Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, assists the keeper in sending a message to his grandsons in the mode of the one that JFK’s grandson recently sent in which he said his grandfather was an embarrassment due in part for spreading utterly harmful bull—-. So listen up here Nick and …
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Month:July 2023
Kickass and Walking on the Moon
Attribution: Illustration by w:en:William Wallace Denslow, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in noting that it has been 54 years since Neal Armstrong walked in the moon, one of those where-was-I-at-the-time remembering events: Phyllis was raising kids and working in a Wisconsin Rapids bank. The keeper was …
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Kickass and Garden Help
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is only stand-by assistance in Phyllis’s Vista West gardening efforts, but obviously should have been more than that as Phyllis apparently pulled a muscle lifting a heavy bucket in watering her tomatoes. This is an “I-can-do-it-myself” woman only several weeks …
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Time Enough at Last
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter In the classic Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last”, mild-mannered and bespectacled bank teller Henry Bemis, constantly bullied by his boss, henpecked by his wife, and belittled by everyone else, can never find time enough to pursue his love of reading—until a nuclear holocaust annihilates the rest …
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Kickass and Shirt Price Tag
Attribution: ΙΣΧΣΝΙΚΑ-888, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper has provided medical specialists with a variety of challenging issues over his many years and continued the policy recently when a dermatologist doing a biopsy on a suspect skin eruption on his back, also had the experience …
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Kickass and River Meeting
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper and Phyllis’s appreciation of the river-side dinner prepared by son Mike to celebrate a visit by Sarah–Mike’s daughter and the keeper’s granddaughter. In attendance were friends Debbie and Johnny Johnson and their new dog Layla who made a move to …
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Kickass and Sunday Bluegrass
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, being cast-iron deaf, chose to stay home and nap Sunday when the keeper and Phyllis went to the Octopi Brewery in Waunakee for a delightful afternoon of bluegrass/Irish music by the Old Tin Can String Band. Food and drink were involved, all leading to …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
Attribution: Gary Stewart Gary2880, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Living in the Past: Review of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny By Geoff Carter He is a movie hero of epic proportions, an icon, an institution, and an intellectual—a true renaissance man. He is, of course, Indiana Jones, the most unlikely sort of archeologist/action …
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Kickass and Off-Leash Comments
Dwayne Reilander, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is often uneasy about the keeper being “off leash” but cannot always prevent it. The following recent examples illustrate the risks of his “at large” status: *The outrageous summer bear hound training now being allowed ONLY in Wisconsin has no comparable …
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Kickass and Hand Milking Cows
StanCoFair, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is reasonably certain that the keeper’s request to keep a cow on the balcony at the Vista West apartment he shares with Phyllis will be turned down, as was his request to keep a small flock of chickens. But he misses cows, …
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Kickass and the Rainbow
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, does not spend as much time as the keeper does staring out the window at the passing scene, dominated as it is by a parking lot, a sprawling school complex and a distant view of the state Capitol dome. It is an ever-changing view, …
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Kickass Remembers Captain Tony
The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Attribution: Mike, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Captain_Tony%27s_Saloon_-_Key_West_Florida_2002.jpg