Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving. We're going to my parents' house. Lots of family. Lots of food. It should be fun.

--Mary

Test Results

Well, the NP called with some blood test results yesterday. Everything is normal except ANA (anti-nuclear antibody). I don't know if it's really high or just a little high (forgot to ask, but apparently it makes a difference). I'm supposed to pick up another prescription for some more tests and make an appointment with a rheumatologist. Fun. Not really. My joints are really bothering me now, so I hope I can get to the bottom of this quickly.

"I'm Dreaming of a White ... Thanksgiving?!"

We're supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow. Snow! I like snow, but I have a lot of driving to do tomorrow. This should be interesting. I'm grateful we have 4-wheel drive.

That's all. -- Mary

a big "THANK YOU" to Melissa!!

Our friend Melissa just left. She was here for a week and, boy!, did she help us get stuff unpacked! She's the best unpacker ever! And organized? Hah! Martha Stewart's got nothing on Melissa! Eric and I are very, very lucky to have such a generous friend.

That's what I wanted to say. --Mary

FERRET FACES CALENDARS & ADDRESS BOOKS ARE HERE!

Here's the cover for the Ferret Faces 2003 Calendar:

Here's the cover for the Ferret Faces Address Book:

Pretty neat, huh? You can order either one or a set of both at the Ferret Trading Post.

Here I Go...

I have my doctor's appointment today. I hope my joint pain turns out to be nothing serious.

That's all for now.

--Mary

Things Getting Done

Yesterday Eric's mom and stepdad Alan came over and helped get several things done. Hooray! The dryer now has a proper vent to the outside. There's a new, much brighter light in the bathroom/laundry room. We have a hole in the ceiling so we can run the computer network upstairs (where I'm going to work -- alone!). Some stuff got brought upstairs and other stuff downstairs. Extra tables got brought out to the shed in back. Eric really can't lift much at all and neither can I, so it's great to have someone like Alan around who can do heavy stuff (he's a big guy).

Work-wise, we're caught up with all the web orders. We'll be out at the PO box on Monday and will ship out all those orders on Tuesday and/or Wednesday. We'll have to start working on Issue #34 very soon. We already have an article from Bob Church (bless his heart!) and some other things that were held over from previous issues. Plus we're hoping to get an article on giving subcutaneous fluids (we'll do our best to get it, because it's really a very important thing for people to know how to do).

Ferrets

The ferrets are feeling OK. They want to come out in the morning like they had become accustomed to, but we can't do that yet. So they get three or four hours at night. The litter box digging and tipping has stopped (that was only a couple of days when they were still playing in the square playpen structure). We've managed to cover up all the potentially hazardous places in the bedroom. Baseboard heat can be a real challenge. I'm trying to think of a better way to block it off. If you put something under it, you block off the airflow that's necessary for the heat to actually circulate in the room -- thus, effectively turning off your heat! Maybe what we need is a good long trip to Home Depot. I know they make somewhat ornate (or, heck, even crisscross pattern) metal that people use in radiator boxes. Maybe we can make strips of that to put under the baseboards. That would prevent ferrets from getting in, but would also allow airflow. If that works, then we have a good article on ferretproofing baseboard heating in the works.

That's about all for today. I have a lot to do and I'm moving much more slowly since my joints are all achy.

--Mary

To the Doctor I Go...

Well, I finally made an appointment to see the doctor about my joint pain. It started back in August, from what I can recall. The joints of my hands would be stiff and painful when I first woke up. It's been progressing to other joints since then. My hips and hands are really the worst, but my wrists, elbows, ankles, and toes are also involved. Funny that my knees aren't really bothering me (they bother me from time to time). So it's off to the doctor I go. I hope that it's nothing serious. I'll keep you posted.

Unpacking

I finally got totally fed up with boxes and started unpacking in earnest this morning. There is a finite number of boxes, so I know I have to be able to finish at some point in time. I'm hoping to be really set up by Thanksgiving. Right now the mail order area is more makeshift than permanent. But it's moving along. It feels good to break down boxes when they're empty.

Ferret Proofing

The main area of the "house" isn't clear enough to even start ferret proofing, but we've gotten the bedroom safe enough for ferrets. Gabby discovered the joy of crawling through baseboard heating. We have now blocked it off. She also discovered that if you're a ferret, you can slide under the closet door and enter a wonder-world of no-no's. We have now blocked under the closet doors. I guess you always have one ferret who likes to teach you how to ferret proof a room. Since our little Knuks is gone, Gabby has taken up the mantle. I never thought Gabby was clever enough to find little ferret-sized spaces. But a ferret is a ferret -- and Gabby takes that role very seriously. The good news is that the ferrets are much happier having a larger space in which to play.

That's about all for now. I'm going to go back to work unpacking.

--Mary

Finally! Internet access.

Eric set up the cable modem last night. It's so nice to be able to respond to e-mails again!

So here I am, waiting for Eric to wake up so we can move around heavy things. It takes everything out of him to move even a couple of things, so our progress here is slow. It's making me a bit crazy because I really want to get things set up and moving again.

Issue #33

Did I mention that Issue #33 mailed last week? It did. We have our first copies here. It looks very nice (if I do say so myself!). The interview with Richard Bach is l-o-n-g, but is well worth the read. I really enjoyed putting it together. Eric did a really cool photo of Gabby for the Dear Gabby column. You'll see -- it's very neat.

That's about it for now. I should really start moving some things around myself. This place has to get organized faster than it is -- the ferrets need more space for romping. (It's always about the ferrets.)

--Mary

A Nightmare of a Move

We're in our new place -- for the most part. There are still things of ours in our storage area, at Eric's mom's, and at my parents' house.

The movers came on Thursday, October 31, and we were not ready. We had a lot of stuff packed... but we have a lot of stuff! Our landlord said it was ok to come back the following day to get the rest of our stuff. Eric and I went back at about 9 AM on Friday. We were there until 5 AM Saturday, at which point we realized that no matter how hard we wished it, we would not bet getting all of our stuff out of the house at that time. I left a message for the landlord (figuring he was understanding about the move taking an extra day, I figured he wouldn't mind yet another extra day). We went back to the house around 1 or 2 PM Saturday. At midnight, we gave up and went to my parents' house (which is only 5 minutes away), and went to sleep. At 8 AM Sunday, we were back at the house. We arrived back here -- our new home -- at midnight, Sunday. Finally, we had gotten everything out of the old house.

It is now one week since the movers came. We are trying to get our computers set up so we can start working again (right now I'm on my laptop -- not sure when or how I'll be able to post this blog entry). This place is much smaller than our previous place (and the rent is much lower). We are setting up shelves everywhere. Eric took some digital pics the other night; I'll see if I can get them up here when I figure out how to post this. Today we set up all the work tables. I'm eager to get back to work. I know we have a lot to do -- a lot of mail order to fulfill. Anyone who is waiting for their calendar, be aware that we'll be mailing them out Friday (tomorrow) or Saturday. Monday at the latest.

That's about all I have time for right now. Maybe I'll see if I can use dial-up to get this posted. I'm sure there are people wondering what's going on with us.

FYI: Our mailing address is the same as it was (PO Box 1007, Smithtown, NY 11787). We're trying to figure out the phone number we'll use for customer service etc (it'll be a combination phone/fax number with a switching device). As soon as we have that, I'll post it everywhere. =o)

--Mary