NASA images by Reto Stöckli, based on data from NASA and NOAA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper on this Earth Day to lament the physical and mental “dung ball” condition of the planet; and to remember Earth Day 1966 when the keeper was among the canoeists who joined Sen. Gaylord Nelson in canoeing down the Namakagon River.
A strong wind blew up the river making canoeing difficult; and Nelson shouted encouragement to the keeper at one point when he—the keeper became grounded on a sandbar.
Much later, on another occasion, Nelson, went out of his way to inform the keeper that some of his writing about Nelson’s former law partner, John Lawton, often served as an amusing sleep incentive for Carrie Lee, Nelson’s wife.
Considering the source, being told that his writing was sleep inducing, remains for the keeper a favorite remembered reader comment.
This Earth Day, with its “Invest In Our Planet” theme, will be marked by the keeper and Phyllis in looking out the window at the rain, and rejoicing at still being aboard the big ball, even as it seems in the clutches of the dung beetles.
