Photo by Luis Quintero from Pexels By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s tech world has gone completely wacko and he is receiving messages from a medium that communicates with the departed, specifically the keeper’s old Black friend Bob Shepard who checked out with a bad heart many years ago. “Stokes, remember when your …
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Month:June 2021
Kickass and Farm Tools
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, sympathizes with Phyllis as she contends with the keeper’s futile efforts to slow up the passage of time by surrounding himself with the artifacts of his past. Most recently it was a hand tool for shearing sheep, something the keeper remembers watching neighbors use to …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Best of the Best: Frances McDormand
Red Carpet Report on Mingle Media TV, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons The Ten Best Films of Frances McDormand By Geoff Carter She can be as tough as a bar of iron. She can also be compassionate, kind, and forgiving—or as fierce and determined as a mama bear defending her cubs. Her scathing tongue can …
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Kickass and Four Horses’ Asses
Albrecht Dürer , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is with the keeper as he—the keeper “rides” through unfamiliar Biblical “Revelations” territory with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and a formulates a Wisconsin version to be known as the Four Horses Asses of Wisconsin’s Demise: Arrogance, Ignorance, Narcissism and …
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Kickass and Ancestry Truth
Popular Graphic Arts, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that as the keeper’s granddaughter Sarah digs into the family ancestry, she finds characters who obviously did it all—the good and the bad, with details yet to come. In keeping with the current resistance to accepting honest historical accounts, …
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Kickass and the Park Purchase
Yinan Chen, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper barely remembers how to rant about positive things, so there was some verbal fumbling with the good news this week that the Wisconsin DNR Board approved the $1.64 million purchase of 220 acres to be added to …
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Toys in the Attic
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I was trying to find a certain book the other day. It wasn’t in any of the bookcases downstairs, so I headed up into the attic and walked into what can only be termed a natural disaster. Boxes upon boxes littered all three of the rooms. Everything from …
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Kickass and Official State Stink
Rawpixel Ltd, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, aware of various “official” state symbols—the badger, robin, etc.–is suggesting that the stench of cow manure become the official state odor and that it be pumped into Wisconsin’s legislative chambers where there is apparent approval for poisoning the …
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“Tis But a Scratch!”(Or how to Pass Infrastructure Reform in the US Senate)
United States Senate photography studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Mark Mamerow With the failure of Democrats’ election reform legislation in the US Senate, attention turns to infrastructure. As a bipartisan group of Senators prepare a compromise $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, their self-congratulatory backslapping is becoming hard to swallow. Morning Joe and The Situation Room are featuring a …
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Kickass Up in the Clouds
Photo by Naldo Mesquita from Pexels By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, turns it over to the keeper as he and Phyllis fly over the country in returning from their Colorado visit with Rick and Becky on a magnificent day of endless cumulous clouds that–as the summer solstice is marked–make it appear that the earth has blossomed …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to the Neighborhood
Movie Review of In the Heights I stepped into a movie theater for the first time in over a year last Sunday. Since my family and I are vaccinated—and safe at any speed—we decided to step out and see a movie. We chose In the Heights, the film production Lin Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning hit musical. The film …
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Happy Father’s Day
From The Pen in Hand Blog To all you fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, grandchildren, and more… Enjoy this treat…. “A Little Tooth” a poem by Thomas Lux, from poets.org Have a great Father’s Day!!