Game Night, Interrupted

Every couple of months I remember to write a blog post my library hosts a hootenanny called Family Game Night.  We have all kinds of games available for people (even the little ones) to come play at the library. 

We have Qwirkle and dominoes and Yahtzee! and Hive and Shut the Box and Candy Land and Happy Salmon and Apples to Apples.  Among other things.  You get the idea!  People can drop by any time during Family Game Night and learn to play a new game, or play an old game they haven't played in a while, and eat snacks and have fun.

Last time Family Game Night was in the library's Guinn room, which means I got to attend!  (When it's in the meeting rooms the doors to the main library are shut and I don't get to attend.)  They learned to play a new game called Dream Home.  After they spent 15 minutes watching a YouTube video and who-knows-how-many minutes bickering about the rule book and whether you can put a garage in the attic (really), they decided the game was fun and went on to start a second round.

What does every Dream Home need?

You know the answer to this.

TA-DA!

A cat.

Don't mind that little bit of pudge.

It was determined that the game Dream Home was fun, but not as much fun as photographing, admiring, and petting me.  Success! 

And a fun night was had by all,

Chance

Right on the money!

I'm in on the money. . . isn't that a song?

The library made some new currency to use as prizes for some of our younger readers.  They are called Snack Bar Bucks!

Of course, every money has a picture of something on it, usually a famous human or a bird-of-prey or a flag or a building or a seal.

Oops, wrong seal.

Anyhoo, it was decided to feature Yours Truly (that's me) on our Snack Bar Bucks.  Check me out!

Action shot.

It's pretty cool to be on money, even if it means I get bothered during my nap.  Thankfully I recover from interruptions very quickly.

Literally 3 seconds later.

I hope people visit me when they visit to spend their bucks!

Chance

What I found out.

You guys, it has been so long since I posted on here that I almost forgot my Blogger password!!!

Well, it's been a busy busy summer, but I won't waste time telling you about the robot, GBR4, who visited with children at the elementary school, or the awesome Snakes Alive! program (featuring Melvin) that had kids screaming in the meeting rooms, or the Water Show that ended with three soaking-wet librarians and 100 soaking-wet kids, or the action-packed carnival, or the visit from the Bubblemobile, or the Color Run, or the visit with our hometown heroes (police, firemen, and other emergency responders), or how visitors spelled the word R E A D in the library parking lot, or Super Summer Bingo, or the grand finale Geronimo Stilton Treasure Hunt (during which two HUMONGOUS mouses visited the library).  I also won't tell you about the really cool scratch-off tickets that the teens received for checking out books and movies, or the 123 bracelets that library visitors and staff made to send to Operation Gratitude, or the Thorntown Heritage Museum potluck, or our book discussions, Taste of Home programs, storytimes, lunch programs. . .

What I will tell you is that I found out that if you do THIS

as the last person is leaving for the night, she will inevitably drop all of her things and stop to give you one last tummy rub before she leaves (after taking a photo, of course).

I'm not sure which part of that sweet move does the trick.  I mean, is it the front paw positioning?  Or the "don't leave me" eyes?  Or maybe that I flop down right where she's walking. . .

For some reason this next photo caused a lot of oooohing and aaaaahing, too.  (I'm looking at some water in an ice cream bucket.)

I hope you all had really great summers.  I had a fantastic summer filled with naps, nice visitors, belly rubs, and head scritches.

The only hiccup was when I went to my annual V-E-T check up at Thorntown Veterinary Clinic.

I really like those people in spite of the fact that they poke around where they shouldn't, look in your mouth, and stab you in the rear.  After all, they did save my life.  However, they turned traitor when they saw me in June, proclaimed that I was overweight and had "a lot of fat over his ribs and on his belly".  So now I'm on a diet, which means Karen has to give me treats when nobody else is looking, and the others only give me treats for special occasions.  (They also recommended regularly brushing my teeth, hahaha nope.)

I did have a "cooperative" attitude, yay me!

The upside of fewer treats = more pettings.

So I guess it's alright after all.

Happy Monday!

Chance

TGIF

I used to think Mondays were the best days. . . and, don't get me wrong, they're still pretty great!  Mondays are wonderful because that's when my people get back to work and there are lots of treats and attentions available.

But Fridays, wow, Fridays have turned out to be something special.  On Fridays we have ladies who come to quilt at a big ol' quilt frame that sits under a window in the Carnegie section of my library.

Cindy brings her cat brush and brushes away some of my extra furs.  The brush is great 'cause it smells like her girl-cat, so I sniff it a lot between brushings.  I imagine her girl-cat thinks the brush smells extra great when it returns home from a Friday visit to the library.  💗

I also learned that "quilt frame" is human-speak for "Amazingly Comfortable Cat-Hammock."  I can't believe no one has told me about this before!

This is me and my friend Phyllis.  Phyllis is one of our quilting ladies, and she was also one of my very first friends at the library.  When I was still sick and lived in a staff office, Phyllis would always visit my office to say "hi" to me.  Even when I was feeling extra-rotten and hiding in a corner I would come out to say "hi" back to her.

There's a little extra sag on that end of the quilt.  FYI.

I lounged around on her section of the quilt for a while.  Apparently when I'm on there it makes it difficult for her to work.

Just look at us!  :)

I'm thankful for Cindy's excellent brushings and my visits with Phyllis on Fridays!  Such a lucky guy.  (Don't tell the staff I said that.  It's best that they think I'm needy and deprived at all times.)

TGIF,

Chance

My First Gotcha Day!

One whole year, holy moley!  April 29th is my First Gotcha Day, but my coworkers are celebrating me today AND tomorrow!  (Really, I've been celebrating being Gotcha'd all year long.)

So, I got a card:

Actually, I have two of them!  One is upstairs, and one is downstairs, so that staff and visitors can sign the cards and leave nice notes for me.  It's kind of like a Gotcha Day Guestbook.

Upstairs.

Downstairs.

The cards will be out all day tomorrow, too, so people who visit the library can add their wishes.

Karen brought in a hand-me-down cat bed thing that Sandy had passed on to her.  It is kind of small, but it was FULL of interesting smells.

I gave it some good exterior sniffs. . .

Then went in a little further. . .

But I never did go all the way in.

Not quite.

After that I had some special tuna treat!  It comes in a tiny pouch like this:

Computer mousie for scale.

. . . and, because it's my Gotcha Day and we're really classy good recyclers, I ate my tuna off of an old Christmas paper plate.

It still tasted great!

After a tiring morning of being loved and appreciated, I decided to take a nap in Karen's jacket. . .

. . . for 6 hours! 

After my nap, I decided I wanted to exercise a bit.  So I wandered down to Christine's office and stared at her bottom right drawer.  It's where Da Bird lives.

Ah HA!

I can't believe I've been here one whole year!  I'm still new to some people, and we even have people who forget and call me "Tober" sometimes.  I don't mind.  It's an honor to be a library cat, and loved, and I'm happy that I can continue the tradition of excellent Librarycatdomhood here in Thorntown.

Thanks for reading about my Gotcha Day.  My first year has been awesome!

Purrs,

Chance

Tornado Warnings = Fun in the Restrooms!

On Thursday we had spring weather in Indiana.  That means that it gets all blowy out and the staff get uptight.  This time the spring weather was extra spring-y, and the tornado sirens sounded.

When that happens, everybody has to go Downstairs into the library hallway near the restrooms; that area has the least amount of windows and the most amount of hallway.  And me, lucky me, I got to hang out in the bathroom!

It was the Best Day Ever!  Something I love to do, but that I don't get to do anymore now that I'm a Library Cat, is drinking toilet-water.

I thought I was being sneaky about it.

Not so sneaky!

You see, I try to follow custodian Sandy into the restrooms when she's cleaning, but she won't let me go in.  So I try to follow some of the staff into the restrooms, but they won't let me go in.  (Sometimes I serenade them while they're using the facilities, just to let them know I'm still out there, wanting in.)  

But since the lower level ladies' restroom was determined to by my Safe Place during a tornado warning, I had THREE toilets to drink from.  It was great!

I also learned that the lower level ladies' restroom is equipped with the most comfiest cat bed:

It's like it was meant for me!

Not everyone likes tornado warnings.  The staff all had to hang out in the hallway and they didn't have any books to read or toys to play with.  Barb was sad because she had an awesome program scheduled and the tornado warning took up half of it.  So I guess I won't hope for more tornado warnings, but just be thankful that I got my fill of toilet-water and a good snooze in the restroom cat bed.  

Why would they put that bed in the restroom if I'm not allowed in, I wonder?

Chance

Smelly Shoe Collection

Each year during the month of February my library serves as a collection site for the Boone County Solid Waste Management District (BCSWMD for short, kind of) Smelly Shoe Collection REUSE Heart & Sole Shoe Collection.  Unwanted, neglected shoes can be donated to the BCSWMD and they find new feet to go in them!

If the shoes aren't suitable for new feet, they can be recycled so they don't end up in landfills!

But the best part. . . is they bring all kinds of interesting smells to the library.  Each day I pass by the bags and my super-sensitive and curious feline nose learns new smells.  Some of these shoes have spent a lot of time outside, and some come from farms, and some are work shoes that used to go to offices and factories and stores and restaurants, and some have played basketball and gone to the gym.  

We have TWO bags full!

Mind you, the humans staff with their inferior noses can't smell these wonderful smells.  (They aren't complaining.)

I think that this is a fantastic effort by the people at the BCSWMD, even if their organization name is too long to type out more than once.  

However, they delivered the supplies for the Smelly Shoe Collection in this bag:

Neat bag!!

I was horrified.  Do you see it????

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recycled PET!!!!  I am very supportive of recycling and all, but this has gone too far, people.  I'm going to write a letter to the BCSWMD bosses and. . .

. . . hang on a minute.

Oh.

Okay.

So, someone just told me that PET is short (for real, short) for polyethylene terephthalate, which is especially long for plastic.  So the bag is made from 100% recycled plastic, with is a good thing, not 100% recycled pets, which is a weird (and creepy) thing.

In that case, I can relax.

Relaxing.

If you have any shoes, smelly or otherwise, you can bring them to my library by February 22!

Purrs,

Chance

My First Art!

I have exciting news!  Last week I received my very first Art!

There is an "Art Gallery" tab on this blog site (up there ⬆) that has a collection of most, if not all, of the Art that was created in Tober's honor.  Well, I have been here for 9 (NINE) months now (can you believe it!?) and I don't have any Fan Art yet.  (Mind you, I am not counting that silly drawing that showed up on the staff wipey-board in September.)

Mr. Sam Hillger has remedied that situation with this lovely portrait of me.  Notice that I am surrounded by colorful mouses (not balloons!):

Fancy-Pants Chance!

My *bling* is even included in the picture!  I think Sam did a great job of capturing my likeness, don't you?  My only critiques are that my ears should be a bit bigger, and I don't appear to be frowning.

Even without bunches and bunches of Art, things are pretty great here at the library.

Me and a pal.

I hope everybody has fun weekends.  I will be here, waiting for treats, faucet-water, Da Bird, and belly rubs.

Purrs,

Chance

Love is in the air!

It isn't even February yet, but love is in the air at the library!  We have Pass-It-On Valentines floating around, and a "Blind Date with a Book" display, and a youth I 💖 Reading Challenge!

In the spirit of the season, and because I'm awfully nice, I made a Valentine for BigBear:

"BigBear" - because we're real creative with names around here.

I had to have some help with the glue stick part (and, to be honest, the scissors part).

If you look really close you can even see where I made the dot at the bottom of the question mark a little heart.  I'm detail-oriented like that.  (That's important if you want to be a good library cat.)

Just look what I got it return:

TWO cool cats in that photo!

I did not expect a response so soon!  And look on the inside:

Not sure why this picture is so GREEN.  Huh.

Now, I haven't asked. . . but I'm gonna bet that BigBear needed help with typing that out!  Isn't that a nice Valentine?

Yes, I am snoozing in both of my Valentine photos.  Photographer tried to wake me, gently, with a chin-scratch, but that only made me even sleepier.

I hope you're all working hard at crafting your Valentines for Valentine's Day.  You only have two weeks, and glue stick is difficult to get out of your fur!

Purrs,

Chance