Miss Pepper Potts

--> {For 18 months – Jan ’17 to Jul ’18 – I’m posting our letter to Miranda while she's on her mission to Cochabamba, Bolivia.  Our letter titles are taken from a list of family sayings & catchphrases we recorded onto a pillowcase she has with her.  You can read her adventures on her mission blog: www.hermanamadsen.blogspot.com!}

Oh sweet Pepper.  On Wednesday, I posted this:

And on Friday, I had to post this:

It was sweet to see the neighborhood mourn with us.  Now she is memorialized with her neighbors, both our sides of the family on our group chat apps, and here on the family blog.  =)

Miranda, it is just so, so, so, sad.  By Tuesday, I realized I hadn't seen Pepper around for about 3 days.  I checked the security camera feeds to see when the last time was that she had come into & out of the yard - nothing.  Wednesday, I posted to the neighborhood, called the shelters, and Carlie took the boys to Lindon to see if she'd been turned in.  Thursday, Halle asked me if she could take Chloe on a walk to find Pepper, thinking that she may just be hurt or lost... even though I knew our cats know exactly how to get home, and having no faith that she was still alive, I let her go.  It's therapeutic to feel like you're doing something, and heaven knows Chloe needed to get out!  On Friday the twins asked me again, but this time, they found her.  =(

We brought her home and we let the pets see her, so they would know where she was.  But when I brought Sterling, he started scrambling away from me before we ever got near her.  I think he's known exactly where she was for a few days.  Now that I think about it, he has been acting really strange for almost a week: searching my closet, looking under my bed, then other days coming and whining, even though he just got fed.  He's been hopping up on our laps to get petted, and just generally, has been so much more needy and affectionate.  Poor poor boy.

I'm going to make a book of Pepper pictures, so I thought I would put the highlights here:

The latest picture we have:  Enjoying her Christmas presents.  =)  

She was a very happy kitty: loving big brother to take care of her; field (jungle) to catch mice; fenced yard to escape predators; warm house to cuddle up in; the best wet & dry cat food available; people to pet & love her; and fresh water from the sink so she didn't have to share with the gross dog.

Lastly, a short progression in sharing the cat tree with her best friend: