People are strange.

Today the library staff and customers behaved very strangely.

Everyone was working just like they're supposed to (most of them in their assigned places), when suddenly everyone got up, went Downstairs, and walked outside (where it was very cold). It was weird.

Then they all started yelling and flapping their arms. Even weirder. That must have tired everyone out, because they came back inside and had cake, ice cream, and pink lemonade.

I found out later that they were celebrating some odd Human holiday called Hoodie Hoo Day. Apparently, Humans have the ability to chase winter away. I think that maybe I should be Very Nice to the Library staff and customers, since they may possess other Super-Powers that I don't know about.

They do this on February 20th every year, and I guess it works, because winter eventually goes away.

Today I tried Coffee for the first time. In case you did not know, most of my Assistant Assistant Bosses run on Coffee, kind of like how cars run on gasoline. They show up in the morning sometimes very droopy, but they perk up and run for the meeting room when one of them says, "The Coffee is ready." (The AABs who do not like Coffee seem to run on Chocolate instead.)

So I tried Coffee today, but I didn't really mean to. Assistant Boss Karen had a cup on my desk, and I was thirsty, so I took a drink. I thought it was my water cup. It should have been my water cup, since it was on my desk, right in front of me.

I don't think I like Coffee. Karen, Linda, and Christine seemed concerned that the Coffee would make me go crazy and skip my afternoon nap, but it just made me wash my face off and have a drink of water to get the bad taste out of my mouth. I licked some popcorn, washed my face some more, and took a nap.

I also had a close call with Ritchie, our new Custodian. He is a Nice Person, but he runs the Vacuum, which is this horrendous machine that they use to suck things off the floor. He was coming to my office to run the Vacuum, and I was leaving my office because I do not want to be trapped in a room with that horrible, scary, noisy thing, and we ran into each other. I didn't mean to startle him, especially since he's already (very unfortunately) Allergic to the Majestic Feline Species. I guess it's because of the awful Vacuum-running that I don't make him sneeze.

Because you have been deprived of a fantastic photo of me for over a week, I will leave you with this:


Can you see me? You might think that I am Very Brave to climb so high, but it is funny to hear the Library staff run around and say "Tober! Tober! Where are you?" when I'm up on a shelf relaxing.

Hoodie Hoo!

Tober

Staff Meetings.

Mondays are usually my most favorite day of the week. Although Assistant Boss Karen comes to visit me and cuddles me during the day, Sunday is always kind of lonely around here. Monday is exciting, because all of my people are back, and they make a big fuss over me. I get extra treats, I help do set-up in the morning, and extra-special (and much deserved) attention is lavished on me.

Well, this Monday was different. Apparently, there was a Staff Meeting. I did not authorize an 8:30 a.m. Staff Meeting. All of my people showed up to work early, which I thought was fabulous, until I realized that they did not come early to see me. Everyone crowded around a big table on the wood floors (which I do not like to walk on) and had a big talk. I have decided that I don't like Staff Meetings. When the staff members come in to work, they each have an assigned place where they are supposed to be. This makes them easy to find. When they clump together like that, it makes me nervous. It starts my day off wrong. In fact, since this occurred on a Monday, it started my week off wrong.

I tried to remind them that it was Monday, that they were in the wrong places, and that I was in dire need of attention, by standing on the carpet and yelling at them. The only one who cared enough to come to me was Assistant Boss Karen, and she made the mistake of assuming that I wanted to join the Meeting. She scooped me up and carried me to the table, and I promptly ran back to carpeted area and began yelling again.

I think if the Library employees have something very important to talk about, they can use the phone things (with the tasty cords) that sit on their desks. These seem to work reasonably well when they need to talk to people in other buildings, so why not use them for Staff Meetings? In this way, they can be in their assigned places when I need them. I need Karen to stay in her assigned place so that she can easily reach the Treat Drawer when I get the hungries. I need Bonnie to stay in her assigned place because she offers comforting words when one of the Mean Ones is forcing Medicine down my throat. Cathie needs to stay in her assigned place because she is Very Nice and fills my food dish. (She even warms it a bit when it's cold, and this makes her an A+ Person in my book!)

I am not a fan of Staff Meetings, but I later found out that it was a Very Important talk that they were having. On March 9, our Library will be using a new system called Evergreen Indiana. This is the system that helps the staff (and the customers) keep track of all of the books in the Library. Our customers will get new green cards beginning March 9, and there will be all sorts of neat things they can do with their online account. The people at the circulation desks have brochures that explain the changes that will take place when we get the new system. You should stop by the library and get a copy!

My foot is feeling like a normal foot now, but they keep giving me Medicine. I heard Karen and Christine saying that they had to give me ALL of the Medicine in the bottle. I wish I could dump the rest of it down the sink, but I don't have thumbs.

Fridays are now Popcorn Days at the Library. The nice American Legion Post #218 People are letting us use a popcorn popper, and we fire it up around 3:00 on Fridays! We are using the Youth Department Winter Reading Program, "Pop Open a Good Book," as an excuse to have yummy snacks on Friday afternoons.

Here I am sampling:


I love this place!

Tober