Many Meows and Purrs for a Happy Halloween!!!

As promised, I bring you the updated version of Hippo Costume-palooza, 2006 edition. This year, I decided to be . . .

A Lobster!

Here is Baxter and I, all dressed up and celebrating the Meow-lo-ween.


I do have to admit, I am not entirely sure that I was pleased to be wearing the outfit. I mean, I am completely adorable, but I am adorable every day. And today was a big day in the grooming department - I had a bath, Katie brushed me too much, I was blow dried twice and am still not completely, AND I had to wear a halloween costume?


But at least Baxter looks cute.


Note that I also helped Katie carve a spectacular pumpkin.


And then I ended the night with a little dance in my hat, because it was slightly bothersome but also incredibly fun to dance around the townhouse.


Happy Halloween!!!!

Almost Happy Meow-loween!

I know that this pretty Hippopotameow promised a picture of my secret Halloween costume, and I am afraid that I am going to have to disappoint you all, my dear readers. I have not yet taken my holiday bath, which means I am not yet willing to subject myself to photographic memory in my lovely costume. Its stunning color choices make it necessary that my fur be as white and pristine as possible, and I just did not have time to bathe today. Over the weekend I was pretty low key, even though Baxter told me explicitly I could have a costume party, but I thought it better to save my thunder for the actual Halloween day.

I did think that I should give you a little taste of the awesomeness that is me in a costume. So if you'll recall, exhibit A: my halloween costume last year. I was a dragon.


Exhibit B? My Christmas Costume. I was a snow-cat.


Exhibit C? My Easter Costume, 2005.


Exhibit D? My getting fixed Baby Costume, May 2005.


Exhibit E? My Easter costume from this year, which was beautiful.


And finally, Exhibit F. The Dress Katie bought me for the upcoming holiday party season.


What this means for you? Tomorrow there will be a special super-duper non-Monday edition of Hippo Blogging, wherein I show you my lovely and as-yet undisclosed Halloween costume.

Why Do You Meow Me Up, Buttercup?

What could be a better way to start a weekend than this sign?


I must say, I did not actually attend the kitty show, mostly because I had much napping and kitty chow eating to do, but I sent my missives (i.e. Katie and Baxter) to check out the scene and see if any of the kitties there were worthy of being my friend. Turns out there were more kitties there of the Persian variety even than the Siamese kitties for which the cat show was named. Alas, however, they did not bring me a friend. They did bring me a new toy that I am just getting the hang of, so I will save pictures of it for later.

--
I know everyone around me is wondering the same thing: what is this pretty kitty going to be for Halloween? I have my costume all ready to go, but I don't think that I will reveal it just yet. Instead, I will show you my practice costume, a dress that Katie was kind enough to get for me on clearance at Target.


Am I not the most adorable Hippopotameow on the planet? I mean, who else could make this dress look so spec-cat-ular?


Next week: My Costume! If you're lucky, I'll even take a picture with a Care Bear, also in costume.

Big Weekend in Hippoland!

Hello! A very tired meow to all my readers, because its been a busy weekend for the Hippo bear. Katie and Baxter decided not to leave town this weekend, but did decide to spend most of their time away from their house. I overheard something about running a tournament, but to be honest, I am generally so fascinated by other catnip flavored toys or the beauty of my own fur to pay attention to what others are saying.



They did decide to stop back at the house occasionally on each day, really with just enough time to ruin my typical Saturday debate weekend schedule:

6:00 am: wake up: race up/down stairs to attack first available piece of dangling textiles

6:15 am: scratch green scratchy-house to wake up my claws and get in a good stretch

6:23 am: nap

8:00 am: Hippo snacks for breakfast, maybe sneak a nip of cream
8:20 am: post breakfast nap
10:00 am: continued napping
12:00 noon: brief moping while lamenting the lack of laps within which to sit, ultimately resolved by finding a pile of laundry, blankets or electrical cords
1:00 pm: start drinking cream
3:30 pm: hard cream drinking afternoon nap
5:00 pm: wake up to have a brief snack and recover for the big night ahead
7:00 pm: party

7:30 pm: nap

9:05 pm: Party!

9:09 pm: nap

10:17 pm: PARTY!!!!
10:21 pm: nap
10:23 pm: party
10:26 pm: nap

And so on. Instead of this pretty reasonable schedule mixing work and play, I had to leave whatever cozy nest I had created to investigate the people stopping by to put things in the fridge or pick up insane amounts of mustard. That’s not even to mention the amount of different guests that visited the Hippo pad. At one point there were six people in one room of the house! Everyone was very nice and paid a pretty reasonable amount of attention to my beauty, even though I made myself scarce during the hard partying. I have noticed that people drinking a lot of beer sometimes act like Hippos after one too many pinches of nip, so it was probably the safest all around play. I managed to gather that the visitors included Kathryn, Joe, Jen and Christy (well Ken and Gordie too, but they are always dropping by) all of whom share the same “leave my adorable persian cat for the weekend to attend a debate tournament” mentality. There was a lot of discussion of mackerel, though I for some reason no one offered me any tasty fish.

Anyway, I have been told that this weekend I will be cuddling on the couch while watching football with my favorite people. While this is exciting for me, I am actually even happier for Katie and Baxter, who must be very very tired of being without me. Even the best camera phone movies do not compare to living meowing Hipposity.

Purrs and Smooches,

Hippo

Hippo's Love Song for Baxter

Katie and Baxter are in Kentucky this weekend for a debate tournament, which means that I have left to my lonesome for four days. Though I love having parties and slurping bowlful after bowlful of cream, I miss my Baxter. For the past year or so, I had really liked sitting with Katie more. We got up in the mornings together, checked our email together, and she is always willing to pet me and brush me and make me all pretty. And I still love Katie. She takes care of me. But as of late, Baxter and I's love affair has grown, and I love sitting in his lap.


Baxter always sits on the couch with his recliner out so there is plenty of space for this pretty kitty to lounge and stretch.


He changes my litterbox rapidly and always keeps food in my awesome Green Bay Packer Bowl.


He is always willing to sleep and smooch with me in bed.


He even shakes the feather so that we can cuddle while we bat at fun kitty toys.


Smooches for Baxter!

The Ballad of a Kitten and Her Feather

I must admit that this whole Baxter and Katie going out of town thing is really getting old. I mean, I like the parties and the unlimited chow and cream, but I also really like Baxter and Katie, and when they are out of town, who will I lay with in the mornings? There is no one to pick me up and play games, no one to cuddle with in the middle of the night, and no one to brush and pet me. As you can see, this is not my favorite state of affairs. I am perturbed.

More than that, though, I am forlorn. Sad and crushed that there will be no one to play with me.

At this point, only my feather is here to comfort me. We lay together and wish for Katie and Baxter. I reach my arms out towards the feather, and the feather reaches back.

Maybe if I give them this look, Katie and Baxter will just stay home?

Until then, I will be looking and Waiting.

Luckily, as it Monday, they have returned to me! We will run and frolic and play and smooch until Friday. I mean, who could resist this Hippo Bear?

Something In the Meow Tonight

So it's Debate Season Up in Meow: last weekend marked the official return of debate season at the House of Hippo-Bear. Though I've been spending a few weekends alone Chez Meow as Baxter and Katie gallivant about on vacations that they do not take me on (even though I would totally love to stay in the occasional hotel, or maybe a kitty day spa - I saw them on Animal Planet and am meow-rageously jealous), this was the first one that was for debate, which has a different feel altogeth-purr. I had a small gathering Saturday afternoon to watch a marathon of Project Runway, and then followed it up with a cask of cream and a rousing game of limbo.

I am meow-riffically excited at the transition to fall. I have spent many an afternoon peering out the back window, which I enjoy immensely. The crisp fall air reacts nicely to my fluffy fur and makes me look especially beautiful in the autumn sunshine. I love the way that I can see the animals and the leaves fly about, though I am worried that when the parking lot gets re-tarred next week, it will ruin the scent for a few days.

However, I should be able to keep myself busy doing laundry and helping Katie and Baxter around the house. I know that they have been quite busy, so I have been doing my best to be adorable, play with my mousies, and fold the clean clothes into a basket.

See you all next Monday!

We Want the Meow, Give Up the Meow, Ow We Need the Meow, Gotta Have that Meow!

Meow meow meow. Despite the incredible fall weather that we’ve had for, well, most of the summer, the Hippo cat got to enjoy some serious warmth today as the temp in Rochester made it into the 80s. That was slightly compromised by the fact that someone decided that instead of cat-napping my way through the afternoon, curled up in an adorable pile of cords behind the TV



I should have to dart back and forth constantly curious about the loud noises being inflicted on me. Katie and Baxter have been telling me that they are in fact loud noises towards a productive goal of “less potholes in the parking lot,” but that seems far less likely then that it was directed at the annoyance of me. Here is my theory: somewhere in this complex there is another persian kitty. By virtue of she or he being a persian kitty, she or he is no doubt incredibly adorable, but paw-bviously, not as adorable as me. Evidence, this is how freaking cute I am sleeping in the feaking car:



So my only guess is that, in an attempt to make her/himself the cutest persian kitty on the block, this other kitten tried to disturb my beauty sleep. There were two flaws in this strategy.

1) I am arguably even more adorable when waking up grumpy then at any other time. By increasing the ratio of waking-up moments to hours slept, my rival bit it like a big chunk of tuna fish. (let me use this parenthetical (new Hippo vocab word) to make a brief analogy Tunafish: Hippo:: Spinach: Popeye (also “bit it like a big chunk of tunafish: Hippo :: drop it like its hawt: Snoop Dogg)). Proof, you demand. Meow! I retort!



2) I am a very persuasive kitty-bear. I just popped to the door and suggested that everyone go out for a tasty glass of cream until I was ready to run, climb, play, etc. A little purr goes a long way.



Now, however, there is a catnip mousey somewhere calling my name. Seriously, can it get better than that combination. Catnip=awesome, mousey=awesome. Catnip mousey=awesome^2. That’s some old school math skillz, Hippo style. Keep it meowy!

Purrs and Smooches,

Hippo

Are We Meowing for some Purr-ball?

So the school year is officially in full swing for this pretty kitty. So far, it appears to mean that there is more time where I am home alone with only Katie OR Baxter and not both of them at the same time. Not that I mind, though, because it means more attention for me! And they both appear to be purr-cellent at making sure my back door is open so that I can stare at my chipmunk-friends. The chipmunks appear to be coming more regularly now that the fall is coming, and there are many moths for me to bat my purr-fect claws at.


Did I mention that I had to take a bath the other day? I bet that I did not, because I was so meow-ingly mad about the subject that I had to wait until now to mention it, now that my fur is lush and long and no longer destroyed by the ridiculousness that is bath time.

In case you were not clear on just how angry this idea of a bath made this purr-tacular kitten, I give you exhibit B.
Luckily, the purpose of such purr-diculous activities is that my always lush and beautiful fur because almost luminescent when it is clean. I will grudgingly admit that I have never looked as beautiful as the next day after the terrible bath.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Skies are Meow

This pretty kitty is very sorry to have missed the Monday cutoff for this week's Monday Hippo Blogging, but it was meow-riffically hard to maneuver the internet without Katie or Baxter in time to help, and to be honest, I was just a tinge depressed and lonely all by myself here in Hippo Land. Luckily, I had a friend, Ken, come to visit and watch baseball with me, so that was a bright spot for my labor day weekend. The kitty in the backyard was busy, so I wasn't able to have another purr-ty, so I contented myself with watching Big Brother and gearing up to play like the mighty kitty I am when Baxter and Katie arrived on the scene this afternoon.

Because it's been a week since I last updated, I didn't get to mention that it was Katie's birthday. I was instrumental in picking out a care bear for her, although it cannot compete with the Grumpy Bear I chose for her last year.

Luckily, I am an incredibly inquisitive purr-machine, so I have been able to keep myself busy investigating this lovely abode and learning the nooks and crannies of the carpet. I am hopeful that now that school is starting I will have many hours to chase mousies and fixate on my large array of kitten toys, because I am meow-riffic and chasing and finding such things.

Un-fur-tunately, it is now time for me to go behind the couch, as this Hippo-bear needs a nap.

Well We're Meowin On Up, To The Purr Side.

It's another sleepy Monday morning here in Hippo-land, and I'm still recovering from a weekend without Baxter and Katie. They went to Philadelphia and left me here all alone, without even the back sliding door open to stare out at the backyard! Luckily, I've met a number of kitty friends in the backyard who run free, so we were able to coordinate a party of sorts on Saturday night here in the Hippo abode.

Animal Planet was showing Big Cat Magic, which is a show I highly recommend, as it is all about big cats, and who doesn't think big cats are magic? We gorged on chow, held races up and down the stairs, and generally had a meow-tastic time. We invited the skunk that lives in the backyard, but unlike Pepe LePew, he does not seem interested in taking a kitty lover. Maybe next time, when Katie and Baxter go to a debate tournament!

I also learned how to play around with some photos, as you might be able to tell from my gorgeous new blog header. I also made this photo, with the help of some Flickr tools:

Sometimes I think it is criminal how a-purr-ably cute I am. My playful side has been out in full force as of late as well, so you should be jealous that you haven't been playing with me and the feather toy. It has been fanCATstic.

The stairs are such a good place to continue my playing, as they give me multiple options for scratching and hanging and generally freaking Baxter out, who is not inclined to let me harm myself. I try to tell him I'm a teenager now and all grown up, but he will NOT believe me. He's so pushy sometimes.

Of course, when it comes right down to it, they'll never deny me anything, because I am too cute for words.