The Edge of Empty

With ferrets, one learns to keep closet doors shut unless you are okay with things disappearing from the closet. It is also a good idea to put child safety latches on cabinets with cleaning supplies. Bela discovered this open door in the bathroom very quickly and was discovered after she had a nice nap in the washcloth basket.

How could I let the big day go by without sharing a picture? Here, Ash was doing a check of our old shower pan... And if you want to learn more about these furry friends, check out this great post on ferrets from  Mental Floss .

Ferrets are incredibly curious and love to be in the middle of the action. Although I have titled this post in a way to make them seem helpful, they are more likely plotting the "disappearance" of whatever the Hubster was holding when this picture was snapped.

About once a week, the ferrets get an egg as a treat. I thought it would be fun to share a quick video of Bela enjoying her egg.

     Today, many people (myself included) use ancient chain maille armor techniques to create jewelry. Basically, artisans take small rings made of wire and weave them together in intricate designs. In this way, the ancient weaves are re-imagined for a modern audience. Samples of my work Zili Kit      Although some people take raw wire and create their own rings, many rely on retailers for their needs. From that need, a growing cottage industry has sprung up to supply makers with kits that include all of the rings and instructions for a design. Most of these businesses use very simple packaging for their products. Zipper seal bags with simple printed labels are very common. HyperLynks kit      For companies that are a little larger, heat seal plastic tubing becomes the most common form of packaging. There is one operation that packages per order so that the rings come in a long, unlabeled, sausage-like strip of tubing with a he...

Before heading back to school after Spring Break, I said one last goodbye to the ferrets. It wasn't until I was back at school that I noticed that one of my socks had made its way into their cage.

Last week, we saw Bela pondering her move from bed to chair. She is the planner. Count is a do-er who doesn't take time to ponder. He will see something and go for it. Sometimes that works out for him, and sometimes it doesn't. Here, if Hubster's cup didn't have a lid, Count would have been nose deep in coffee.  I wonder if he is attracted to the coffee or the  ferret crack  that A.E. Ferret   loved .

Ferrets are curious critters. Here, Bela is watching the Hubster and plotting her next move. You can almost see those little gears turning as if she is thinking "How can I get to where he is sitting?" or "What does he have in that cup?"  You will see next week that Count went way beyond thinking about the cup...

This semester, I have been enjoying the Property book selected by our professor. The book was written by John G. Sprankling and Raymond R. Coletta, and I have found the book to be very approachable. I have really enjoyed the interactive elements that make the book quite engaging. The authors seem to have a sense of humor as this line from the preface indicates: "As authors, we own any errors in the text, at least until someone with better title comes along." Instead of making the study of law as painful as possible with archaic language and cases that are difficult to fathom, the authors seem to have sifted through related cases until they found the most interesting ones to illustrate the rules. With many text books this year, I have spent much time flipping through a legal dictionary just to decipher the lesson. So far, that is not the case with this book; the authors have used language that is easy to follow. I am not saying that important legal terms have been left out ...

Ferrets are domesticated, but they still have many of the same urges as wild ferrets. Because a ferret's natural instinct is to back in to a corner to do their business, humans need to block access to all corners  discourage bad habits by strategic placement of litter boxes in corners. Here, Bela is checking out one of the new bathroom annexes that serves the dual purpose of providing an acceptable toilet and blocking what would be the natural choice. If the humans keep the toilets area clean, ferrets will use the acceptable spots more readily. By paying attention to the natural habits, humans can learn how best to help their ferrets be good housemates. For example, a napping ferret is not going to climb out of a nest and go down three ramps to the big bathroom annex. He wants to do his business as quickly as possible so he can get back to sleep. Providing a small litter box near the sleeping hammock is one way to prevent messy corners in the cage. We have trained Count and Bela...

Count thinks he is sneaking up on the cat here, but the cat is ready and waiting! Count will get a swat on the nose and the cat will run away.

When I am not seeing the beauty or humor in the world, I know it is time to make something. I have found that I am a much happier person when I take time to create. Making things has been a part of my life since I was tiny and playing with my grandmother's button box. Last semester, I brought only paper craft materials with me to school. Over the winter break, I spent days making chain maille. I took that as a sign that perhaps I should bring my supplies back for this semester. Because the school had us take a Contract Negotiation course this past weekend (woohoo-1 credit in a weekend!), we have been going for almost two weeks without a day free from school. Last night, I was studied out and decided to take a break. I rummaged through my rings and found that I had the supplies to make this pendant called Dragon's Eye by Lisa Smeltzer. I bought the tutorial from Blue Buddha Boutique ages ago, so it was fun to finally tackle it. The finished pendant is fairly chunky--abo...

One moment they will be wrestling and the next they will be sleeping. The positions can be the same.

I am a Florida girl and have always been a Florida girl. Even when life has taken me elsewhere, my heart has still yearned for the warm breeze and white sands. That is not to say I haven't appreciated and enjoyed the places we have lived. And, thanks to the U.S. Navy, we have lived in some awesome places: Monterey, California-where we watched the otters frolic in the Bay.  Seattle, Washington-where we walked down Queen Ann's Hill to go to Sonics games or the Space Needle. Yokohama, Japan-that allowed us easy access to Tokyo. The common denominator on all of those places is that they were not in cold weather climes. Except for a brief stint in Rhode Island, the Hubster kept me happy by requesting warm locations. Although moving is hard, I made a conscious effort to embrace all of the places that we lived. It was hard sometimes, I am not going to lie. (And the Hubster may have varying opinions on how well I did). But, I like to think that I was fairly successful in keepin...

Most of the time, the cat feigns indifference to the ferrets. However, when the ferrets run through their tunnels, the cat just can't help himself and has to get closer. He will pounce on the tunnels and bat at the ferrets as they run past him. Here, Bela is in the tunnel near Count's hind end and Count is "sneaking" up on the cat.

Count is our tunneler. He is never content to be on top of things and will figure out a way to get under something as soon as possible. Here, he has tunneled from one end of the bed to another. This is no problem unless your feet happen to be under those covers. Even though ferrets have been domesticated for many years, Count is our second ferret that retains the wild instinct to hunt and kill whatever he finds in a tunnel. Do you understand where this is going? Yep, the innocent sleeper is quite likely to be awakened by teeth embedded in a foot or calf. He never went through the phase that many young ferrets go through where they bite anything anytime it moves. He does like his tunnel biting though, so we will continue his training. Besides, who could stay made at this little guy?

From very early days here in law school, my fellow 1L's (first year law students) and I heard about the importance of time. As students, we have been learning to manage our time in order to get things done on time. As lawyers, we have been told that we will be tracking our time in fifteen minute intervals for billing clients. I decided that it is never too early to apply and learn career related skills. To that end, over the holiday break, I dug out one of my favorite parenting tools. Here it is: Yep, it is that magical bit of technology known as a kitchen timer. When the boys were young, we employed these lovely gadgets in many different ways. Quite often, we would make a game of cleaning up their rooms by setting the timer for fifteen minutes and scrambling to clean up as much as possible in that time. This made a game out of cleaning and it also made it more bearable. Those handy timers also were employed in our school room (we homeschooled). Of course, the timers were als...

Those who know me will not be surprised to learn that, of all my classes, I am most excited about Criminal Law this semester. From the time I picked up A Study in Scarlet , I was hooked on crime and Sherlock Holmes was my hero. Over the years, I have read and watched anything Sherlock related from "The Great Mouse Detective" to the BBC's  Sherlock . You might wonder what any of that has to do with this week's word which is  carouse . Per Dictionary.com , to carouse, is to engage in a drunken revel. This is not something that I have ever been inclined to do. However, a bit of me likely lived vicariously through the villains in those old stories. Also, for some reason, carouse makes me think of my grandfather and the stories he told of his time in the Army. Anyway, while reading for Criminal Law, I have seen several fun words that will likely appear here in the future. The first, carouse, is mentioned in the case of People v. Beardsley  heard by the Supreme Court ...

It seems that ferrets are fascinated with anything wrapped in plastic. If there is a plastic bag, they will be in it, on it, and dragging it to their hiding spots if the humans aren't careful. Bela decided that this plastic bag of pennies was going to be her bag and is pictured here just as she begins her attack.

My friends and family know that I do not like snakes at all. In fact, I can honestly say that snakes scare me. This fear stems from several incidents in my childhood. The first incident occurred at my great-grandfather's home. Grandaddy Findlay was a cantankerous old man in his 80's. When I was very young, he took me out to the chicken coop and sent me in to collect the eggs. His chicken coop was low and dark. Once inside the coop, I reached into the nest, found an egg, and pulled it out. Unfortunately, this egg was wrapped in the snake who had swallowed it whole. Needless to say, this was a bit traumatic and I have suffered from ophidiophobia (the fear of snakes) since that time. To be honest, I don't even like to touch pictures of snakes in books. I know this is unreasonable, but phobias are irrational. During the first semester of law school, I missed having time to craft so one of my main goals over the winter break was to spend as much time as possible making things. ...