Required a slogan about ruby?!
Required a slogan about ruby?
Answers:
as above
Librarian's Corner
A Not-So-Secret Connection Between Cats and Books
A Not-So-Secret Connection Between Cats and Books
by Steve Fjeldsted
You can really learn a lot about someone who's alongside you at a book sale. In fact, it's sometimes hard not to notice the other person's reading tastes. There they are, almost rubbing elbows with you and they're picking out their favorite authors and subjects, providing glimpses into their interests, concerns, and what they value most.
For one of the Friends book sales, I was working next to Ruby Totten, a very dedicated Bookie for many years. No, she doesn't accept sports bets, but rather puts in long hours sifting, shifting, and organizing books for the Friends. Together Ruby and I spotted some pet books and started conversing about our cats. Ruby informed me that her cat Fisal is nearing 20, and I mentioned that I have a Siamese named Blanche that's more than 21 years old. Ruby suggested that I write one of the County Librarian columns about my cat.
A T-Shirt I often wear is emblazoned with "Cats, Books - Life Is Good." Although it's only a bumper sticker-type slogan, I still think the statement appropriately traces the connection between felines and tomes. In my case, it seems Blanche is always on my lap when I'm reading at home, just as she has been for more than two decades. She's been right there for uncountable thousands of turning pages and is well established as an inextricable part of my reading experiences.
Blanche and Fisal are probably not the oldest two cats in Nevada County, but the possibility exists. A Grass Valley vet told me that he's never seen a cat older than 23. I checked the Guinness Book of World Records and neither feline is even close to achieving official global recognition. There's evidence that an English cat once lived to 36 and absolute verification that another pussycat there lived to the ripe old age of 34.
I don't really care if Blanche's age is record setting or not, but it is surprising to me to reflect back how long we've had each other. When I was just out of my twenties my younger sister Elin gave me a tiger striped tabby we named Chuck, after Charles Barkley, then an up-and-coming basketball player. The aggressive, muscular cat turned out to be a girl and was renamed Chuckita. Unfortunately, she liked to follow children home from the school across the street. Predictably, she soon disappeared. Together with my landlord and next-door neighbor, a tearful memorial service was conducted and I resigned to live without any pets for a while.
Until, that is, when a friend brought me an emaciated young kitten she'd found in a parking lot. Thinking she was only about 6 weeks old, I took the newly named Blanche for her shots and learned that she was about 6 months old. This was only evident because of her adult teeth. In due time she became healthy, but remained extremely shy, hiding under the bed most of the time. One night about a month later she hopped on my stomach and began purring. She's been doing that ever since, although she steadfastly remains a one-person cat. Besides other people, Blanche doesn't care for other cats either so it's highly unlikely that she'll ever meet Fisal -unless it's at the veterinarian's, a place the two of them have been visiting frequently the past couple of years.
Ruby tells me that Fisal is now very skinny and has experienced serious renal failure to the point where he was recently within hours of death. On the other hand, Blanche has Alzheimer's and lately has lost weight as well. Her condition causes her to lose her way frequently, even when she's walking toward her food dish. Then she starts howling until she's back on my lap again.
In mentally preparing for the heartbreak of losing her beloved pet, Ruby has ordered a book by mail called When Your Animal Dies by Sylvia Barbanell and has kindly agreed to lend it to me. When I was at the checkout desk last week, a video called Losing Your Best Friend: Recovering From the Death of A Pet crossed my path and I picked it up. One of the many advantages of working in a library is that so many attractive items pass through our hands that we're never at a loss for something good to check out and take home. This is also one of the benefits of being a book sale volunteer.
Watching a video on the loss of a pet will hopefully be easier for me than reading a book, especially if I'm feeling a great absence on my lap. No matter what, I don't mean to imply that I think that the loss of a pet comes could ever approach the intensity of the loss of a beloved person in any way. Still, it causes quite a heartstring tug-of-war.
There's always a chance, albeit a slim one, that Blanche will keep purring for many years, even if she doesn't come to the attention of the Guinness folks and make it to 37. Even if she doesn't, she could always, of course, outlive me. But without a doubt, just like the books I've read, she's a part of me.
shhhh secret
I'm sorry, who (or what) is Ruby? Can you tell us more? Thanks!
Ruby Tuesday?