Growing, Growing . . . Missing, FOUND (December 10, 2010)

UPDATE - Friday, December 10, 2010, 11:50 a.m.

HERSHEY has been found, a few blocks from home, frightened but safe and healthy, stranded on top of a neighbor's roof. According to these neighbors, Hershey was there for all three of the nights he was missing. He cried but they could not coax him down. For warmth, he slept by the flue. Finally, these kind people called the Prince Edward Island Humane Society to ask for advice. 

Meanwhile, Pat and Henry had repeatedly walked within a few doors of the house where Hershey was stranded, putting flyers in mailboxes. It's more than likely that Hershey even heard them calling him.  

Fortunately, Henry and Pat had also reported to the Humane Society that Hershey was missing. So when the owners of the home where Hershey was stranded telephoned the Humane Society, they were told to call Pat and Henry immediately! 

Pat and Henry drove over to collect Hershey: what a beautiful sight it was, to look up and see him peering down! As for Hershey, as soon as he saw Pat and Henry, he wailed as long and as loudly as he could, over and over again, until he was safely in their arms! 

Now he is home again, hungry but otherwise well, trying not to seem too overjoyed, complaining that he doesn't understand why it took Pat and Henry so long to rescue him . . . .

(file photo)

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We kittens continue to grow so quickly, Pat is tempted to tell us, SLOW DOWN!  And our eyes have turned a lovely gray-green that goes very well indeed with the color of our fur:

Dandy in particular is growing SO fast, he is larger now than Dolly, and closing in on Mama Tess:

Our Mom continues to love us very much, of course.  Here she is with Dolly:

We were amazed this week to see lots of beautiful, white fluffy stuff falling from the skies:

But, not all is well here in the land of Pat's Cats.

For one thing, the forest that you can see in these pictures, across the street from our house, suddenly disappeared, just this week! Men came with big, noisy machines and within three days, every tree was gone. WHY?

And something even worse has happened.
 
Approximately 66 hours ago (yes, we are counting), Hershey Cat went out on what we all expected to be one of his routine inspections of the property. He has not yet returned.

Pat surprised us by telling us that Hershey, who seems so big to us, was smaller than we are now when he first came to live here. We had so much trouble believing that Hershey was once a tiny kitten, Pat showed us these baby pictures of Hershey and his mother and siblings.

As Hershey grew older, he and Summer Cat became best buddies:

Although Hershey has always been a bit imperious with his sisters, he is quite fond of Tootsie - and why not? They look so much alike:

Here is a picture Pat took of Hershey just a few days ago:

We wish Hershey would come back. Henry and Pat are both so sad, and so busy: they keep running outside to search further, or to put more flyers in the neighbors' mailboxes. They spend a lot of time on the phone.

We are not allowed out (and Pat says that after this, we never will be!), but we try to help by watching for Hershey from the front windows:

 

We wish we could comfort Pat more, so that she wouldn't cry all day long. 

We are hoping, hoping, hoping, that Hershey will soon appear at the upstairs study window, impatient as usual, demanding his dinner . . . .

Meanwhile, the snow is falling harder.