Dead Plants

 Someone around here must have the exact opposite of a green thumb.  

A while back, one of the staff members very thoughtfully painted a plant pot for me.  

It looks like this:

Isn't that nice?

And eventually, another staff member planted some cat grass in it, which started to sprout delicious looking shoots.  

That is, it was sprouting- until it was dehydrated and then drowned.  Which caused nasty fuzzy things to also sprout in it.  

One morning I walked downstairs to find this:

And now no one has attempted to try to grow anymore delicious cat grass.  So all I have is an empty pot.  With some dirt crumbs in it.  Which if you ask me, is a pretty sad sight.  

No one has taken any initiative yet to try planting something new, though perhaps that's for the best...I could just end up being disappointed again.  

Maybe one day I'll have a pot of delicious cat grass to munch on- until then, I'm trying to figure out how I can get ahold of one those nice poinsettias that are juuuusst out of reach.  

Chance  

I am not a Circus Cat

 Barb L. just doesn't know when to quit.  I try to tell her that I'm just not a trick cat.  I ignore her, give her the cold shoulder, and try to express how much I don't want to be a trained circus cat.  But unfortunately for me, Barb is a very persuasive human. 

Which is why this happened:

Yes, that is a picture of me giving Barb a high five.  Of my own free will.  I think she was pretty happy I didn't hold out 11 1/2 months to finally cooperate with her on this trick.  

However, there are still some things I will NOT do.  

For example:

I will NOT jump through a hoop.  Even if it is a very nice embroidery hoop someone very nicely let Barb borrow for this humiliation   trick.  

Not gonna do it.  Nope.  

Why can't we just stick with the high five...

Barb's next task on her to-do list is to teach me to "speak" on command.  I'm looking forward to seeing how she will try to convince me to do that one, because I'm thinking I might need a whole lot more treats for a trick like that.  

Definitely not training for the circus,

Chance

The Flitting Fluttering Things

 The end of this summer the flitting fluttering things came to visit me.  Which was very thoughtful of them (though I'm not sure they had any choice), and I quite enjoyed their stay.  

I kept trying to give them *love pats* to let them know how much I appreciated their coming to visit, but there was this annoying screen thing in my way.  And on top of that, every time I tried to let the flittering things know how much I appreciated them, a staff member would unceremoniously pick me up and move me far away from my flitting fluttering friends.  

I guess they were trying to protect the delicate nature of the flitting fluttering things, but I'm pretty sure my *love pats* weren't going to harm them.  

I've heard tell that all my flitting fluttering friends have flown south towards Mexico for the winter (they don't have a nice library to stay inside all winter), but I'm looking forward to their return next summer.  Hopefully next time there won't be an annoying screen thing in my way.    

Chance

A Marvelous Thing Called Catnip

I had the opportunity to eat another plant the other week.  But this time, I was actually ALLOWED to eat the plant.  It was the very wonderful plant, Catnip.  I've had dried catnip before, but this catnip was super duper fresh!  

*sniff, sniff*

At first I was a little suspicious.  The only plant I'm ever allowed to eat are dandelions!  But then...

 

*pat pat*

*nom nom*

It was delicious.  And very energizing.  I didn't take a cat nap for at least an hour.  

It was pretty marvelous.  

Hoping someone will bring me more of that green stuff,

Chance

Braving the Cardboard Labyrinth

 I've always been told that mice like mazes and are even experts on running through them.  So a cat has to wonder; Could a cat beat a mouse at running through a maze?  Entirely for competition, of course, not because I want a snack.    

The other day I decided to test this.  Or rather, Barb L.  had a cardboard maze set up for a summer program, and she thought I'd like it.   

The maze was entirely pitch black inside, which I guess was a problem for the humans who went through.  A bunch of them took flashlights so they could make it out.  The ones who braved the pitch dark without a light kept running into the walls, which was hilarious.     I, on the other hand, am a cat.  And cats don't need flashlights to walk through a dark maze without running into the wall.  It's one of our many talents.  

I heard that some kids found the dark and twisty carboard tunnel to be a little scary, but I thought it was quite exhilarating.   In fact, my third time through I was having so much fun I didn't want to leave.  One certain staff member was beginning to be concerned I might be lost and stuck her head in the maze to try and find me, which I thought was silly.  If I wanted to be found I would have been found.   

"Chaaancee!!  Here kitty, kitty!"

Eventually I came back out into the real world.  

Which perhaps was a mistake, because I'd really like to leave the "real world" for a bit longer and go back into that box maze. 

Training for a mouse maze,

Chance

Three O' Clock

 Everyday at approximately 3:00 pm I make an expedition down to the youth department's front desk.  You could call it my daily constitutional.  Or snack time.  Either works.  But everyday without (almost) fail, I arrive in Youth department lobby at 3:00 pm.  In fact, the staff downstairs have learned to anticipate my visit, and sometimes, if I decide to be a little early (punctuality is everything), they tell me to wait for my snack time.  Which is ridiculous, because I'm pretty sure I'm the one who says how things should be done around here, not them.  

Anyway, a few weeks ago (I know, I'm slow when it comes to writing) as I was coming down the stairs early again, I overheard my name said.  Of course, this made me walk down the stairs faster so I could find out what was being said about me.  As I turned the corner into the youth department, I was greeted by the most wonderful smell of green plants.  There sitting on a cart, was a delicious looking pile of foliage and greenery.  

What is that delicious smell?

Naturally, I decided to more closely investigate this pile of plants, and jumped onto the counter near the cart. 

 

//sniff//sniff//

But as soon as I got my nose close to these plants, they were wheeled away and locked in a room.  I was told that this was for my own protection, the plants weren't for me, and something about them giving me cardiac arrest.  Humph.  

Turns out, that earlier when the staff was saying my name it wasn't because they wanted to give me more attention.  It was more along the lines of "Quick, we better hide these plants before Chance sees them and eats them or he'll go into cardiac arrest."  Which I guess the last part is thoughtful.  I'm not particularly sure what cardiac arrest entails, but I don't like cars and I don't want to be arrested, so I probably wouldn't like it.  

Well, the summer reading kids are coming in, so I'm off to find somewhere to hide out for awhile.

Chance 

The Second Greatest Napping Spot

 I've finally found it.  The second greatest napping spot in the whole library.  The first greatest spot, which can never be replaced, is of course, my bed on Karen's desk.  But the second greatest spot, believe it or not, is actually in the children's department.  Fortunately, it's mostly out of the way of the tiny, grabby hands.  I'd like to dub this spot "The Amazingly Comfy Free Bags" napping place.  

"zzz"

As you can see, it's so comfy I'm able to fall asleep even though there is the possibility of tiny, grabby hands coming in through the doors behind me at any moment.  The worst part about this napping spot is that eventually it will disappear.  In fact, as of now there are only 3 bags left in the stack, which is barely enough to constitute as comfy anymore. I suppose this means I will have to find a new second best napping spot, or perhaps reinstate the sunny spot by the window.  

Until then though, you can find me napping on the "The Amazingly Comfy Free Bags".  

Chance

Defeating the Mouse

 It's taken me a few months to finally get around to writing this blog post (So much for my New Years resolutions).  But I have good reasons.  All this time I have been carefully and stealthily stalking the mouse.  This may lead you think we have a mice problem, but that would in fact be false.  (Trust me, if there was a rodent problem in the library there would be much more shrieking from certain staff members who I will not be naming).  Besides, if there were a mouse in the library, I would most definitely catch it and eat it.    

But fortunately for certain staff members, we are overrun with mice of a different kind.  The Computer Mouse.  While common field mice can certainly be wily, computer mice are a different kind of crafty.  If you want to catch a computer mouse, you have to wait until it's not being guarded by the humans.  

But if you wait too long after the humans have left, the mice don't do anything, which is well, rather boring.  It's like they know you're watching them.  So you have to wait for just the right moment between when a person is using the computer mouse, and that person is entirely distracted, to spring upon the mouse.  Or in my case sit.  Not only did the mouse not expect it, it was so shocked it could only sit there.  Which as I said, is boring, so I didn't stick around too long.  

The conquered mouse.  

I came, I saw, I conquered the computer mouse.

But what the mouse (hopefully) doesn't know is I'm still devising a plan to catch it in action. 

Scheming,

Chance

Vegetables and Late Night Escapades

As you may already know, I'm fond of eating treats.  They're just so perfectly crunchy with the right amount of salty flavor.  But unfortunately I also know that treats aren't always the best for my health or my, ahem, waistline.  So Karen brings me vegetables every so often to help me even out.  "Vegetables" consists of a handful of dandelion leaves, when the weather is right for picking them.  

Eating my veggies! 

The thing is, I'm not quite as fond of vegetables as I am of treats.  So I always end up leaving a few leaves behind.  This results in Newbie Lillian chastising me about how I shouldn't leave my leftover vegetables on the floor or the counter.  

The leftovers. 

A few weeks ago, when the Christmas hubbub was going on I snuck back into the forbidden meeting rooms when no one was looking.  While enjoying the night accidently locked in there, I found another "vegetable" that no one will ever let me try and is always kept locked away; the poinsettia.  

Now I know what you're thinking.  "Chance!  Don't you know that poinsettias are poisonous to cats?"  Well, yes and no.  It's a lot easier to remember when there isn't a juicy looking plant staring right at you.  Plus, with it being January and plants not growing outside, I haven't had a green dandelion in weeks.  All I could think about when I saw that green poinsettia plant was how tasty the green vegetables from outside are (mostly anyways).  Luckily, I didn't eat the toxic part of the plant, and it turns out poinsettias don't taste that good.   

Eventually, after spending hours locked in there with no place in sight to use the restroom, someone let me out in the morning.  Everyone seemed pretty confused about how I ended up back there.  I may or may not have pretended that I had no idea how I got stuck back there either and requested treats to help deal with the "stress" of my late night adventure.  I made sure to get in an extra long nap that afternoon as well.  

Looking for the next adventure,

Chance

New Year's Resolutions 2021

 1.  Get out of the office more to see people.  

2.  Find the biggest sun puddle yet.

3.  Spend more time watching the jumping and flying things.  

4. Take at least one lap around the building a day.  

5.  Continue going downstairs everyday at 3:00pm (unless I'm napping)  

6.  Post a blog post every other week? 

7. Learn a new trick    Teach Barb L. a new trick

Happy New Year!

Chance