The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Bots, Now that perfect weather is secure here in the upper Midwest…and… Mark M. is busy doing field work–his longitudinal cross-section study of Americana, I thought I’d …
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Month:June 2023
Kickass and Bear Hounding
kikiciao, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in hanging his head in shame and extending deepest apologies to the state bear population–an estimated 24,000 individuals, as the summer-long bear hound training season approaches. ONLY IN WISCONSIN: thousands of bear hounders from all over the country will …
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Kickass and Storage Boxes
United States Department of Justice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that most people in the keeper and Phyllis’s crowd readily identify with storage boxes, having made recent moves to places like Vista West; and more than a few of those “movers” would be pleased to have the …
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Kickass and Greening Wisconsin
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, fresh from a windshield survey with Phyllis up into the central portions of the state, reports that the gerrymandered, screw-the-public legislature in Madison and a GOP congressional contingent in Washington with the brainpower and ambitions of an NRA stink tank, …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Films of Samuel L. Jackson
Attribution: pinguino k, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Mr. Cool on Cool: The Films of Samuel L. Jackson Aside from Morgan Freeman, his voice is probably as distinctive as any in cinema. From the angry braying or insistent arrogance of Stephen Warren in Django Rising to the wheedling persistence or petulant whining of Gator in Jungle Fever, nobody …
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Happy Father’s Day from the Pen in Hand Blog
Happy Father’s Day!! Photo by Kris Carter
Kickass and Father’s Day
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, noting that there are a number of ways to become a father, points out that heroics are not usually involved. The heroics come later in keeping wayward offspring well fed, secure, clothed and out of trouble with the law. During the time the keeper was …
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Kickass and Beautiful Birdsong
Rennett Stowe from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper received a rare treat for his new hearing aids when Phyllis opened the balcony door and instead of the usual chorus of sparrow chirping there was a birdsong that at first seemed too beautiful to be true. It …
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Kickass and Eating In
Gordon Cragg, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in noting how the dinner hour has changed from a quiet time when everybody was “eating in” and the only restaurant customers were the resident bachelor mechanic and a lonesome schoolteacher, to now resembling the INDY 500 with …
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Kickass and Pinocchio Day Fallout
Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, assists the keeper in handling the fallout from his establishment of “Pinocchio Day” to mark the indictment last Tuesday of the former pretender to the throne. As Pinocchio Day gets on the calendar with other noteworthy days–Father’s Day and April Fools Day come to mind, …
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Fall of a Sparrow
Photo by Carlos Quintero on Unsplash By Geoff Carter “We defy augury. There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” –William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V, Scene ii I was sitting in my kitchen the other day, doing some writing and looking out our picture window at the backyard occasionally. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. The …
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Kickass and Phyllis the Hiker
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in cheering on Phyllis’s campaign to walk at least 5000 steps daily, which he does mostly from his recliner. The keeper would join Phyllis–and actually sometimes does, but for the image it creates of an old man with a walking stick …
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