Still waiting, plus other things.

Not to badger poor Assistant Boss Mommy Karen, 'cause she IS an awfully good Assistant, and generous with treats and tummy rubs, too. . .

To be fair, she did sit down MOST of the day today. 

We have had a super-busy week here, because the children are now out of school, and their parents are bringing them here, to my Library, to load up on books and magazines and movies for the beginning of summer!  Hooray!

I am plum tuckered out from Thursday afternoon, though.  I got petted by about 10 children all within 30 minutes--that's a lot of petting and face smooshing, along with the occasional poke!  And just so you know, little feet don't got "pitter-patter."  They go "galumph-galumph-galumph," especially when the owners are right behind you yelling "KITTY!!!!!"  I got lots of extra treats for yesterday.

My Librarians have been busy busy getting ready for Summer Reading Time!  We have all sorts of things going on the next few months, like a button bracelet craft, and a special program about eating healthy (I hope this doesn't bring about a treat-diet), and a program about hot rods!  Some llamas and mini horses will be visiting the library, too!  (I wonder why llamas get two Ls instead of one?)  Oh, and lots and lots of reading will be done, because young readers can bring in their reading logs each week and receive a ticket--and the ticket will be entered in the bike drawing!  These are two of the bikes that are up for grabs:

The bikes are provided by Bikes 4 Kids, which is a super nonprofit program in central Indiana.  They take gently used donated bikes and make them look like new, and distribute them to bikeless children.  You can learn more about them on their website. 

We had a near-catastrophe this week when AAB Christine ran out of her after-lunchtime gum.  Now, I really don't care whether she has gum--what I care about are the gum wrappers.  AAB buys Orbit Sweet Mint Gum, and that stuff has really nice smelling, nice-tasting, crunchy paper wrappers.  Every week we have Gum Wrapper Monday.

Luckily I have a few stashed away for Emergencies, because this is what my Gum Wrapper source looked like earlier this week:

Lastly but not leastly:  Today my AB Karen got an important email from a nice lady named Janet.  The email said "Tober's fame is spreading.  Check it out (no pun intended)" and had a link to the mental_floss blog post 9 Delightful Library Cats.  My friends Cauli le Chat and Browser are listed, too!  Famouser and famouser, I tell ya. 

I think Famous Cats can make like llamas and add extra letters to their names,

Purrs,

Tttober

PS  Happy Birthday AB Karen!  You're the best (even with all the waiting)!

Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!

Yesterday we had a terrifying Summer Reading Finale program here at the Library! I knew that Coyote Chris from Silly Safaris was going to be here, and I knew that there would be an International Food Tasting after the show, but I was NOT told about all the weird and vicious creatures that would be inside my library! The program was Animals with "Tales" from around the World.

Here are the animals he brought in order of horribleness (least to most), as determined by me: a tree frog, a turtle named Shelby, a fuzzy rabbit, a skunk (it was destinktified), a coatimundi, a Madagascar hissing Cockroach (the horrors!), a snake as thick as a well-fed cat belly, a baby (or at least SMALL) alligator, and a potentially cat-eating Owl of Doom.

Here is the Owl of Doom, probably convinced it sees a handsome, tasty, ginger Mancat in the hallway:


The children (and grown-ups!) really enjoyed the program. Coyote Chris told all sorts of stories and interesting facts about each of the creatures, and the children even got to pet some of the less-horrible ones. I think the children were very Brave to be in a room with some of those animals.

After the program, and after all of the people washed their hands, we had the International Food Tasting.


The Staff was very eager to help with the eating serving of all of the different foods. (From this picture you cannot tell it. For some reason, the staff hides from camera-pictures. If we ever need to evacuate the building, we'll send AAB Photographer around to point the camera at people.) Some Mommies and Volunteers helped as well. Visitors got to try Coconut Macaroons, ANZAC Biscuits, Sweet Scones, homemade Ginger Ale, Mealie Meal Bread, Pasta Guayabe con Queso, Tacos, Puerto Rican Rice with Chicken, Sweet Potato Fries, Chinese Fried Rice, Asian Snack Mix, Thai Candle Cookies, and Hummus. Much of the food was declared Quite Yummy by the tasters, although the smaller tasters had no qualms emitting "yucks" and "ewwws" when they found things not to their liking.

No one brought me anything to eat, and I was exhausted from all the working.


Maybe the owl sensed that I was a tired, weak, underfed kitty and decided that it should settle for whatever Coyote Chris feeds it, instead? Hmmmm.

I am happy to report that the unauthorized (by me) animals left promptly after the program, and I am now the only non-human living in the Library. Which is how it should be.

Star of a One-Mancat Show,

Tober

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

I met a real-life Author!

Last Wednesday we had a real-life Author come to the Library to kick off the Summer Reading Program for the little Downstairs readers. His name is Jim Aylesworth, and he writes books for small people. Helen did a bulletin board about him:


If you look really really close, you can see that he signed the bulletin board for us! Here, let me show you:


The program was Very Big Doings for the Downstairs Staff, and they spent all day putting up displays, setting up the meeting rooms, and preparing packets for the Reading Program. The small people and their mommies and daddies had a Very Good Time during the special program and we are all very glad that Mr. Aylesworth came to visit the Library.

I was Not Invited to the special program (I didn't want to steal the show!), but afterwards, Mr. Aylesworth came upstairs to meet me!

But I did not get a picture! Will you take my word for it?

Recovering from a brush with Greatness,

Tober