Monday, November 16, 2009

Marlowe

I've put off a post about Marlowe for a long time now, because I didn't feel up to it. On September 23, I had him put to sleep, after his pneumonia became too advanced to be treated.
I still miss you, Marlowe.





These are the last pictures I took of them, with the camera on my cell phone. He was naturally a cuddly, affectionate rat. In his last few months, however, when I would let him out of the cage, he would often want to come rest on my pillow or, if I was also laying on my bed, in the crook of my shoulder.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Let's Go Out Tonight: Ferretstock '09


I meant to make this blog post many months ago. I got lazy. Oh well!
For the past few years, my mom, her friend Susan, and I go up to Maryland for Rocky's Ferretstock. In case you're not in the ferret enthusiast community (or are related to someone who is), then you might not know of the wonderfulness of Ferretstock. Or the weirdness of it, at any rate. Ferretstock is an excuse for ferret lovers to get together in rural Maryland to eat, drink, and win (ferret-related) prizes. People come from all over, many camp on site. All of the money that is raised from the event benefits Rocky's Ferret Rescue, a shelter in Baltimore County, Maryland. So you know you're eating and drinking and raffling for a good cause.


This is Barb here, in the blue shirt. She runs Rocky's and she's a very sweet and awesome lady.

You might ask what in all goes on at a Ferretstock. Well...there's a cake walk (cake not pictured in this blog post).


There's raffling.



Usually for ferret-related things like this cute little wooden box.


And of course, a fundraising event for a ferret shelter usually has adoptions for adoreable little ferrets. This little boy will learn a very important lesson here.


Which is that ferrets are very, VERY slippery.


Wouldn't you want to take one of these critters home?


I mean, their bodies are just as long and tubulars as the tubes that they like to crawl through and play in.




My mom took pity on whoever made these ferret costumes and put a raffle ticket in. She won. Hers was the only ticket. We haven't had the heart yet to put one of our ferrets in the costume.


Oh yea, I forgot to mention before. There's beer. And a LOT of it. And it's free.


And there's food, from this here food booth, appropriately called "Cafe Fuzz".


My lunch consisted of potato chips and a strawberry daquiri (very strong). Probably not the smartest or healthiest idea.



However, the thing I love best about Ferretstock is that it's a goofy, but really fun way to spend time with my mom. Because I love my mommy. She's the shizzle.