Nana Weasel? Thats a weird name!

I get that all the time. Where and why did you ever come up with something like "Nana Weasel"? Well, it is a very loooong story and I will try and be as brife as possible.

I am a ferreter. What is a ferreter? Someone who breeds and cares for ferrets. (You know, those little critters that look like tube socks with fur and a mask.) Although, I have never taken up the breeding of ferrets, just the care of them.

Anyway, it all began when my family and I lived in New York for a short time and HE slinked into my life! HE? Who he? You may ask. "HE", was the infamous "Benny 'Da Weasel' Gambini!

As a mother of four I have had my share of "Mom, can we keep him/her/it as a zoo full of poor little furry critters kicking, clawing and yelping for a rescue from the pack of two legged hoodlums dragging them into yard claiming they are strays. I had heard of ferrets, in the 80's they became the pet of choice for the Yuppy generation, but never wanted to own one. Well, while overnight camping in our neighbor's back yard, Barb and Frankie found a small, sable male ferret and brought him home. At first it was the usual, "No! Are you cazy? I'm not running a zoo for every Tom, Dick and Fluffy you guys fine!" And as usual I lost the battle with, "Ok, but we keep him only till we can find his owner! But...then it has got to go!" Benny, however, had his own evil, sweet furry charms that managed to steal my heart and the rest is history! I should have known, ferrets are the prince and princess's of thives anyway! They steal everything, socks, shoes, TV remotes, car keys, underwear! Ferrets have a philosophy. "What's mine is mine, what's your's is mine and everything belongs in my Hidey-hole! After we decided to keep him we tried to come up with a name. The usuals were thought of and dismissed, Bandit, Noodle and I think we even thought of Fluffy once. My hubby, being the crazy guy he is, came up with Benny, which he elabrated with 'Da Weasel' and since we lived in NY, he had to be a member of the mob family 'Gambini". Sooo, we humbley greeted with the deepest respect to our family, Benny 'Da Weasel' Gambini, the mob boss of the East side raisin racket dares, who would break your toe knuckles dares, if you din't make yas daily raisin payment dares. Why da toe knuckles, cause I ain tall enough to break anything els dares!

As stated, Benny was my Alpha ferret, the first in a very long line of rescues. After leaving NY we moved to Arizona. By that time I had studied and learned all I could on the care of ferrets from books. Back in the day when the internet was in it's infancy I found out and got deeply involved with "the American Ferret Association", AFA for short. I also found out that the AFA ran ferret recuses from California. In CA ferrets were and still are illegal! They are also illegal in the City of New York. Everyone knows in the AFA that no one in NYC has a ferret, instead they are Jewish rats. In CA no one owns a ferret, instead they are Polish cats! At least that's the defence to the USFG when you get caught.

Anytowhoms, being in Tucson I was in the perfect location and volunteered to become a California rescurer and "The Arizona Hidey-Hole" was born. I could get a call at anytime of the day or night to make a run to the CA/AZ border from Blithe to Yuma to pick up confiscated ferrets who would be otherwise turned over to the Calif Fish and Game and condemned to death without so much as a trial!

Ok, Ok this is all very interesting, you are probably saying to yourself right now, but what's with the "Nana Weasel"? Well, when running covert operations like ferret rescues from the dangerious USFG we had code names, mine was "Little Weasel", given to me by my rescue cordinator. Yes, we all think upon ourselves as "Secret Agents" making daring and dangerious rescues, saving the lives of oppressed, condenmed ferrets. Ok, so it sounds nuts, but let us have our fun for pete's sake! Besides, having the theme song "Secret Agent Man" running through your head when you're making that mad 3am dash to Blithe, a normal 4 hour drive in 2 1/2, and there are no Starbucks to be found, keeps you awake! Don't make me bite your butt crack!

Anyway, I have gone by the nickname "Little Weasel" for many years. Weasel_Wardancer has been my online handle just as long. Well, when Barb, my third daughter, did me the honor of becoming a grandmother, thank Goddess somebody did before I died, "Little Weasel" morfed into "Nana Weasel" and there you have it! Are you happy now? Good! Now go clean your room and call your Mother, she misses you!