Koburg, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in a Father’s Day leftover that cites the area of useless things fathers taught their offspring; in the keeper’s case that would be harnessing a team of work horses, which was, of course not useless at the time, the keeper being a farm boy eager to assume adult duties; but as a skill, has not been much in demand for the past 75 years or so.
Like learning to ride a bicycle, harnessing horses is something that once learned is never forgotten, and to this day, the keeper could harness a team of horses with his eyes closed.
In the struggle to maintain relevance in the face of cascading years, the keeper would point to the fact that he may be one of the very few people on Madison’s west side with horse-harnessing skills, which he is willing to demonstrate for anyone who happens to have a team of work horses.
In the meantime, he also remembers learning from his father that a neat workplace is more productive than disarray; though Phyllis would point out that the keeper has not retained this “learning” with the intensity of his horse-harnessing skills.
