A to Z Challenge: K is for Kida

Greetings, underling humans.  I am Kida.

As you can plainly see if you are even a little bit smart, smart for a human at least, I am a Siamese.  This, of course, means that I Am Cat.

I am Siamese.  I am also literary.

This is something i have been trying to convince the mother person when she dares to call me "Kida the Mosquito."  She pretends she can make that rhyme, by the way, pronouncing the final "o" incorrectly.  Nevertheless, she claims that I am always buzzing around.

It's amazing what they try to get away with if I'm not on the ball!

To continue my story, though, it reaches back into a dark and mysterious past and I prefer to keep it that way.  I was found on the streets with my very fine litter of 5 kittens, whom I was raising quite well thankyouverymuch.  The rescue group, of course, decided that it wouldn't do for one of my stature to be on the street, and so I was taken in.  When my litter were ready to be weaned and adopted out, they gave me 3 more kittens, orphans, to raise, and I did so.

At that point, I was done with motherhood.  They tried to slip another litter in on me.  I had enough of that.  I kept them warm and clean, simply because I cannot stand the smell of unwashed kittens and I wasn't going to let them freeze.  I would not nurse them.  So the mother person here bottle fed them and I did most of the rest of the work.

Upon recognizing my tremendous sacrifice in doing this, and my excellent feline charms, and upon my recognizing that they simply couldn't run this house without my presence, the big man who goes to work asked that I stay here.  He had always wanted a Siamese (he has good taste, I must give him that), and i agreed.

Hope and Horizon claim that the three of us are co-owners of the big man who works.  I allow them to think so, however, I rule the roost with a stern look in my beautiful blue eyes and an iron paw.  I do not put up with nonsense from any of the other felines in the house, as I am older and outrank them in breeding and in every other way.

Trust me, when the eyes aren't so dilated, they are very pretty blue.

So, now I have told you enough about myself, and as I really don't care to know anything about you unless you are willing to brush me or give me food, I will be getting back to my other duties.

Kida, attending important business.

Today is

Baby Massage Day

Big Wind Day -- anniversary of the strongest natural wind ever recorded on the earth's surfact, at Mount Washington, NH, US; the wind gusts reached 231 mph

Cimarron Territory Celebration and World Cow Chip–throwing® Championship Contest -- Beaver, OK, US ("a highly specialized organic sporting event", as well as poker fun, food, crafts, and a parade; through next Saturday)

D.E.A.R. Day (a/k/a Drop Everything And Read) -- sponsored by the ALA, on Bevery Cleary's birth anniversary 

Eat All Your Snacks Before the Movie Even Starts Day  -- with all the ads before the movie, doesn't that happen anyway?

Feast of Pak Tai -- Macau (Pak Tai who conquered the Demon King, celebrated the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month)

Festival of Cerealia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (seven day public and private festival for Ceres)

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

Halifax Day -- North Carolina, US (anniversary of the resolution adopted authorizing voting for independence in 1776)

International Day for Street Children http://www.streetchildrenday.org/

John Wilkes Boothe Escape Route Tours -- Surrat House Museum, Clinton, MD, US (for Civil War history buffs, a 12 hour bus tour over the route used by Lincoln's assassin; every Saturday through May 3)

Kasama Tsutsuji Matsuri -- Kasama, Japan (Azalea festival attended by about 3 million people over the next 3-4 weeks)

Kentucky Derby Festival -- Louisville, KY, US (the warm-up celebration for the big race, much of which is free; through May 2)

Laotian New Year's Eve -- Laos (celebrations last through the 15th and sometimes beyond; at the start of the monsoon season)

Lazarus Saturday -- Orthodox Christian
     Lazarovden -- Bulgaria (along with celebrating the raising of Lazarus, there are fertility rituals, especially involving young maidens, and honoring the goddesses of spring and love)

National Licorice Day -- go see the Licorice Ladies if you are a big fan!

Sinhala & Tamil New Year's Eve -- Sri Lanka

Slow Art Day -- a global all-volunteer event with the simple mission of helping more people discover for themselves the joy of looking at and loving art

St. Sabas' Day (Patron of Lectors, torture victims)

St. Zeno's Day (Patron of anglers, children learning to speak, children learning to walk, fishermen, newborn babies; city and diocese of Verona, Italy)

Thingyan -- Myanmar (Burmese Water Festival; part of the New Year celebrations)

Walk on Your Wild Side Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, a day in which to do something no one would expect from you

Yasurai Matsuri -- Imamiya Jinja, Kyoto, Japan (festival to prevent ill health)

Yuri's Night -- International (Commemoration of first human in space, Yuri Gagarin)
     Cosmonaut's Day -- Russia
     International Day of Human Space Flight -- UN


Birthdays Today:

Saoirse Ronan, 1994
Riley Smith, 1982
Claire Danes, 1979
Sarah Jane Morris, 1977
Nicholas Brendon, 1971
Shannen Doherty, 1971
Nick Hexum, 1970
Art Alexakis, 1962
vince Gill, 1957
Andy Garcia, 1956
David Cassidy, 1950
Tom Clancy, 1947
Dan Lauria, 1947
David Letterman, 1947
Ed O'Neill, 1946
Herbie Hancock, 1940
Dennis Banks, 1937
Tiny Tim, 1930
Ann Miller, 1923
Beverly Cleary, 1916
Henry Clay, 1777
Lyman Hall, 1724
Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, BC599


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"21 Jump Street"(TV), 1987
"Your Hit Parade"(Radio), 1935
"Madame Bovary"(Publication date), 1857
"Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath"(Weber opera), 1826
"The Tatler"(Journal, first edition), 1709 Note:  this original version of a publication with the name lasted only two years


Today in History:

Constantinople falls to the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire, 1204
The formal inquest of Galileo by the Inquisition begins, 1633
The first edition of Tatler Magazine is published in London, 1709
The American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861
George C Blickensderfer patents a portable typewriter, 1892
Pierre Prier makes the first nonstop flight from London to Paris, in 3h 56m, 1911
Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England, 1937
The strongest surface wind gust ever measured, 231 mph, at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, 1943
The Salk vaccine is declared safe and effective, 1955
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space, 1961
Samuel Doe takes over Liberia in a coup d'etat, ending 130 years of peaceful and democratic presidential successions, 1980
The first launch of a space shuttle, the Colombia, 1981
The Euro Disney Resort officially opens (now Disneyland Paris), 1992
Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet spam, 1994
Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwe Dollar as their currency, 2009
Following the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, Japan raises the crisis level to 7, equal to the disaster in Chernoby, 2011