Maasaak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Originally posted in December, 2020) By Geoff Carter We thought we had it made after getting out of 2020, but this has been another hard year—remembering everything that happened is painful—but we have to; if we do not remember, we’ll be doomed to repeat the same mistakes yet again. …
Read
Month:December 2022
Kickass and Youthful Sound
See page for author, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports on a belated clan Christmas gathering focused around Mike’s chili and Phyllis fruitcake during which the Clan dog Boo made an authoritative territorial statement and a bevy of young cousins shook Vista West out of its vintage-age slumber with …
Read
Kickass and New Year’s Resolves
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Kickass, the doorstop dog, sympathizes with the keeper over his New Year’s resolution dilemma in that after a long life of multiple, long-standing character flaws that demanded annual resolution-making, the keeper has finally emerged as a perfect human being, whereby making any New Year’s resolutions would be extraneous and ridiculous. The best …
Read
Kickass and Crow Rejection
Photo by Niklas Veenhuis on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes on the keeper’s mental jousting as he strives to find something positive in most things, even including the abject rejection by the neighborhood crows who have not done so much as a fly-over of the balcony where for most of the past year there …
Read
2022: A Year of Extremes
Photo by Planet Volumes on Unsplash By Geoff Carter Last week, just before Christmas, we were bombarded with news of a possible “cyclone bomb”, a megablizzard that could bring record snowfall, dangerous windchill temperatures, and hazardous travel conditions. We were warned. Winter Storm Eliot was bearing down on us. And, for some parts of the country, it was …
Read
Kickass and Phyllis Appointments
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, announces that the keeper will not be posting any of his nonsense and instead is passing along one of Phyllis’s phone-photos of this morning’s sunrise as they drove to a dental appointment in Waunakee. The early morning appointment was a “fit-in” and was much more …
Read
The Oppression Olympics
NASA Ames, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Mark Mamerow NASA’s new telescope is an amazing scientific and engineering accomplishment, but a groundswell of opposition has arisen to the naming of the telescope after James Webb. He directed NASA in the 1960s and led the agency in its successful quest to mount manned missions to the …
Read
Kickass and Returns and Exchanges
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, assists the keeper in this season of grand holiday returns and exchanges, and suggests the following for Wisconsin: Though he is far beyond the warranty date, Ron Johnson–due to manufacturing flaws, is to be …
Read
Kickass and the Day After Christmas
Lulu Hoeller from Pittsburgh, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, was again unable to stop the keeper from expressing his seasonal impressions: “Twas the day after Christmas and all through the place, not a creature was stirring–nobody showed face. “Phyllis in her robe and me in my rags …
Read
The Pen in Hand Guide to Defining the Holiday Genre: The “Die Hard” Question
Photo by Justin Campbell on Unsplash By Geoff Carter At this festive time of year, many of us observe the holiday traditions of Christmas like trimming the tree, singing carols, buying the presents, visiting Santa, and on and on and on. Part of our celebration of the holiday includes seeing the myriads of Christmas movies and television specials, …
Read
Kickass and Jim Hoyt’s Tuba
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis on this grand package-opening morning that features kids by the millions, to note that there was a recent adult package-opening that would have been fun to see: it was Jim Hoyt opening the package that contained his new tuba. …
Read
Happy Holidays from The Pen in Hand Blog!!
Have a beautiful and Festive Holiday… Artwork by Michael DiMilo From Geoff Carter, Bill Stokes, Michael DiMilo, the Fabulous Dadbots, and all the other contributors to The Pen in Hand Blog!! Merry Christmas!! Happy Hannukah!! Happy Kwanzaa!! Happy Yule!! Merry Festivus!!