Teacher’s feline friend interested in weather

Schnack Cat

If you’ve ever had a class with Spanish teacher Linda McCormack, you know all about the fascinating cat named Snickers.

“No matter who comes to our house, when they leave, they are amazed at this cat,” McCormack said.

Of Snicker’s various adventures, the most famous is his attachment to KWWL meteorologist Mark Schnackenberg.

“Last year he would only watch the weather with Mark Schnackenburg, and one time when he was gone and Eileen Loan was filling in, Snickers ran to the end of the bed, got all ready to watch, and then turned around and left when she came on,” McCormack said.

One dark day, unfortunately, Snickers didn’t get to watch the weather.

“One morning his older ‘sister’ Rosie and he were fighting, and when the weather came on, Rosie went to the foot of the bed and swatted at Snickers so he couldn’t watch the weather. He tried several times to get to the foot of the bed, but she wouldn’t let him,”

McCormack caught a picture of Snickers watching Schnackenberg on television and sent it in to the KWWL studio.

“I sent a picture to Schnack, and he featured it one morning on the news saying that ‘Evidently I have a #1 fan … but it’s a cat,’ and they showed the picture. Danielle Wagner also showed it on the Saturday morning news,” she said.

Schnackenberg weighed in on the event.

“I think it is pretty funny. I have heard of babies and toddlers stopping what they are doing when they see me on TV. As for animals … that is very different. Maybe the cats want to know what they are missing since they can’t go outside.”

McCormack added that this year Snickers has begun to watch Jeff Kennedy and Eileen Loan, but never misses the morning forecast and never watches the evening edition.

As for an explanation for this phenomenon, McCormack isn’t sure what lures Snickers to the morning weather.

“I have no idea why he watches the weather, but he even sits through commercials until it’s all over. I used to think it was Schnack’s voice, but that obviously isn’t the case. It may just be habit now, although we didn’t turn the TV on early in the morning all summer long, so he didn’t watch it for almost three months. However, the very first day of school when I turned it on, he sat and watched. So, I don’t know what the attraction is,” she said.
Besides his enchanment with the weather, Snickers is also interested in pools.

“Snickers latest trick is to slide down the slide that goes into our swimming pool and at the last minute jump off onto the deck. He also walks around the edge of the pool and now that the pool cover is on it, he walks right into the middle of the pool on top of the cover,” McCormack said.

Rarely do cats and dogs get along, but Snickers, on the other hand, is an exception to the rule.
“Snickers also loves to play with the little dogs in the neighborhood and has three ‘friends.’ Sometimes they actually roll around together and follow each other on ‘adventures’ into neighbors’ garages and into their backyards. All the neighbors stand around laughing at their antics,” McCormack said.

Not surprisingly, Snickers is one popular cat.

“The little neighborhood kids knock on our door and ask if they can go play in the backyard with Snickers,” McCormack said.

One thing’s for sure…Snickers is one special kitty.

McCormack beamed, “He is truly a one-of-a-kind cat!”

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