Tobers, Tobers Everywhere

My Summer Readers have been reading about places all over the World this summer! On the bulletin board, we have a big map, and readers are sticking pins into the places that they have "visited" during their reading adventures!


The Storytime group has visited sea creatures (snacks) that live in the oceans, hippos that live in Africa, and Polar bears that live in the Arctic. Other readers have visited France, Canada, and many of the US states.

I have visited Thorntown and am so Handsome that I get a whole photo on the map:


The Youth Department staff are particularly good at incorporating me into displays and bulletin boards. This is because they are well-trained, conscientious staff members who Have Their Priorities Straight. Here is a photo that they keep in a very Important location--between the calendar and the who's-working-today board:


Yep, that's right.

Orange Library Cats are so popular right now that the people who designed the 2011 Collaborative Summer Library Program added an Orange Library Cat to the available artwork. We have him on a Youth Department bulletin board:


It is widely agreed that I have more interesting eyes. But it's good to see cats represented during summer reading, especially since Browser is still on his World Tour.

I also posed by a Birdie. Now, this birdie isn't real, but it sure looks life-like! It was carved by Mr. Craig White, who is a really talented woodcarver and all-around great guy. (For a guy with a big booming man-voice, that is.) Thanks to Mr. Craig I can pose with this birdie and almost look like an Outside Cat!


This next thing is not at all related to the overabundance of Tobers at the library. Now, I know I am a handsome Mancat, but I've never had an Admirer before. Well, wait a minute. . .

I'm SURE I've had an admirer before, probably lots. And I did have a sweet and beautiful girlcat Kumari who I Loved (with a big "L") but she went to the Bridge.

Anyhow, NOW I have a new admirer--the persnickety and lovely Miss Ali Zophia--who hijacked, er, borrowed Stella's blog to answer questions and confessed her admiration for my pretty (her word) orange furs. Thank you Ali--you are as wise as you are beautiful! Or as beautiful or as you are wise? How does that go? Anyhow, you are both!

Crushed,

Tober

Looking out the Window

Every now and then I go Downstairs to look out the window. I try to do this during the day, when there are very few little children and customers about, because when it is busy my Staff seems to think I should be Upstairs where they can keep an eye on me. I also go Downstairs a lot when my Assistant Boss Karen isn't around, because I can keep a lookout for her from the window.

The Downstairs window is very exciting. It looks like I am way up in the air from the Inside:


But if you go on the Outside, you can see that I am very near the ground!


This makes the Youth Department windows very nice places to watch Birdies! On the day these pictures were taken, I was watching a very plump and juicy-looking robin hopping along looking for stuff. It was very fun--until the Photographer went Outside and scared it away.

Speaking of robins. . . my girl-friend Kumari is a mighty Huntress. She brought AB Karen a robin through the pet door last week! I think she really brought it for me, but Karen didn't take the hint and bring it in to work with her. Karen says she's not sure if Kumari caught it herself or just found it and carried it in as a love-offering. I'm pretty sure Kumari did the deed, since she is beautiful, clever, and strong!

For those of you who remember Kumari from my earlier posts, I would like to let you know that she seems to be doing very well. She has a great appetite and is gaining weight. She is also playing a lot and getting along well with Karen's other animals and has discovered the Great Outside. I am hoping that she has a long and healthy life ahead of her, and that I will be reporting on her adventures for a very long time!

Wishing Karen had brought me that robin for a snack,

Tober

You don't bring me flowers. . .

My staff tries very, very hard to make me pose for pictures. They get these ideas, like "Let's get a picture of Tober with his Apple" or "Let's take a picture of Tober looking at birdies" or "Let's take a picture of Tober washing himself." The problem is, they almost always get these ideas when I'm napping, or having a snack, or. . .

Okay, so I'm usually napping or having a snack. The point is, they find something I sometimes like to do, but try to make me do it when I'm not in the mood to be doing it.

HA!

We had a Wedding at the Library on Saturday, which was Very Big Doings for me, since I was the only Library Staff Member on duty that evening. I snoopervised the proceedings (very quietly. . . I was advised that I shouldn't yell at them), and when they left, they left me flowers!

The flowers are very pretty and I thought it was very nice to leave them behind until a few Assistant (Assistant) Bosses got together and thought I should pose with flowers.

I am a Man-Cat. I should not pose with flowers. I should pose with dead mice and wrenches and plates of BBQ ribs and things. So they put me on the mantel with the flowers and here is what happened.

Here I do not really care about the flowers. I was sniffing for the Treat that they put next to the flowers to keep me from running away in embarrassment:


Here I really shocked 'em! You should have seen the looks I got when I started nibbling away!


Luckily they got bored (and a bit concerned with my digestion) after I ate on the flowers for a little bit, so the mantel part of the photo shoot ended pretty quickly. My photographer walked off and left me up there, and I had to jump down to the carpet. She took another picture of me looking pretty peeved, with more pretty flowers in the background:


Of course, the Library Staff was all excited about the pretty flowers, mostly because they're all ladies. Ladies like flowers, I hear. Maybe I should send a flower to Kumari? Hmmm.

Anyway, all the Staff like the flowers except for me and Ritchie, because we're Men. And Ritchie has to clean up the messy flower pieces when they fall off, and I wouldn't want to do that either.

Pffft to flowers (unless Kumari likes them),

Tober

A big date?

I am sorry I made everyone very sad by not posting for a while, but it has been busy busy here at the Thorntown Public Library, especially in the afternoons. My apple-tossing has become almost legendary, and I have had many visitors, big and small, who come to watch Karen fetch the little apple from the wastebasket (or floor).

Today I got tired of waiting for Karen to get the apple out of her drawer (I guess she thought she had more important things to do), so I got the apple out myself. I have had to do this twice today. I don't know what's going on with the work ethic around here, but things sure are slipping! I think I will address this at the next Staff Meeting!

I forgive Karen, though, because she brought me pictures of my beautiful girl-friend Kumari. Do you think maybe Kumari is getting cleaned up for a Big Date with me?

I got to try a wonderful, wonderful treat last week. Becki made something called Strawberry Short Cake, which the staff seemed to devour, but the best part is this white stuff she put on top of it. It's called Whipped Cream, and it tastes better than Paper! Better than Cords! Better than Catnip!

Okay, so NOT better than Catnip. . . but still, mighty tasty, and I hope there's lots more in my future! Here I am sampling (and liking):


The staff thinks that Whipped Cream is some kind of kitty caffeine because after I ate some I zipped up and down the stacks "like a fool"--NOT my words. I do everything very gracefully and in a dignified manner, so I don't know what they're talking about.

Glad to be back among the blogging,

Tober

My long-distance relationship

Hi everybody!

It's been another busy and exciting week and the Library. . . so busy, that I waited until all of the Staff got out of here so I can use a Computer to post on this blog. This week was Spring Break for the local students, so I got to see lots of people in my Library.

I have a new Fan in my Fan Club. The beautiful girl-cat, Kumari, lives at my old home with my Assistant Boss Karen. (If I still had my "stuff" I'd probably ask her out on a date!) Kumari is a Bengal cat. AB Karen was reading my blog at home one day when Kumari took notice of my Handsome Man-Catliness:


Unfortunately, she was looking at the somewhat embarrassing photo taken after I was attacked by an Evil Sticker Monster. Still, she seemed to think I was a nice-looking fellow. Poor Kumari tried to reach out and stroke my handsome face, not realizing that she was only looking at a picture of me:


I didn't know much about this beautiful Kumari-girl, although I had smelled a new cat-smell on my AB Karen over the last few weeks. I realize that many of my Staff have Personal House-Cats to help them cope with my absence while they are at home, anxiously awaiting their returns to Work (and to me).

Karen brought in pictures of Kumari so that other Staff members could see her, and that's when I first saw her. This is me saying YOWZA! She is One Hot Tamale!


Karen tells me that Kumari is a sweet, playful girl, and that she is adapting well to her new life at Karen's house. Unfortunately, Kumari has FIP, or Feline Infectious Peritonitis. (To read more about FIP, click on the linky.) She will need Medicines and Extra Loving Care to help her live a happy, long life. Karen is doing her Very Very Best to make sure that she is comfortable, loved, and happy. She is doing well for now, and we are hoping that she has lots of good times ahead of her. Kumari is not a blogging cat, but please keep her in your thoughts and purrs!

Smitten with a kitten,

Tober