SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

Yeah, it is Friday! The kids and teachers are glad because testing is over, and the library cats are glad because next week the elementary students will be back in the library. They have been missed, but there have been extra secondary kids hanging out here and we’ve enjoyed that.

Both Tank and Barney have gotten lots of attention.

“Ms. Loesch, come HERE!” called Mary. She and Tank were in my office and she had a handful of treats. “Tank won’t eat treats. He can’t be a library cat unless he eats treats.” Not to worry. He does like treats; he just wants to pick them up himself rather than having them offered in a hand.

Barney is less of a treat-eater than Tank; he has to work on that. Our speech teacher brings her youngest students in armed with treats and they expect them to be eaten by a library cat!

Of course there are my fourth graders who recently sampled the treats themselves … but that just wouldn’t be the same.

Both Tank and Barney have modeled the Harley-Davidson cap. Their vote seems to be unanimous; it gets a big paws down.

The cap has gotten the kids talking about next Halloween. With the Harley cap and bandana, all we need to do is find a leather jacket and we will have a biker-cat costume.

Trinity, my junior, who has been my student since kindergarten, was petting Tank. “It is just not the same, is it, Ms. Loesch? When Big Footsie died we already had Alex. He was already a library cat, and we loved him. This time we don’t have anybody.”

She is right. And from now on we won’t go without at least one assistant library cat as well as our “head” cat. It seems that for now Barney will have the “head” job with Tank as his assistant. Barney has gotten the hang of the job a little quicker.

He will roam the library looking for people to hang out with, and he stays on the front desk most of the time … except when he is following someone around. Mary says that he likes to play “follow the leader.” He has also mastered the “sleeping on the desk between the keyboard and monitor” job.

This week he gotten to spend a lot of time with Zee, our Turkish exchange student. We took pictures of them for Zee to have when she goes home.

As she stood with her hand on Barney’s side, her interest in becoming a doctor kicked in.

“He is breathing so fast. Do cats breathe faster than people? What is his normal temperature? How do you know if he is sick? If I ever get a cat, now I will know more about how to take care of it.”

These words make me smile, coming from my student who earlier in the year had never petted a cat and was afraid of them. Alex made her love him, and now Barney and Tank are picking up where he left off.

We still have a couple of candidates for library cat who will be auditioning, but it looks like both Team Barney and Team Tank will be happy; both the guys are on the library cat staff for sure!

Finally! School pictures came in just before we left for the Christmas holidays! We were all anxiously waiting to see what Alex’s first pose as Head Library Cat would look like, and everyone was excited with the result.

Several people asked how we got him to sit still. I didn’t do anything but try to get his attention as he sat on the same stool as the kids did, on a little booster seat.

He doesn’t look quite as composed as Big Footsie did in his first school picture, but Footsie had already been on the job several years; Alex was brand new to the Head Library Cat job when the picture was taken.

Brianna saw the picture and her reaction was “CUUUUUUUUUTE!!!”

She and Mary showed Alex the framed picture to see what he thought.

We think he was proud that he looked so handsome. And he possibly was relieved that it wasn’t a “mug shot” like Footsie’s last school picture.

“Why,” asked Mary, “Does Alex look like a kitten? He just looks like an innocent little kitten sometimes.” He does look way younger than his 6 years!

Now we are all looking forward to seeing him in the school yearbook, in the Faculty section, of course. We will all be very proud.

SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

We are back to school today! Alex is wearing his Christmas bandana that lights up when he moves. He does look very handsome. He is having quite a day, too…No wonder he likes coming to work better than staying at home.

The day started with a can of his favorite treat, Fancy Feast Appetizers.

At the end of first period, Brandon, one of my 5th graders, came calling, “Alex, I have something for you!”

And he sure did: A velvet-feeling green Christmas stocking filled with packages of all kinds of toys for Alex and even a Christmas card.

What fun we had watching as each package was opened to reveal mice, all kinds of balls with bells in them and a soft sparkly green ball. Not having to wait ‘til Christmas to open presents is pretty cool.

Later, my third graders came. We try to always follow the rule “Books before cats,” so Alex stayed in my office while the kids selected library books and had a library skills lesson.

Before they left, though, Alex came out to visit, and he was rewarded with a big kiss from one of his admirers.

The kids also enjoyed looking at a 2010 calendar which I have put on the bulletin board, turned to December of next year. The calendar is from CARE for Animals, the group which rescued our Big Footsie from Animal Services, and he is being honored by being featured on the December page.

We are all touched and proud. We especially like part of the caption, “He was a one-of-a-kind kitty who brought joy to so many.”

In that way Footsie and Alex are a lot alike.

SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

It’s an exciting week here in the library with Halloween coming.

Alex, though, had such a busy weekend that he didn’t have time to think about his costume. The third graders…Well, that is another story!

When they came to the library for their regular visit this morning the question on everyone’s lips was: “What is Alex going to be for Halloween?”

“It is a surprise,” I said.

“Is he going to wear Footsie’s bat wings?” asked one student.

“Is he coming as a black cat? I still think he should come as Big Footsie,” said another.

“Is he going to be a witch?”

“No, none of those. You can have more guesses but I am not going to answer any more.”

That didn’t stop the guesses from coming: A vampire, a little green frog, a goblin and a skeleton were all mentioned. I didn’t tell the kids, but, no, none of those, although one may be getting a little close.

Our story today, Little Witch’s Big Night, by Deborah Hautzig, had a character wearing just what Alex will wear but nobody guessed it.

What will Alex be? It is still a surprise!

But I can tell you a few more things he won’t be, all costumes he tried on during our trip to Petsmart. One was my very favorite, a dragon. They didn’t have the costume in Alex’s size, though, only in an extra-small. Alex’s tummy is definitely not an extra-small! We also decided not to get the pumpkin costume or the lion. Lots of the kids are sure he will be a lion since we are the School for the Blind Lions! Boy, are they going to be surprised.

Alex spent his Sunday afternoon representing FuRR (Feline Rescue and Rehome) at a benefit. It was outdoors, and Alex acted like it was all no big deal; even the dogs there from another rescue group didn’t bother him. He wore his Halloween t-shirt and Harley bandana and had his picture taken with the governor, the lieutenant governor and the mayor.

But he was most impressed with the chicken wings that were served; he ate his and mine, both!

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

It has been a day-long celebration here in the Arkansas School for the Blind Library! Alex is 6 years old, and he invited the whole school to drop in for popcorn and Orange Tabby Punch. The 2nd graders sang Happy Birthday to him; the 5th graders brought him little duck toys; and the 4th graders brought him birthday letters and pictures.

Those too young to remember heard the story of how he came to us as a 3-week old bottle baby, along with his 3 sisters, in November of 2003. Alex, the only survivor, was bottle-fed by some of the students and named by them and came every day to the library along with Big Footsie.

When he was old enough to adopt out and I mentioned it to the kids they told me in no uncertain terms, “You can’t; he is ours!” And so he is! He is growing into his Head Library Cat job and, as someone said a few days ago, he is becoming “more Footsie-fied all the time!” That is high praise indeed coming from one of Footsie’s best buddies on the staff.

This isn’t the first time Alex has had a birthday party here at school. When he turned 1, we had a big party with a cake with pictures of him on it. This party is a little more low-key, but then Alex is, too, these days.

After all, 6 cat years is equal to 40 in people years. At his first birthday party he had an “I’m One” hat which the kids had a ball putting on him. I think he was really relieved to hear that I couldn’t find an “I’m Six” hat and all he was going to have to wear was a ribbon with that phrase on it.

I’m not sure how he would have felt about the pink “Hello Kitty” napkins and bowls. Guess it is a good thing cats can’t see many colors. Shhhhh. We aren’t telling him they are pink.

One of the notes from my 4th graders was especially sweet. It said “Happy Birthday, Alex. You are the Best cat I ever saw. I wish Big Footsie was here. I hope you will have a great Birthday Alex. I love you. XOXOXO.”

Another had a picture of Footsie and Alex both, side-by-side. I like it that my kids still remember and love Big Footsie but have made plenty of room in their hearts for Alex.

For more birthday photos, check out focus.arkansasonline.com.

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

3 Miles of…CATS? PURR for the Cure?

Alex is wearing his pink bandana today as he poses with his good buddy Trinity.

They are all decked out and ready to support the participants in the Race for the Cure. Alex isn’t sure the pink bandana is 100% manly but he is taking our word that it is the perfect thing to be wearing today.

This morning marked the first Accelerated Reader rally that Alex has attended as Head Library Cat.

Being the AR Reading Motivator and encouraging students to read is one of his most important jobs.

Alex watched as many of our students got prizes for reaching their 25% goal, which is right on target! Alex watched the rally from the main desk and then was rewarded with lots of petting. Ah, life is good!