Holidays, holidaze

I hope everyone had wonderful Thanksgivingses and Christmases!

For the record, the very first Christmas card received at the library was addressed to me.  Oh, and the second one!  Then the holiday wishes for the humans started in a few days later.

As always, the holidays here were pretty busy.  We had the super-big library Christmas party on Monday, December 1 this year, and 300+ people showed up!  (I hear) it was crazy!  (I napped in the safety of my office and visions of cat-treats danced through my head.)

Here is Clarice the Reindeer with her human, "Candy Cane Chris".  (I have a suspicion that "Candy Cane Chris" is NOT the name on his driver's license.)  Clarice is the highlight of the Silly Safaris animal show, but I don't get it.  She isn't even litter-box trained!  See that tarp she's standing on?  She peed right on that mat, like, three times!

I have to give Clarice credit, though.  She's brave.  Anybody who can stand there and get petted by over 100 children is One Tough Cookie in my book.

My library staff partied on a Monday night in mid-December.  The wildest parties happen on Mondays!  They ate a lot of stuff that they seemed to think was tasty but didn't interest me too much.  Veggie pizza.  What is the point of that?

My library is closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so that my staff can spend those days with their pets families pets and families.  Since I live in the library, I got some extra-special visits from AAB Karen.  She helped me open my stocking so I could see the catnip, treats, and stinky food that Santa left for me.  We spent two whole hours together on Christmas Day!

Now Christmas is over and we are looking forward to a New Year.

Purrs to a wonderful 2015, filled with catnip, treats, belly-rubs (if you're into that sort of thing), and stacks of Important Papers (for sitting on),

Tober

Ideal

November is Turkey Time, right?

Well, here at Thorntown Public Library it's also Take Tober to the V-E-T to be Prodded and Stabbed Examined Time.

I had my Annual Examination with Dr. Jon and his minions at the Thorntown Veterinary Clinic. TVC has a dedicated staff of animal-botherers; you can visit the website and see all of their smiling mugshots.  

This visit was especially Awful since traitors AB Christine and AAB Karen reported to Dr. Jon that I've experienced some hair loss.  It's been a super-itch-inducing fall, so I've been grooming a lot extra. I guess I overdid it a bit, because I have some little bald patches.

This, apparently, was an invitation for Jon to poke, prod, smoosh, mash, and manhandle me even more than usual.  And I got an extra shot in the rear-end!  (That was AB Christine's fault.)

Here's how I greet Dr. Jon:

So.  We meet again.

Other than some less-than-furry patches, I am, again, a Picture of Feline Health.  My treat consumption of as-many-as-I-want per day is just fine, thankyouverymuch:

Ideal = Perfect

Do you see what that says?  Let me help:

5:  IDEAL    Well-proportioned; observe waist behind ribs; ribs palpable with slight fat covering; abdominal fat pad minimal.

 That's me!  The Feline Ideal!

So I guess the V-E-T isn't all bad.  Even though Dr. Jon insists on calling me a "senior" cat.  As long as that "senior" designation doesn't come with extra pokes, prods, and rear-end stabbings, I'm fine with it.

Not really.

Ideally yours,

Tober

Finding Day 2014

Well, guys, it turns out that my library staff DID have a Finding Day Celebration planned for me!  We observed my Finding Day on Monday, OcTOBER 20th, which is okay I guess.  AAB Karen came in on Sunday and we celebrated then, too.

Here's a good action shot of me getting ready for my Finding Day gathering:

Struttin' my stuff!

Look how sleek and trim I am!  Lookin' good for an 8-year-old!  (Even though Dr. Jon and his Thorntown Veterinary Clinic henchmen have deemed me a "senior" cat.  Huh.)

I chose a nice window/under-table area to occupy while examining my loot.

Wow.  A ball with feet.  Thanks, I guess?

I wasn't sure about this green mousie.  Pretty sure I already owned that and some Cheap-o was attempting to re-gift me my own Feline Training Device.

Smells like MINE.

Finding Day, even belated, was pretty awesome after all!

Happily beginning Year Seven (7) of Librarycatdomhood,

Tober

NOTHING

Today is October 17.  My Finding Day is in two days, and do you know what my staff has done to honor me?

NOTHING.

They've been all busy doing stuff like Festival Parade Float Book Sale Carpet Cleaning Mess Week, and making sets and backdrops for the library's Centennial Play, and celebrating the retirement of one of my Assistant Assistant Bosses.

Let me show you.

Here is our Award-Winning "Quack Open a Good Book" float.

It's all fun and games until you wind up with a "beard tan."

Here I am supervising the Mess-making.

Yep.  This is going to be a mess.

After all the Floating, Book Sale-ing, and Mess-making, AAB Linda W. decided that she had had enough and was ready to retire.  Here is a picture of her pretending to be sad about retiring:

Not sad.  Not one bit.

We will miss her, even if she had to force a sad-face for her retirement photo.

Here are a few great pictures of the Centennial Play and the actresses:

Backstage with the actresses!

Gretel writing in her 1912 diary

Mrs. Norris selling the property to F.B. Long and the committee

Our Centennial Play is called The Diary of a Library and was written by Lillian Smith to commemorate the library's 100th birthday.  (No one has offered to write a play to commemorate my Finding Day.  Just sayin'.)  We held the World Premiere here at the library on October 11.  The play ended with AB Christine showing of our Brand Spankin' New plaque in honor of Frank B. Long.  He was the superintendent long, long ago and was the one who wrote a letter to Andrew Carnegie asking for money to build a library for Thorntown.

At the end of the play, AB Christine presented the library's Centennial Quilt.  This quilt has been in the making for a year and a half!  It's a sampler quilt made up of 20 unique blocks (by 20 unique quilters) that all share one common "theme" fabric.

Ta-Da!

I would like to point out that no one has made a special quilt for me.

SO--as you can see, it has been very busy here, but 99.9% of the busy-ness has been non-LibraryCat-related.  I've had to work to get everyone's attention.

I was especially disappointed by AAB Kathy who, as you may remember, is one of the better-trained ones.  I had asked her, like, SIX times to give me a treat (or two).  She ignored and ignored me, so I had to resort to this:

FYI, knocking things onto the floor (and almost into the toilet) is a great way to get your human's attention.

On Wednesday they celebrated Grouch Day by eating cake and taking a photo.  (Around here we celebrate days ending with "Y" with cake.)  They aren't even Grouching correctly!  Look!

All smiles!  (Cake does that to people.)

Here's how you look Grouchy:

Even if my staff has gotten complacent and decided not to throw me a big Finding Day Celebration, I'm still glad that I got Found and have this awesome 100-year-old library for my Forever Home.

My official Finding Day is Sunday, October 19, and AAB Karen, my official Finder, will be spending extra time with me, so I guess I really haven't been Forgotten and Ignored.

Really, I'm so handsome it would be nearly impossible to Forget and Ignore me, RIGHT?!

Celebrating 6 Years of Being Loved,

Tober

Golden Boy

We had a man named Mr. McConnaha and his wife Mrs. McConnaha visit the library on Monday night to talk about photography.  Mr. McConnaha told us about The Golden Hour.

According to the Wikipedia people, The Golden Hour is "a period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer compared to when the Sun is higher in the sky."

I think I need to become a Wikipedia editor.

"The Golden Hour:  A period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which the sunshine makes Tober's fur and whiskers look all glowy.  Also creates impressive shadows."

What do you think?  Maybe I'll see about creating an account. . .

Purrs,

Tober

Summer Happened

Holy moley, you guys!  Where did Summer go?

Well, wherever it went, it can stay there for a few months!  We had about twelve bazillion children in the library this summer and they all had a great time thanks to our fantastic library programs.  They learned about garbage and raptor-birds and science reactions and some of them painted themselves with markers and GLOWED IN THE DARK!

All of this *really* makes it difficult for a mancat to get his rest.

Where do I go when things get too stressful?

I have super-powerful back legs, so I can get up to surprising heights.  (Well, my employees are surprised.  They have wimpy human legs.  No fur on 'em, kinda funny looking.  Glad they mostly wear pants.)

Do you guys have a special spot where you go to unwind?  I might need to find a back up plan.

These ladies have ladders!

Looking forward to fall,

(But no fall-ing!)

Tober


 

You Otter Visit the Library!

I did not authorize the goofy title of this blog post, just so you know.  Sometimes AB Christine gets carried away and thinks she's all clever and stuff.

We have yet another animal attraction here at the library.  I'm absolutely positively sure that you haven't figured out what it is (based on the goofy blog post title).  Conservation Officer Ronald Johnson came to pick up Bob the Bobcat, who has been very popular with visitors.  Since Bob had so many visitors, he asked if we would like to borrow another interesting creature for display at the library.  Mr. Ron offered to bring us us a naked mole rat!  The naked mole rat is also known as a sand puppy.

Just kidding.

We got a River Otter!  (Much nicer-looking than a naked mole rat.  Do NOT Google Image Search "naked mole rat"--it is the stuff of nightmares.)

Here is Ollie the River Otter, so named by AAB Britta.  We aren't sure if Ollie is an "Oliver" or an "Olivia" so Ollie will have to do.

Ollie was accidentally trapped while she (I'll go with she) was out doing her otter business.  You know, doing things otters otter be doing.

I think that's why she looks kind of mad.

Ollie has teeny-tiny ears that AAB Karen called "precious".  And everybody petted her WHILE I WAS STANDING THERE so I commanded that we put the Plexiglas box (now known as the OtterBox thanks to Super-Boss John) over her.  Don't need her getting all the attention, with her "precious" tiny ears and her soft furs!

Ollie will be on display for the summer until Mr. Ron finds another dead animal to bring to the library.

Well, I'd otter get back to my Handsome Nap,

Purrs,

Tober

Twist and Shout!

Omigosh you guys this place has been SOOOO busy this summer!  We've had movies and raptor-birds and a carnival and make-things-with-clay-day and a gross-out program (complete with Kitty Litter Cake) and LOTS of really short tiny people at story times and I am just so exhausted from all of the excitement:

Today we had three awesome Twisters from Balloongenuity visit and make amazing creations for summer readers of all ages!  They made ladybug bracelets, alligators, flowers, butterflies, wearable butterfly wings, fishing poles (with fishes), frogs, turtles. . . the list goes on!

Here are some of the cool things they made for library staff:

Panda-Bear

Weiner-Dog

Lady-Bug Bracelet

Dragonfly

 Of course, I had to test their Twisting smarts before they left for the day.  Notice anything they HADN'T made yet?

Yep, no Cat!

So here's the extra-special Tober the Library Cat they made for us:

I've been Balloonified!

Here's a kind of sideways view.  Check out the magnificent tail:

Balloon Tober is downstairs in the Youth Department way up high on the snack chiller where AB Christine seems to think I won't be able to get him.  (I don't have front toenails, but my mighty sharp teeth could do some harm.)

The Balloongenuity ladies were fantastic.  They brought music and about eleventy bazillion balloons, and some lucky children even got TWO things (but no cats)!  It was a great time!

I'm really happy that my library has been super-busy this summer.  That means lots of people are reading great books, watching great movies, attending great programs, using our Internets and fax machine and copier, and also stopping by to admire me.  (Mostly seeing me, but I don't want to the books and movies and fax machine to get jealous.)

However, a Boss Cat really needs time for Handsome Naps (like Beauty Sleep for humans, only shorter and more effective).

Hope you're all having purrfect summers!

Headbutts,

Tober

Hug Your Cat Day

I logged into Blogger to learn that, much to my horror, today is Bother Hug Your Cat Day.

I Googled just to confirm that this is true.

Hoo, boy.  AB Christine immediately thought that she should have all the staff Hug me so that she could take pictures for the blog.  I immediately told her No, Nope, No Way Jose.

So we looked through old pictures together to find pictures of me being Hugged.  There aren't many.  I usually look a little panicked/distressed in Hug photos.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

We actually had to go back to 2009-2010 to find these Hug pictures.  These are Strangers (though very nice ones!)--I'm usually a little more relaxed for staff Hugs.

Now, please don't be all sad for me because I'm not much of a Hugger.  I get lots of petting and treats and belly-rubs, but I'm kind of ambivalent (that means I can't make up my mind) about Hugs.  Hugs usually involve (a) waking me up from a nap or (b) being picked up unexpectedly.  Also (c) being upside-downed.

Imagine if you were walking to go use the bathroom and someone suddenly scooped you up, flipped you upside-down, and squished you a little?  NOT FUN.  Accidents could happen, just sayin'.

Then I get human smell all over me and I have to take a bath.  That takes precious nap-time out of my day.

Still, I love all of my people and I'm glad they love me enough to Hug me.  I just hope they don't do it all in one day!

Maybe I'll issue a command for 2015--National Hug Your Cat Day is also Wear Black Clothes to the Library Day.  Hee hee!

Hugs to all (who enjoy that sort of thing),

Tober

Squirrel Visitor

We *almost* had an unauthorized visitor yesterday at my library.

As you may know, we have a no-animals-except-Tober policy here at the library.  Now, there have been exceptions to this policy. . . Like when Silly Safaris brings a pooping reindeer.  Or when Animalia brings a skunk and some ferrets.  Or when Not-Tober was here for a day.  Or when the stupid smelly kitten spent an afternoon here.

Or when baby goats visited.  Or when the helper-dog-in-training stops by.  Or the guinea-pigs.  Or the bunnies.  

Or the mini-horse and the alpacas.

Whatever.  We really DO have a no-animals-except-Tober policy, I promise!

Anyhow, yesterday we had a library invasion attempt perpetrated by a rogue squirrel (pronounced SKWURL).  He was pretty shifty looking:

  

He looks nice and polite in this picture, right?  Like maybe he's just checking the place out, looking to see if this might be a fun hangout for squirrels.  Maybe a can of peanuts.

Then he gets a little more animated, looking for spots where he might gain entry, I think:

Or maybe he's just practicing his climbing skills.  He was a medium-sized squirrel, so maybe he needs climbing time.

After he looked in one window and climbed around another, we thought maybe he was done with our library.

See ya!

Then Mr. Skwurl came back and got serious about trying to get in:

Like, REALLY serious:

Keep a-knockin' but you can't come in!

Luckily I was there to intimidate him into going away, because I am very Bossly and Imposing to a small-to-medium sized squirrel.

Go 'way.  I was napping until you started bothering my library.

It's a good thing I was here to save the day!  

Protecting my library against invasions by wily teenaged Squirrels,

Tober

Carnation = Instant Breakfast

You're gonna love it in an instant!

You probably think I'm going to write about the powdered drink mix.  

Nope.  Even better!

Wow, I love love love biting on silk flowers!  The library staff leave them all over the place for my enjoyment in the springtime.  This year they've started complaining about how ratty all of the flowers are looking.

Guess they'll have to go buy more!

AAB Kathy may have to add "Photographer" to her job description.  Yesterday she took an awesome photo of me:

Look at the multiple Tobers in that shot!  Notice how she caught my blatant disregard for her photographic efforts!  See how my ear furnishings are nicely profiled at that angle!

In addition to being a Photographer, AAB Kathy is now an Officially Certifiable.

Oh, hang on a minute. . . .

Oops.  Okay, AB Christine just said AAB Kathy is Officially Certified as a Librarian.  That is a super-good thing!  Yay Kathy!

Apparently "Certifiable" has another meaning. Whoops!

A Certified Carnation Instant Breakfast Lover,

Tober

Self-Service

This library is a full-service library. . . 99.9% of the time.  

Sometimes important services slip through the cracks.  (Don't tell this to the Library Bored.  It might get somebody F-I-R-E-D.)

Like right here, in this picture:

Just look at that!  Had to get in the drawer and rummage around for treats!  

In other (better) news, I was visited just last week by a foreign dignitary.  Her name is Kathy and she works at the Speedway Public Library, which is in Speedway, Indiana, not too far from (you guessed it) the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Thank goodness for Kathy she is a librarian and received a Tober Baker & Taylor 2014 calendar, which alerted her to my existence!  So she came to see me and brought me two nice gifts.  AAB Linda took her on the grand tour of our library and she deemed it Very Nice.

Here is a picture of the two of us and my new special pillows:

Thank you for visiting me & bringing me presents, Kathy the Librarian!  

I hope everyone is enjoying nice weather.  Here we are finally having Spring, which is great.   Hoodie Hoo took an extra-long time to get rid of winter this year!

Reporting from a favorite sunpuddle,

Tober

My Way

AAB Karen decided to take a whole day off today, which almost never-ever happens.  Apparently she had Important Non-Library Stuff to do, whatever that is.

So I'm stuck hanging out with rest of the staff.  They aren't too bad until it comes time to have snacks.

AB Christine is especially stingy, but I thought she might feel sorry for a hungry Library Cat with no thumbs.  So I hung out with her for the afternoon.

First I showed her my famous cord-chomping technique:

That's an old audio cable that I absolutely love biting on!  (It's wrapped around a $30 scratching post/ball chaser that I couldn't care less about.)

I hopped up on AB Christine's desk to chew on some papers and knock her writing utensils to the floor.  ALSO to stomp on her keyboard while she was editing a Word document (that always gets me some attention!).

She tried to distract me with some Feline Training Devices:

Yep, that's my Forever Pepper!

So I did this to make her AWWWW, 

and then I chewed the corners off the invoices I was sitting on.

No matter how involved I seem in my activities, I am always alert to the goings-on in my Library.  (Note the raised paw.  For some reason that always makes people AWWWW, too.  I use it to swat at people who aren't listening to my treat requests.)

After a while I resorted to staring.  Notice my Frown of Displeasure.  This photo was taken about a nanosecond before I meowed "Hey put down the flashy-box and get me some treats!"

Not an artsy shot.  Just a tilted photographer.

Repetition is the key to training these humans.  So I meowed repeatedly, and we seem to have made some progress.  I think I got her to reach in the treat drawer two times in one sitting, which is a Friday Miracle!

Thank goodness AAB Karen is back at work tomorrow.  

Weak, extra-rattly, empty-belly purrs,

Tober

PS - Today I taught AAB Becki that I do not like beef-flavored wet food.  That one is a little easier to teach.

Tree-in-a-Pot Program; aka I Was Not Invited

So about a million years ago we had a program about Bonsai here at the library.

Okay, okay.  It was January 20th, 2014.  Right.  That's awhile ago when you're a little cat.

Anyway, the Boone County Home Ec Club invited Mr. Scott Yelich to their meeting at the library to talk about Bonsai plants.  Bonsai, which you say bone-sigh and not bahn-zigh, literally means "tree in a pot." 

Mr. Scott Yelich brought a whole bunch of tasty little trees-in-pots to the library and I was very purposefully EXcluded from the program.  Just look at this:

That, my friends, is a photo of me on the WRONG side of the meeting rooms door.  I think I'm saying something along the lines of "You let me in right now so I can sniff those trees-in-pots and maybe bite on some of the nicer-smelling ones!"  Jade plants are one of my favorites (R.I.P. AB Christine's Jade plant) and I found out later that Mr. Scott had one of those and no one bought it for me. 

After a while I gave up at yelling.  I'm pretty tough, but not tough enough to pull that door open with my paws.  FYI--this next pose is guaranteed to yield belly-rubs from whatever meanie is taking photos of and/or teasing you:

Commence sympathetic attention in 3. . . 2. . . 1. . .

So I got plenty of tummy-rubs and pettings, but not Jade plant Bonsai. 

Maybe next time.

Tober

Hanging with my Peeps

So we have a new Spring-y display going in the Youth Department case.  I like to supervise the installation of these displays to insure that they meet strict Library Display Standards.

*sniff*

What in the world are these things?

*sniff sniff*

Okay.  So they're called Peeps.  That makes sense--

WAIT A MINUTE!

Those are Bunny Rabbits!  Bunny Rabbits don't make "peep" sounds, do they?  I'm confused.

Well, Bunny Rabbit "Peeps" may not peep, but they do make for a nice display:

Click to biggify & read the fun book titles!

Spring is only a month away!

Purrs,

Tober