I can tell that winter is starting to come to an end.....

Pippi sleeping in the sunlight!

The amount of light is growing bit by bit each day and I've heard rumors of the first buds starting to poke out on some witch hazel branches.  I do love winter, but I'm ready for springtime and that ability to sit outside comfortably for long periods of time that the warmer weather brings.

There's two tricks that I've tried this year that help to evoke the feeling of spring by stimulating the sense of smell and touch.

1.  Smell :  Dig up the snow and get down to the leafy mulch layer.  Pull up a chunk of this mostly decayed matter and sniff it.  Yes, it does sound kind of wierd/gross...maybe it pushes the limits of conventional society a bit too far (ecspecially for city dwellers).  But, if you're someone who is really fiending for spring if you really shut your eyes and breathe it in, the experience may whisk you away to warmer days.

2. Touch:  This one I learned by observing Nutmeg (my favorite terrier).  She likes to sit and lounge in the bits of rectangular light that comes in from the windows in our living room.  Today, I decided to do the same and I realized that laying with my face in the sun even though it was inside did give me almost the same sense of relaxation that lying in a field

I started being very interested in the senses when I first started living with ferrets.  They are extremely smart and I remember reading that they test higher than chimps on problem solving!  Anyways, they need sensory enrichment while living with humans because they become bored incredibly easy.  I had a lot of fun building them different things to climb on and bringing in boxes full of snow or leaves for them to tunnel in.

This is Annie.  When I put her down to check out the snow she looked right up at me and scurried with a sense of urgency up my body and crawled right into my hood where she stayed for the duration of the outdoor adventure.  She didn't take to us or the business (a group of ferrets) until she got her torso caught in a hamster tunnel and three of us had to hold her still while Victor cut the hard plastic to release her.  She was screeching and it was horrible but she really took the group after that.

This is Pippi.  She came into my life purely by chance.  Driving late one night in Westboro we spotted her walking down the street.  We put down a box and she walked right in.  She was the best.  I miss her dearly! 


"Ferrets are mammals not rodents and are not even related to rodents. Domestic ferrets are related to minks and weasels, and to the black-footed ferret, a wild, weasel-like animal native to North America."

 Ferrets can sleep so soundly that they cannot be woken up even when picked up and jostled.

Sleeping legs!

There are many old paintings and tapestries depicting ferrets.  They are said to have been domesticated for nearly thousands of years.

Bet you didn't realize how snuggly they are!

"The word ferret comes from Latin and means “thief,” same meaning as the word mouse."  They would snatch many of our items and create a "nest" under the couch of all the things they loved that smelled like us.  

"In the Middle Ages, ferrets were used to hunt for rabbits. Hunters would muzzle the ferret’s mouth, and send it in the rabbit hole to chase rabbits out another end where hunters waited with nets to catch them. This method was used in the United States as well until the early 20th Century."

"They were also used on ships to hunt rats to control their populations. "