SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

OK, Library Cat Staff. We need to have a meeting!

The staff members have been really bad about disappearing into thin air about the time I am ready to stash one of them in a carrier and head to work. Last week’s work schedule fell totally apart, and the cat on duty was whoever wasn’t hidden well enough.

This is quite a change from when I’d call, “Let’s go to school, Big Footsie,” and he would come running and dive-bomb into the carrier. Alex sometimes made me look for him, but he was usually somewhere in plain sight. My current staff needs to improve!

Tank made it last week on kindergarten story-hour day.

He sat in my lap for most of the story but left before it was over.

I think Barney will get most of the story-hour duties, but Tank is an awesome treat-eater! He gets a little impatient as small hands struggle to open the treats and he has to wait.

Barney has worked really hard lately. He likes walking and sitting on Braille and giving head-butts.

He was on duty when his friends Conall and Caitlin came to visit our school for the first time. They fed him treats and catnip before they looked at books.

Caitlin kept saying “Look at his tail; it is standing up!”

This morning Barney had a cool experience. He went to speech class to serve as a prop for a speech. As Barney sat calmly in his bed, the class was shown how to brush a cat and told why and when cats shed. It’s all in a day’s work for the Barn.

Shadow was just as calm wearing his Cinco de Mayo finery, which my fourth graders brought.

Later in the week, my fifth and sixth graders came in. Shadow was, of course, wearing his infamous blue collar with – yes, the flowers.

“Awww, look at his cute collar,” said Makayla. “It even has flowers on it.”

I started to smile and feel somewhat vindicated in my choice of collars, but that didn’t last. As we were watching a video, Mary was standing close by. Into the room wandered Shadow, comfortably weaving between students and under chairs.

“Hmmm,” I heard Mary say. “Real manly collar you have there, Shadow, flowers and diamonds, too.”

OK; it will be off to PetSmart just as soon as I can. Object: Purchase manly collar for Shadow.