I'm Baaack!

I'm back (again)!  Things sure do get busy around here, and time has a way of flying!  I can't believe it's been almost two (2!) years since my last post!  That's approximately 24 years in cat years.  Speaking of which, we just celebrated Karen's 25th anniversary of working at the library!

Karen's great.  Boy am I glad she's worked here so long, otherwise she might not have found me such a great place to live.  One of my favorite things to do is wait each and every morning in the children's department, calling her name mournfully until she gets here.  I'm fairly positive it brings her here faster!

Waiting for Karen

If anything, it at least convinces the rest of the staff to feed me a few treats!

Eating a treat while I'm waiting

Well, in celebration of her anniversary the staff presented Karen with a plaque, and then celebrated with pizza, donuts, and cake.  But did they offer me any?  Noooope!  Since no one wanted to share, I decided to take a celebratory nap.  Several hours in, I was rudely awakened by the paparazzi for a picture of me and Karen with her shiny new plaque. 

Why don't I have a plaque?

I wasn’t too impressed.   First no pizza, and then they wake me up from a nap!  I’m going to have to have a talk with these people. 

Purrs,

Chance

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