SUSAN LOESCH

Summer vacation! Field trips, outdoor activities, heat!

Oh, yeah, heat. Well, how bad could it be at 5:30 in the evening. Surely the fun and excitement of Barney’s first summer field trip, an outdoor gig at Happy Hour in the Heights, would override any discomfort from the heat.

Maybe a little heat would have gone unnoticed but not the 95 degrees the thermometer registered at the time we hit the street to set up our display for Feline Rescue and Rehome and wait for the crowd to appear. (more…)

SUSAN LOESCH

Thursday was Tank’s last work day for the year and my 6^th graders’ last day in elementary.  What a day!

The day before, Shadow and I had gone to their classroom for a graduation picture. Many of these kids were Big Footsie’s and mine from the time they were kindergarteners.

They are all so excited and look so grown up; I smile at memories of them in their early years at the School for the Blind and it looks very natural to see a black cat in Makayla’s arms. (more…)

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

What IS it about a cat’s tail that makes it such an object of fascination for my very youngest students?  When they visit with Alex they will hold his tail way faster than they will feel his whiskers or even begin to pet him.

My kindergartners were here for a story hour and a visit with Alex last week, and sure ‘nuf when he sat down with them it was all hands on the tail! I remember Jordan, while she was in preschool, meeting Footsie for the first time, immediately grabbing his  tail and gazing at it like it was magic.  She is a grown-up kindergartner this year and now Alex’s tail amazes her.

One of her classmates,  after spending lots of time admiring Alex’s tail, went on to pet him and said to me, “I feel his bones. Why do you feel bones on the outside of his body?” I pointed out how he could feel the bones in his wrist and fingers and spine and we decided that it was much the same as feeling Alex’s bones. (more…)