Attribution: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, suggests that there are days when it is best to ignore the Keeper’s activities and this may be one of those days as he tries to bring together the elements of a trade …
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Month:August 2026
Downriver
Attribution: Photo by Jonas Jaeken on Unsplash By Geoff Carter When I was about twelve years old, I used to walk home from school past a savings and loan that had a deposit envelope dispensary mounted outside its front door. It was supposed to be used for after-hours deposits. All you had to do was pull out the …
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Kickass and Elective Office
Attribution: Photo by Dmytro Koplyk on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, woke from his nap late Tuesday to hear the keeper comment to Phyllis that the primary election results again showed no votes for dog catcher. History shows that this was not always the case: from settlement days, a “dog catcher” was a common elective …
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Kickass and Ted Lasso Appearance
Attribution: Excerpt from https://youtu.be/E5idMLhGAO8?si=sqmfAkQ3lFsIp9oC By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is trying to assist the keeper with the fallout from his very brief appearance in an episode of the Ted Lasso show as it dealt with baseball memorabilia. And there was the keeper when he was a 21-year-old uniformed soldier standing next to Satchel …
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Kickass Works with Granddaughter
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper that he is a “lucky dog” to be launching another project with granddaughter Sarah in which they explore the world of podcasts. Once a long time ago the two of them, with other family members’ help, wrote and produced “Naked …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies Film Review of “In the Hand of Dante”
Between Heaven and Hell: Film Review of In the Hand of Dante ★★☆☆ Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter It’s been said that history repeats itself and that life imitates art. Sometimes taken in conjunction, these points can be foundational to the construction of unique cinematic narratives. Films like The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Possession use dual-timeline, historical …
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Kickass and the EPIC Grounds
Attribution: Ylem, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, was not with the keeper and Phyllis as they were guest passengers with Jack and Marsha W in a fascinating windshield tour of the sprawling Epic grounds near Verona. That such a gigantic blend of real estate and reality and fantasy …
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Kickass and the Family at the River
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, stayed on door duty as the keeper and Phyllis joined some of the keeper’s crew to send Rick and Becky from their riverside summer digs back to Colorado and their prairie dog battle. An afternoon rain shower briefly threatened to join the festivities but …
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Kickass Speaks Norwegian
Attribution: Werner Co., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that as he tunes in to the information that everyone except for a handful of white, Christian, racist billionaires is destined for deportation to the countries of their family’s origin, the keeper recognizes the virtue of brushing up on …
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Kickass and the Raven
Attribution: Dario Taraborelli, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joined the keeper and Phyllis in trying to solve the mystery of the tapping and rapping just over their computer positions located near the balcony of their top floor Vista West apartment. The rapping began early in the morning and consisted …
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Life Cycles
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter “Dedicated to the memory of Alex Pretti” Every year during the last week of July, the Milwaukee Riverwest neighborhood, an eclectic enclave of artists, musicians, families, and working folks, hosts the Riverwest 24, a twenty-four-hour bicycle race that runs along the neighborhood streets. According to the Riverwest 24 website, the …
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Kickass and Big Animal Vets
Attribution: USDAgov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, rarely needs to see a veterinarian but is interested in the keeper’s news that the UW Vet School is working on a program to ease the looming big-animal veterinarian shortage across the rural environs. With the inflated economics of the vet school …
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