Meet Johnny Ricker

I have a confession to make. If you are member of PETA you may want to read no more. I also suspect I might lose a follower or two due to my disclosure. But, here goes...

I hate cats! Well, I use to hate cats! Are you still reading? You are? Awesome. Then I'll continue.

I actually had a kitten once, long ago when I was a little girl. I named her Sandy, which makes me think I was about 8 or 9 and had recently seen Grease, as I can think of no other reason to have named a gray cat Sandy. Anyway, I loved my little kitten but was afraid it was going to get eaten by a dog in our neighborhood, so I took her to the country to live in my grandparents' barn. Then something must have happened.

I'm not really sure when or why I began to dislike critters of the feline persuasion. I just know that for almost 30 years I did. To be honest, I loathed them. That is until one showed up on our porch a few months back and John-Heath was instantly in love.

I was initially determined for John to rid our home of this creature. Were we seriously going to keep a cat? I think thought not! But somehow a 5-year-old has a way of breaking down decades-old barriers. Quite simply, his love for this cat just melted my heart. Once he named it (yep...Johnny Ricker), it was all but over.

Turns out, Johnny Ricker (who also goes by Pepper, the name Ren gave him) belongs to our neighbor, Mr. Scott. We figured this out on Halloween night when we took John-Heath over to trick or treat at Mr. Scott and Ms. Rachel's. For a while, it seemed that Pepper was doing quite a bit of commuting back and forth. Now, he mostly just hangs out here.

He may not hang out here much longer if John-Heath keeps loving him this much!

I do have my limits, though. He must remain an outdoor cat. However, this hasn't kept John-Heath from trying his best to sneak him in from time to time, often successfully. But in the end, he usually gives his secret away by saying things like, "You don't need to look in my closet, Mom." Or the best one yet...

Once, as we were returning home from church and talk turned to Pepper's

whereabouts (he had not been seen any that morning before church), John-Heath announces, "Well, I didn't put him upstairs in my bedroom, that's for sure."

How can I not love this cat!

P.S. So far, Pepper has turned out to be a pretty good little pet - unlike Carrot Jello's naughty little sweetheart! If you want a good laugh (or maybe a good cry) stop by and check out her last two posts.