Squirrel Visitor

We *almost* had an unauthorized visitor yesterday at my library.

As you may know, we have a no-animals-except-Tober policy here at the library.  Now, there have been exceptions to this policy. . . Like when Silly Safaris brings a pooping reindeer.  Or when Animalia brings a skunk and some ferrets.  Or when Not-Tober was here for a day.  Or when the stupid smelly kitten spent an afternoon here.

Or when baby goats visited.  Or when the helper-dog-in-training stops by.  Or the guinea-pigs.  Or the bunnies.  

Or the mini-horse and the alpacas.

Whatever.  We really DO have a no-animals-except-Tober policy, I promise!

Anyhow, yesterday we had a library invasion attempt perpetrated by a rogue squirrel (pronounced SKWURL).  He was pretty shifty looking:

  

He looks nice and polite in this picture, right?  Like maybe he's just checking the place out, looking to see if this might be a fun hangout for squirrels.  Maybe a can of peanuts.

Then he gets a little more animated, looking for spots where he might gain entry, I think:

Or maybe he's just practicing his climbing skills.  He was a medium-sized squirrel, so maybe he needs climbing time.

After he looked in one window and climbed around another, we thought maybe he was done with our library.

See ya!

Then Mr. Skwurl came back and got serious about trying to get in:

Like, REALLY serious:

Keep a-knockin' but you can't come in!

Luckily I was there to intimidate him into going away, because I am very Bossly and Imposing to a small-to-medium sized squirrel.

Go 'way.  I was napping until you started bothering my library.

It's a good thing I was here to save the day!  

Protecting my library against invasions by wily teenaged Squirrels,

Tober

Carnation = Instant Breakfast

You're gonna love it in an instant!

You probably think I'm going to write about the powdered drink mix.  

Nope.  Even better!

Wow, I love love love biting on silk flowers!  The library staff leave them all over the place for my enjoyment in the springtime.  This year they've started complaining about how ratty all of the flowers are looking.

Guess they'll have to go buy more!

AAB Kathy may have to add "Photographer" to her job description.  Yesterday she took an awesome photo of me:

Look at the multiple Tobers in that shot!  Notice how she caught my blatant disregard for her photographic efforts!  See how my ear furnishings are nicely profiled at that angle!

In addition to being a Photographer, AAB Kathy is now an Officially Certifiable.

Oh, hang on a minute. . . .

Oops.  Okay, AB Christine just said AAB Kathy is Officially Certified as a Librarian.  That is a super-good thing!  Yay Kathy!

Apparently "Certifiable" has another meaning. Whoops!

A Certified Carnation Instant Breakfast Lover,

Tober

Self-Service

This library is a full-service library. . . 99.9% of the time.  

Sometimes important services slip through the cracks.  (Don't tell this to the Library Bored.  It might get somebody F-I-R-E-D.)

Like right here, in this picture:

Just look at that!  Had to get in the drawer and rummage around for treats!  

In other (better) news, I was visited just last week by a foreign dignitary.  Her name is Kathy and she works at the Speedway Public Library, which is in Speedway, Indiana, not too far from (you guessed it) the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Thank goodness for Kathy she is a librarian and received a Tober Baker & Taylor 2014 calendar, which alerted her to my existence!  So she came to see me and brought me two nice gifts.  AAB Linda took her on the grand tour of our library and she deemed it Very Nice.

Here is a picture of the two of us and my new special pillows:

Thank you for visiting me & bringing me presents, Kathy the Librarian!  

I hope everyone is enjoying nice weather.  Here we are finally having Spring, which is great.   Hoodie Hoo took an extra-long time to get rid of winter this year!

Reporting from a favorite sunpuddle,

Tober

My Way

AAB Karen decided to take a whole day off today, which almost never-ever happens.  Apparently she had Important Non-Library Stuff to do, whatever that is.

So I'm stuck hanging out with rest of the staff.  They aren't too bad until it comes time to have snacks.

AB Christine is especially stingy, but I thought she might feel sorry for a hungry Library Cat with no thumbs.  So I hung out with her for the afternoon.

First I showed her my famous cord-chomping technique:

That's an old audio cable that I absolutely love biting on!  (It's wrapped around a $30 scratching post/ball chaser that I couldn't care less about.)

I hopped up on AB Christine's desk to chew on some papers and knock her writing utensils to the floor.  ALSO to stomp on her keyboard while she was editing a Word document (that always gets me some attention!).

She tried to distract me with some Feline Training Devices:

Yep, that's my Forever Pepper!

So I did this to make her AWWWW, 

and then I chewed the corners off the invoices I was sitting on.

No matter how involved I seem in my activities, I am always alert to the goings-on in my Library.  (Note the raised paw.  For some reason that always makes people AWWWW, too.  I use it to swat at people who aren't listening to my treat requests.)

After a while I resorted to staring.  Notice my Frown of Displeasure.  This photo was taken about a nanosecond before I meowed "Hey put down the flashy-box and get me some treats!"

Not an artsy shot.  Just a tilted photographer.

Repetition is the key to training these humans.  So I meowed repeatedly, and we seem to have made some progress.  I think I got her to reach in the treat drawer two times in one sitting, which is a Friday Miracle!

Thank goodness AAB Karen is back at work tomorrow.  

Weak, extra-rattly, empty-belly purrs,

Tober

PS - Today I taught AAB Becki that I do not like beef-flavored wet food.  That one is a little easier to teach.

Tree-in-a-Pot Program; aka I Was Not Invited

So about a million years ago we had a program about Bonsai here at the library.

Okay, okay.  It was January 20th, 2014.  Right.  That's awhile ago when you're a little cat.

Anyway, the Boone County Home Ec Club invited Mr. Scott Yelich to their meeting at the library to talk about Bonsai plants.  Bonsai, which you say bone-sigh and not bahn-zigh, literally means "tree in a pot." 

Mr. Scott Yelich brought a whole bunch of tasty little trees-in-pots to the library and I was very purposefully EXcluded from the program.  Just look at this:

That, my friends, is a photo of me on the WRONG side of the meeting rooms door.  I think I'm saying something along the lines of "You let me in right now so I can sniff those trees-in-pots and maybe bite on some of the nicer-smelling ones!"  Jade plants are one of my favorites (R.I.P. AB Christine's Jade plant) and I found out later that Mr. Scott had one of those and no one bought it for me. 

After a while I gave up at yelling.  I'm pretty tough, but not tough enough to pull that door open with my paws.  FYI--this next pose is guaranteed to yield belly-rubs from whatever meanie is taking photos of and/or teasing you:

Commence sympathetic attention in 3. . . 2. . . 1. . .

So I got plenty of tummy-rubs and pettings, but not Jade plant Bonsai. 

Maybe next time.

Tober