Free mindfulness with the ferrets.

FREE MINDFULNESS

....well I think so...

 Or a great way to de-stress after Christmas, or maybe even during..

 Or forget the bad news...  with ferret fun mindfulness.

A family of loveable ferrets from the borders of Herefordshire and Wales.

And maybe you could help make, or get made, a better film out of the hundreds of hours of films here. 

Maybe people could help by going through some of the hours of footage and marking the funniest or most interesting bits.   

Most days I will add new ferret films from now for a few weeks.

If you bookmark the home page of this blogform website

https://www.wonkyquantum.com/  

or subscribe to the YouTube

 you will see them come along in splurges there...... It all depends on which way the phone signal blows (no broadband, upload via the smartie only)

Do subscribe to the YouTube channel if you can.

You will then get automatic notifications of new splurges of film, thank you.

Sorry to blow my own trumpet but about all I have going for me is I never moan. I have had a few challenges the last five years -   that’s life... all of life’s hurdles and even abysses accepted.... walking the hills and watching the ferrets for hours on end is what keeps me ....well.......always happy. No matter what. But maybe just maybe watching the ferrets has the edge.

 

 Watch the films – all for free.... 

click for WONKYQUANTUM YouTube channel

Comment via the YouTube channel, and please do share with friends. 

Maybe we will find someone with lots of time on their hands who will enjoy watching through the film and  take part in making something of it all. I know there are, especially later on, some really lovely shots... but i think it is maybe best to start at the beginning (post # 1 below or use the playlists). That way you get to know the ferrets. Every ferret is very different in character  and habits.

 

The objective though is that I have never really had time to watch myself and see if anything really interesting happens. For example in this film in this post  where i repeat day #21,  towards the end  of the clip the robin comes along to as usual try and steal the food.  How long does it wait until the coast is clear of ferrets?  Are there patterns in the robin's behaviour that are interesting? Do the ferrets chase off the robin? I would love help figuring  anything interesting in the behaviour of the robin and the ferrets.  And as i say, are there funny reactions from the ferrets? There have been some days  - later in this year, when a couple of robins have been  thieving the food. Is it usually the same robin?   If so is it training an offspring? 

I will create a few simple playlists....

Here is the first 

playlist 1 2018

 

playlist 2 undated sequence winter 2020-1

 (incomplete - to add to)

And there will be a couple more - I have to sort a lot of film.

I will keep it as simple as possible: I have a load of film in sequence from 2018. Those will be loaded up with a number for each film and each number is all the film clips from one  day edited into one youtube film. I won't have time to edit at all yet other than that.

 Then there are a few dozen films taken over a period of winter 2020/21  with a partly broken camera that had lost its auto date setting and i have to work out when they were, and if it matters to the sequence ..

Then there are many hours filmed in 2021 from February and i even upgraded my phone  - or rather at last ditched the simply joke of a phone the Huawei, and got a Samsung, and flip the camera on that is good. So they get better as time progresses. And later on I made an effort to try and capture some interesting moments as they were happening. 

 All the rest will be gradually uploaded from around the 25th December 2021.

Now, there are a couple of dramas along the line. I don’t know what to do about them – show them, tell the story? One may have your heart in your mouth; it did mine.

 

I say that because it is just the daily life of these crits so living in the moment that seems the antidote to any drama. 

 

And then covid came along; well, I live in the middle of nowhere so frankly it made little difference. However the first few weeks i was very worried for one simple reason.... we all appeared likely to die according to the news; so few seem able to cope with or accept looking after ferrets these days. Twenty years ago many in rural areas would have a cage of ferrets but no more - everyone says they no longer have the time. I lived by a small isolated hamlet and 20 years ago i would have found a few people in such places who would be able to give backup – be able to feed and clean if something went wrong in my life..... nowadays I don’t think anyone has the patience or ability to take care of them. 

Ferrets are so easy to keep, however there is one small issue always – their name is from Latin furari to steal, however they would be just as aptly named effugere: the escape artist!.... they can escape from anywhere...and my how they love to look for weak points in a  pen. That means no matter what, when feeding or cleaning, you have to treble check that the pen doors are extremely secure each time in and out. If they do escape then they love to go on very long rambles, and not being raised to hunt for themselves they will usually eventually starve to death. So, ‘animals first’ means when you are looking after them, whatever happens – a call comes in on your mobile with some drama announced,  or the kids are doing something needing the parent, you double check the ferrets are secure first before getting into the human dramas. Or the crits die...

 

Oh that reminds me...... 

I had entirely forgotten :-)

 I have one rather special film  from earlier this year ..... where a certain old man ferret was caught really really ruining my day!

To be found at some point... I couldn't believe what i was seeing

Please share on your facebooks or whatever you use. I don’t use any of it. 

Any questions you can use the contact form which comes into my old fashioned email.

repeat of post #21 as example: THE ROBIN LURKS....

in this film towards the end the robin comes in to case the joint and see if it is safe to steal the food!

And many other films have the robins being rather cheeky.... 

There is another mission I would like to attempt which is just get more people familiar with them. They are a great animal for children to learn from. 

For obvious reasons  - the possibility of a nip, children learn to respect them as they handle them. But also, and maybe this is the best thing in ownership, their behaviour is very much affected by the way are handled and treated. A scratch from a rabbit or Guinea pig may not be entirely predictable, however with a ferret I have seen many children pick up quickly the way of handling them and being with them that ensures no nips or scratches.  You learn their ways and boundaries easily.