and of course we formed the ferret group collectively known as the Extreme Weezils in 2000 ... All here in this place.

Such large and meaningful memories taking place withing such a small square footage...

Although we look forward to happiness and never-ending bliss in our new house, I am savoring these final weeks, days, and hours here like I never have before. Each day brings another set of fond memories, big and small, stamped forever on my consciousness to represent what we have achieved here as a couple and as a family.

The Extreme Weezils and Family look upon the future as an inviting, warm place while enjoying our present moments together - each day a different environment presents a new exploratory challenge to six ferrets, two cats, and one married couple.

We are still in a perpetual state of disarray during our Mammoth Multi-Month Move (MMMM) ... Despite my expectations to the contrary, I have taken more photos and movie clips of the ferrets ... The ferret movie clips section has been divvied up into bandwith-friendly segments and indexed HERE ... I have discovered how to warp time - think you have plenty OF it! Pepper and Dusty are getting more aggressive towards the ferrets ...

Today is October 26, 2001 - the first day we are officially homeowners. Although we legally own the house as of today, we are not moving in until the end of November for various reasons. Therefore, we have the luxury of gradually moving our stuff from here to there. As we pack and move, our living quarters are more chaotic than ever. This is much to the ferrets' delight!

A Trip To The Pet Store

We were only supposed to pick up cat food. Dry cat food, even. Alas, despite my warnings to my husband that bringing me along on this particular type of errand would end in more money being spent than planned, he wanted me to go.

I headed straight for the ferret cages - although I told myself not to. Instead of fawning over baby ferrets, I was surprised to see three adult ferrets in an adequately sized cage. It had clean bedding, a food dish, a litter pan, and one hammock. There was no toys or no hiding spots for the ferrets. The sign on the cage said that the ferrets were to be sold as all three - a sable, a champagne, and a large albino - ranging from two to three years old. A bargain for all three at $199. They could NOT be separated, and were used to children, so the sign also stated.

My heart filled with anguish at the predicament these three were in - being displayed at a pet store that also sells baby ferrets. I wanted so very badly to take all three of them home, but luckily my husband gently broke my internal struggles with a kind, "Come on, hon, lets go get our cat food."

What could have happened for the former owners to give up such beautiful, seemingly well-behaved ferrets? How could someone devote years of their lives to their pet and then suddenly decide they have had enough? What about the ferrets - how are they supposed to know what happened? How could they understand.

Rant ends here.

We must have looked at a dozen pet beds, ranging in size from extra small to extra large, heated and non-heated, fleece-lined and fur-lined, but ended up purchasing none of them. A few bags of ferret litter, a large bag of senior cat food, dry, and some furry mice - on sale - and went to the counter to make our purchases. On the way to the register, we both saw a display of Pet Water Filter/Fountains. After I scoffed and my husband laughed at the idea, we looked at the price, looked at each other, and after a long debate, decided to get one. I'm even rolling my own eyes at MYSELF as I write this!

After escaping the pet store without spending TOO much money, we returned home and set up our wares. I opened the huge bag of furry mice and my husband put the pet fountain together. We expected the ferrets to be interested in this new contraption, but were not expecting the LEVEL of interest they would show...

Twenty-five dollars was not much at all to spend, considering the fun we have all had just the past few HOURS with that fountain. It provides both a healthy, well-appreciated alternative to changing stagnant standing water daily for your cats/dogs, as well as being fun for your ferrets AND for you watching the ferrets ...

Fortunately, one of our cats- Pepper - got a few sips in before the ferrets were let out for an afternoon romp. Then it was the Extreme Weezils' turn at the pet water fountain. They all drank out of it, as expected, then proceeded to try to figure out where the water was coming from.

They looked on top of the fountain, behind it, and even tried to tip it over to look under it for the water source. In addition, they all stuck their noses up into the place where the cold filtered water comes out and also tried a few times to paw their way in the same route. When it was all over, four out of six ferrets had their faces and front paws soaking wet and had spread water all over the floor around the fountain. It was definitely a hit! Now we will wait to see how the cats like it....