mr willy wrote: "I Of course did what any full grown man would do...I screamed like a little girl and jumped straight up in the air."

A wild rodent can be damn scary!

Great discussion here. Steve, that link in your original post says that, as far as territory, the minks are all through Canada, but does not mention the US. Was that link from a Canada-specific site? It seems like the mink is in many US states from the postings in this thread.

Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."