The Birthday/Christmas Suprise of 2010

Here is the email that went out to the email addresses we were able to find on November 26th!

Hello Everyone,

Tis’ that time of year again, the holidays are here. However, did you also know that Shelter mum Brenda’s birthday is in December? Each of you have participated or received help from the Ferret Farm Shelter in the past year and this is why we are emailing all of you today!

We want to create a super secret surprise that even Possum and Suzie Q must not know about. Both of us wanted to give Brenda a Ferret Nation 142 style cage for Christmas, as she has been slowly converting the shelter’s cages over to these. These cages are great and make cleaning much less strenuous, but they're also not cheap. One Ferret Nation cage is currently about $215.00 after shipping and taxes.

Buying the cage by ourselves is a bit beyond our means at this time and we believe that many hands make light work!

So, we would like to open a collection for everyone that wants to participate. Depending on how much we have total, the goal will be to purchase however many cages we can, and then put the leftover on the shelter’s Performance Food - Totally Ferret account. Making it two gifts in one, a Birthday and a Christmas gift.

We would love to see Brenda's face when she gets her Birthday/Christmas present this year! So we are going to hand deliver her gifts on the weekend of Dec. 18th or 19th (We still need to finalize the date). Anyone that would like to join us is welcome to come. If we all bring a dish to pass we can save Brenda the trouble of cooking for a day and set up these great cages for her as well. Thank you for your support of the shelter and if you have any questions, please feel free to email one or both of us.

All checks or money orders can be sent to:
Brie

For anyone that lives locally I'm also willing to meet up with you for hand donations ;-) I apologize for such short notice, I really, really do! But, since we are hoping to deliver these great gifts to Brenda on the weekend of 12/18 I would ask that all donations are recieved by the 12th.

Thanks,
Brie
Mindy

The Ferret Co-Conspirators:
Loka from across the rainbow bridge, Fran and Chase
Master Toby, Busy Izzy, Tick and Tock too

Thanks to everyone's help we were able to deliver (as a surprise) 5 brand new Ferret Nation cages, 10 big bottles of Ferretone, a wonderful gift certificate for cage shelf pads, and $100 for ferret food!

Although we were not allow to build and teardown cages that day. There has been much talk and planning of how best to 'redesign' the cage banks. In the next few weeks all visitors/helpers will have a hand in setting up these cages. Both Brie and Mindy have offered to come back and spend a whole day creating mayhem!

To say I was surprised is an understatement – I was oblivious – so oblivious that when Pete walked in shortly after 10 am unexpectedly my brain started ticking off the people I knew were coming – oh no - not another – I had not planned for this – I was unprepared – I even opted not to get dressed in my real cloths because I had planned on Mindy and I working on setting up a cage that had come in from NJ – Susann was coming in to go though the cages out in the garage to take home with her for her disaster relief organization – I wanted freedom to bend and move –

When Mindy walked in the door – I showed her the list I had drafted for her – she is my mule when she is here – she brings in papers – big boxes of food – water out of the van – when Mindy said to Pete and I she could use some help getting the papers out of her car I should have seen the red flag – with no heads up from Possum – my little snitch - mum was still oblivious – I thought gee Mindy never lets me help unload the car – she never asks for my help – must be she is not feeling good – off I go to the car with Mindy and Pete – when I got out there I found my van still had all the doors open - I closed them all up – put the water crates back in the back end of my van – still oblivious to Brie standing next to her car waiting for me to come around to see her standing there – to the frustration of Mindy and Pete - I am sure - that I was taking my time getting around to the other side of my van –

When I finally saw Brie standing there all I could say was “what on earth are you doing here” she and Mindy told me they came together – I still had not put any of this together – until they told me to look in the back end of the car – all I could see were boxes and boxes of ferret nations cages stacked to the top of the car – I think I kept saying OMG - but I was so blown away I am not sure what all I said –

However Pete and Brie got it all on video so expect to see it on the site – I hope I did not say anything bad - when I walked around the car headed into the house – I was told I was not going to bring any of these in - this woman I did not recognize walked up to me and said hi Brenda I am Marcia – what a blessing you all are – Marcia and I had not met – she found me when her Vinnie needed intervention – I helped her find our favorite Doc so she could get Vinnie medical help – he is thriving – Doc fixed him up – his mom post –opted him back to health - Marsha lives a long way away – as do all the others that came to spend the day with us -

I then found out that everyone was bringing something to eat so I did not have to cook – they were there to celebrate my birthday and our Christmas – I kept saying I am speechless – Susann said to me she has never known me to be speechless – Mom and Dad Harvey came in with a pot of Chili – Miss Donna did what she does best – she played with fur kids to make us all laugh – and cleaned up the kitchen and sink full of dirty dishes - the card that came with the cages had your names in it – the certificate from Rose – cash for food for the kids – once again I am brought to tears for the love and caring I get from all of you to help me do what I do for these fur kid –

It would not and could not be possible without each and every one of you in our lives – so in Possum and Suzie’s words:

Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank You, thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you! Thank You, thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you! Thank You, thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you! Thank You, thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you! Thank You, thank you, thank you. .

Shelter mum

The ferret room is complete – all the stuff is put away – all the cages are set up and functioning – it is awesome – thanks so much for all you do for us – the fur kids love their new digs - Brenda -