Welcome to The Mischievous Mustelid presents Tonks Talk. 4/8/22

      Welcome, My Name is Nymphadora Arwen Tonks, and this is my blog. 

     This is what I look like—well, sorta. My daddy claims I am never still enough to get a picture, so he has to do it when I'm sleeping. Personally, I think he is just a brat. I guess I will have to break down and ask Mommy for a favor. Of course, she will never let me hear the end of it, but at least she could take a better photo. 

     I am a domestic ferret or Mustela furo. Ferrets are mustelids, and mustelids are a family of carnivores that includes otters, weasels, polecats, badgers, minks, and many others. Domestic ferrets are descended from the European polecat (Mustela putorius), Steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanii), or both. I would like to point out that North America has a ferret species native to the Great Planes, the Black-footed ferret, or Mustela nigripes. I recommend giving them a Google and exploring their fantastic story about being on the edge of extinction and what is being done to restore them. 

     This blog isn't really about them, though they will be discussed sometimes. This blog is really about my big brother Obi and his antics. Here is a picture of him now, and below, we see him as a young kit. 

     I have to admit, he was kinda cute. Don't let that fool you, though, cause he is every bit the weasel. He is sneaky, clever, devious, a thief, a prankster, and the list goes on. So Obi Ferret, I intend to warn the entire world to never get pulled into one of your "adventures" by running as fast as they can away from you when they see you coming. One night, Daddy was talking to a friend (Beth), and she called her dogs a couple miscreants (Lilo and Gershwin, you will meet them later on down the road). After hearing that, the word Mischievous popped into my head, and I knew I had just found the title because that was just the perfect word to describe Obi.

     My brother isn't malicious and doesn't really try to hurt anyone or break the law, but he does like a good prank and lives for adventure. This is where my older sister comes into the picture. 

     Sadie, aka Shady Sadie. Obi always comes up with crazy ideas, but I doubt he would act on them alone. Once Shady Sadie gets involved, she appeals to Obi's vanity, and his thoughts become plans, which, with another nudge from Shady, become an "adventure."  That's her picture on the right. She doesn't allow us to show her face as she is pretty sure she is wanted by some municipalities in several states. (giggles) maybe they can still zoom in on those paw prints. If only I had been warned before I came here. The problem with these "adventures" is how they always end up. Someone hurt, someone angry, everyone grounded. On top of that, we also clean up the mess with Daddy and repair the house before Mommy finds out.

    

I didn't come to live here until early January. My Brother Remus and I both lived at the local shelter. We didn't know each other then but became instant friends when we came to our new home. That's him on the left. Daddy must have surprised him as well.

     Why are most of us sleeping in the pictures, you ask? I forgot to mention that we sleep 18-20 hours a day. So naturally, you would think "adventure" really wouldn't be in our vocabulary, and you usually would be correct, but this is Obi we are talking about, and when he sets his mind on something, look out. Also, notice that he is awake in his pictures. We aren't really sure if he ever sleeps. Sometimes, we aren't sure if he is real or whether he is some corporeal manifestation of all the ferret pranksters throughout history.

     I had heard some rumors before I moved here. Ben and Wicket, who I only knew for a short time before they left for the rainbow bridge, were also from the shelter. They often kept in contact and would share stories occasionally, and we would hear about them but didn't really believe they could be true. Even when I moved here, I still couldn't believe the tales I heard or if many of the stories were even possible, but as we saw in the opening blog, Obi can turn anything into one of his adventures. Needless to say, I keep a journal, and everything gets written down.

     I enjoy meeting and chatting with others and constantly going out of my way to meet someone new. That's what gave me the idea of doing interviews. I figured if humans could have shows where they interview each other, Why can't animals? So I started doing interviews on Facebook, and that's where I met those three fantastic ferrets from last week. They are well known in many ferret groups online for the incredible photoshoots and skits they put together. I had only been doing interviews on Facebook for several months and was honored that they agreed to be guests for the blog's grand opening. We had an epic weekend, and I can't wait to tell the tale. I was told it was the best time since the boat-in-the-house incident, which we really aren't supposed to discuss around Daddy. I guess he is still a little upset about that day.

     I also don't limit my interviews to just ferrets, either. All animals are welcome.

 

    

    (giggles) At least I was awake for this picture, barely, but awake. Besides stories and interviews, sometimes I like to have my brother Obi sit down. We'll go over different topics together, like famous ferrets, the natural history of ferrets, and lesser types of pets (dogs, cats, and such).

 

This is Lilo and Gershwin. We met them a while back, and I hope to get them back on the show later this year. They are the miscreants that daddy's friend Beth referred to that led me to use mischievous.

     There are still two others at the house I would like you to meet since they tend to join us on our adventures. 

     First is Magnus; we just call her Meg. Meg's lightning-fast, so we use her for scouting and sending messages. We must be careful about how much information we share beforehand because she reports everything back to Daddy. 

     Finally, we have Daddy's other shadow, Matilda, but we just call her Tilly. She goes on walks with Daddy, so she really knows the area. She is also a superb climber, so she is our main lookout. Like Meg, we have to be careful how much we tell Tilly because she also tells Daddy everything.

Now you know who we are and what we do. I hope you can come back and enjoy our adventures. I also look forward to meeting many new guests and sharing those interviews, hoping they will bring a smile or lighten someone's day.

     See you all on the next episode of Tonks Talk, where we will be joined by the Mischievous Mustelid himself. Till then, take care.

Nymphadora.